I started my Baboosh journey one year ago. Words can't express how much I enjoy each minute of this great adventure. All the positive messages and feedback I receive from my customers are warming my heart and are the reason that keeps motivating me everyday!
Yesterday, I had my very first return from a customer who purchased a rug. Not because the quality was bad, not because it was not cozy, not because he did not like the feel of it. He wants to return it because he was expecting the colors of the lines to be perfectly black... just like in machine made rugs that are made of chemically dyed wool. This is what made me write this article. Some people would say "nooo don't say that you had a return." But, despite the fact that it made me sad to somehow not satisfy my customer, I want to be transparent with you and, overall, I want to take this as an opportunity to explain how an authentic Moroccan rug is made and how colors are obtained. This will help you understand why there are variations in colors.
Plants, minerals, insects can all be used to color wool. This ecofriendly dying method has been used for centuries by our ancestors all over the world. They chop the plants, mix them with water, bring to boil and simmer for a couple of hours at least before adding the natural wool into it. The more it stays there, the more intense the color will be. However, it will never be as intense as the wool colored with chemicals. A naturally dyed black wool will never be as black as a black t-shirt for example, and most importantly, it will not be uniformly black. It will have variations of black. As a matter of fact, same plants are used to get black wool, gray wool and sometimes brown wool.
Few examples of plants used to get colored wool:
- Tumeric, Saffron, yellow onion for yellow
- Saffron petals, grapes, blueberries, cornflowers for blue
- Henna for brown and black
- Blackberries, carob for black and gray
- Beets, pomegranate for red
- Strawberries, cherries, lavender, roses for pink
This process is also made by the same women artisans. These ladies I admire so much for being so talented. They never went to school, did not do any design institute, but every rug they make is a real piece of art and, because of these little imperfections, unique and authentic!
