A sisal rug is a rug made from the agave, commonly known as a cactus. The plant was first discovered in the Yucatan and was named for the port where the fiber was first exported. These plants grow in semi-arid environments and produce large fleshy leaves from which the sisal fiber is crushed and scraped so that only the fibers remain.

The fibers are then washed before drying in the sun or
alternatively by hot air.

As far back as there is evidence of human life, there is weaving. Due to the fragile nature of hand made textiles, the surviving fabrics from the past are sometimes few. What we can see are astounding objects of art, beauty and fascination that will be with us forever. Some textiles have survived, however in the frozen parts of the earth, in bogs or in tombs such as in Ancient Egypt.

Yes, you can have a very nice digital clock by your bedside that will play the radio when you wake up, the digital numbers glow with your favorite colors and it will even play music for you with a timer until you are asleep. That is fine, but there is absolutely nothing like the gentle sound of a chime or bell coming from the living room telling you not only what the time is, but in a soft, musical and soothing way.

The tools need to create some of the worlds most intriguing rugs are surprisingly few.One is a loom. It may be large as in a modern industrial factory or it may be small enough to carry on the back of a horse.The looms' role is to hold the warps (longitudinal strands) under tension so that the weaver may weave the wefts (horizontal strands) between the warps to fabricate the rug.

When renovating a home, or when building a new one, antique flooring may be considered as an option or the preferred alternative to carpet or rugs. Some people consider antique flooring both from the standpoint of reusing materials that would otherwise go to waste and from an ascetic perspective. It can also be a sentimental feeling to preserve a part of the old house in the construction of a new one.

Gazing at a fine Persian rug, one cannot help but become lost in the beauty and wonder that is true art. Art that is made by the peasant, enjoyed by the masses and prized by kings and the elite in every society. A Persian rug is from what is known today as modern day Iran. These types of rugs have been made and prized now for thousands of years. At first Persian rugs were born of necessity and the need to cover an often earthen floor.

In the end, an antique is as valuable as someone is willing to pay for it! Although an antique may indeed be 100 years old, that does not necessarily make it valuable. If it was not a desirable piece to begin with or it was of inferior quality, it would not be of interest to anyone today. Junk today is junk tomorrow!

An antique is generally considered to be 70 to 100 years old.

There is nothing worse than seeing your prized possesion with a spot or a mark on it and you do not know how it got there or what to do. This article will help you by giving you tips, suggestions and good ideas to take care of this beloved object.

To start with, your hand made Oriental rug or your kilim can survive for decades depending on a number of factors.

The variations found in rugs and kilims around the world are amazing and beautiful.The color combinations present in a kilim or persian rug make it appealing to the eye and a wonderfully decorative work of art. Each color hides a meaning which contributesto it's fascination.
Yellow: weld, vine leaves or pomegranate peel. produces muted gold
Brown : walnut shells or oak bark
Green: combination of weld and indigo
Purple: hollyhocks
Black: walnuts Larkspur: plant
Henna: leaves and flowers

An observation should be made regarding slight changes in color usually seen in older rugs for this happens when the weaver starts weaving with a yarn from a different dye lot than the one previously used .

Kilims, which are much rather ancient than their relative the carpet, are a kind of flat-weave rug. These rugs are originally produced in a tribal environment. Unfortunately there is no certain information on how ancient kilims are; however archaeologists have found evidence of their existence on the walls of Egyptian tombs dating from 1700-1800 BC.