The basic raw material for Nepalese carpets is wool. Because the locally produced wool does not meet the demands, in terms of quality and quantity, Nepalese carpet manufacturers depend on wool imported from Tibet and New Zealand. The Tibetan wool is known for its fine quality and its softness. This quality wool comes from the flocks of sheep raised in high Himalayan plateau where the climatic conditions are severely cold. This kind of wool is excellent for the strength and the density needed in the carpet pile, yet the wool is soft enough to feel good on bare feet.

Wool sorting process is essential for the wool, which is imported from Tibet in raw form, to isolate foreign particles such as grease, natural impurity, vegetable matter, sand, dirt etc. The wool imported from New Zealand does not need sorting and washing as it is already scoured.

The washing process, with chemicals, is known as scouring.

The wool in its raw form contains dirt, grease, vegetable matter and other foreign particles. Carding is a process of combing and cleaning the wool. In the process, fibers are opened and separated and each fiber is set in a straight and parallel position, and all foreign particles removed. Carding process enhances the fiber to stand to flow when spinning, which helps to produce uniform yarn of desired thickness. Blending different wools is done in this stage. Traditionally, carding was carried out by hand and machine carding was introduced when the industry thrived. Depending on the choice of the customer, hand carded product is still available.

After carding, the wool is spun into yarns of desired thickness. Spinning involves drawing and twisting the wool fibers into yarns. The average length of a fiber should be 4" to 6" to spin the ideal yarn for carpet weaving. Traditionally, wool is spun by hand. However, machines are also being used for this process.

Generally, two methods of dyeing are in practice: the traditional and the modern. The traditional method, which is also known as pot dyeing, is a method in which a pot, made of copper or aluminums is used. The modern method, which is a machine operated, is a closed dyeing method. The dyeing vessels or pots are made of steel. Both manual and machine dyeing, processes need the same dyeing chemicals and dyes as per the recipe and the shade needed. Then, the dyed yarn is dried in the sun.
Wool is dyed either by chemical or vegetable dyes. Vegetable dyes give a natural look to the carpets but the colors are not very brilliant and it is more expensive than chemical dyeing. Bright colors in various shades can easily be achieved with chemical dyes. We use AZO free chemical dyes, produced in Switzerland.

After the dyed yarn is properly dried, it is rolled into balls of three ply yarn for each colour. The balling is done manually and is necessary for the carpet weaving.

Because Nepalese carpets are hand-woven, they enjoy a good reputation internationally. Carpets are woven on vertical looms, which may be of wood or iron. The loom consists of two vertical poles, which are fixed to a horizontal base to keep the loom rigid. One or more weavers work on a loom depending on the size of the carpet. Each weaver makes individual knots row after row. The knotting starts with the help of a graph. The design of the carpet is drawn on a graph paper and hands downs from the top of the loom, or is unrolled, row-by-row as a guide to the weaver. Nepalese carpets are woven in the Tibetan knotting system. The woolen yarn is tied with two warp threads at different positions with the help of a weaving rod. This process is continued breadth-wise from left to right. The cotton weft is then inserted in between the warp thread alternatively. It is then beaten with an iron hammer and the wool around the iron-weaving rod is cut with a blade. Thus, a woolen pile is formed. This process of knotting is continued until the entire carpet is woven.

After the carpet is completed and removed from the loom, it is washed to remove dirt and to restore the original shine of the wool. Washing is also performed manually. The sole purpose of washing is to clean and improve natural luster of wool and these are achieved through removing surface dirt and excess dye. Then the washed carpet is dried in the sun light until completly dried.

During the washing process, a carpet may be deformed in shape. To bring the carpet back to its proper shape, it is stretched across all the sides and left for certain hours. Stretching is carried out for only those carpets that are undergone deformation during washing.

Lastly, the carpets are trimmed manually to achieve the right pile height with specially designed scissors. The designs in the carpets are also cut in physical relief according to the buyer's demands.

Trimming is done with help of the scissors to carve out the desired designed patterns.

Finally the carpet is packed with the environment friendly packing material. After that the carpet is ready for export. We also pack carpets following the procedure requested by the customers.