Colour Variations in Rugs: Abrash

One of the things that makes handwoven rugs so beautiful is their visual texture. Part of this texture comes from the natural “abrash” of the rug.

What does Abrash mean?

Abrash is a word that describes the natural colour variations that occur between the strands of wool used to make rugs. This causes a striped appearance in areas of the same colour on a rug, these stripes are not considered a flaw in the rug but a natural result of the way the rug is woven. Abrash is a result of natural variations in the wool, as well as variations in the dyes used to colour the wool.

If you were to look closely at a herd of sheep on a hillside, you’d notice that they weren’t all exactly the same colour. Each sheep’s wool has a different texture, similar to the way that different people have different types of hair. When the wool is dyed, even if it’s dyed in the same batch of dye in the same way, the wool will still have subtle variations in colour and texture. The wool also changes seasonally from year to year.

Colour variations can also be caused by the dye process. Each batch of dye is slightly different, and this can cause each batch of wool to have slightly different colours. This can happen even if the wool is the same and the dye comes from the same place.