Kayseri, and Kozak
The town of Kayseri, situated in central Turkey, has been famous as a carpet-making center for centuries. Carpets and Kilims of Kayseri are of various types. Silk carpets, artificial silk and wool (floss), natural wool (no dyes), and Bunyan carpets are the major categories produced. Kayseri carpets are woven both at the workshops and in the homes. Weavers usually buy yarn from shops and after finishing their carpet would sell it to the same shop in order to buy more yarn. The Kayseri floss carpets with silk looking yarns in bright colors have found favor with Europeans with their attractive designs. They look very much like silk carpets to foreigners. The sizes, designs and number of knots are the same as Bunyan carpets, but the large sizes are rather rare. In the floss carpets chemical dyes are used, because the yarn (floss) can only be dyed with chemicals. Cotton is used as warp and weft and floss is used for the knots. These carpets are considered the masterpieces of Kayseri and as such are sought out by dealers to sell to the foreign trade. Sometimes Kayseri carpets are woven entirely in silk and will have 600,000 to 700,000 knots per square meter.
Bunyan carpets are often in floral designs of a typical Oriental carpet. The yarn is cotton and wool dyed with vegetable dyes, and about 120,000 to 150,000 knots per square meter. The Kayseri Bunyan carpets are made in different sizes; from pillow sizes of 62 by 100 cm. to the large 16 square meters carpet. Kayseri natural wool carpets have all the properties of Bunyan carpet except there are not as many colors used as in the Bunyan carpets. Colors of white, cream, light and dark brown and sometimes black are used in these types of carpets with the same number knots as in the Bunyan carpets.
Semi-nomadic shepherds who live in the highland regions of the Caucasus Mountains weave Kozak carpets and their environment is reflected in their products. The distinctive designs in Kozak Carpets can be easily recognized. The warp and weft threads are wool with the weft threads always in red or brown colors. The wool pile in these carpets is fairly deep and the yarn used is always of excellent quality. The Kozak carpet has approximately 50 to 100 Turkish knots per square inch. The motifs used in these carpets are formal, geometric, central medallion, repeated pattern and "Eagle." True Kozak carpets are mostly antique pieces and were produced in the Caucasus Mountains. Currently a limited number of Kozak carpets are produced and are much prized by dealers.
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