Kadikoy Turkey, Kilm and Carpet Cooperative
Close to Saklikent is a nice carpet cooperative where
you can learn the fine art of rug making in Turkey in KADIKOY. A cooperative is
allows the ladies of the village who make the rugs to share in the profits. They
maintain the area’s designs, natural dyes and wool & silk quality. We watched as
the ladies turned lambs wool into thread and silk cocoons into thread. They
mixed and colored the threads with natural dyes made from onion-skins, sage,
flowers, and roots. Then the threads are turned into carpets.
Turkish carpets are unique in that they are double knotted so that the threads
never slip. It takes about 3 ½ months for a woman to make a normal wool carpet
with 5 knots per inch – the carpet would sell for about $600. You can't help but
think that it is an incredibly time consuming process from shaving the sheep,
making the thread, dying the thread, tying the knots to selling the carpet - how
many hours are spent? We estimated over 700 hours for one carpet. Think of that
the next time you bargain for a carpet! You will learn so much in that short
visit: the evolution of the carpet, modern carpets, making the carpets, the
carpet regions and villages, designs, symbols, and colors. Like studying the
great masters of Goya, Picasso, and Rodin, the carpet is a form of art to be
held in high respect and admired. By the time you leave Kadikoy it will be
very late afternoon - so head straight for Patara before it's too late!