As rug making trace back to old times, people developed techniques to dye to rugs and this information passed through many generations. At that times there were not chemicals so plants , soil and insects were used to obtain necessary colors to stain rug. After 1850 some important improvements made on chemical dyes, resulting of substitution of natural dyes. Being easier and cheaper to obtain the use of chemical dyes has become common among the carpet weavers . Although people generally prefer the natural dyed rugs some of the chemical dyes give the same even better results than natural ones.
In 1981 a project named shortly DOBAG (Doðal Boya Araþtýrma ve Geliþtirme) - Natural Dye Research and Development- started in Aegean villages of Turkey. Its aim was to resurrect natural dyeing techniques and also using them on rugs. In a way it was a returning of tradition and the rugs produced, looked like the ones made a century ago. Now some rugs are dyed naturally , chemically or combination of them. Only dye itself is not enough to dye the material , the substances called mordants fix dye on material . Here is the some commonly used natural dyes and the colors obtained.

Color: light blue to navy Indigo Natural: (Indigo Tinctotia) It is obtained by extracting and fermenting indican from the leaves of the indigo plant. it produces blue color and its variations.

Color: red to orange Madder root: (Rubia Tinctorum) There are two forms: root or dust. Colors range from red to red-brown and oranges. Ýt is produced by boiling the dried, chunked root of the madder plant in the dye pot.

Color: Salmon Depleted madder dye is used to obtain salmon, as dye baths are re-used, the dye gets weaker and colors get lighter.

Color: pale yellow to yellow-brown Larkspur: Delphinium sulpureum obtained by boiling the crushed leaves, stems, and flowers of the larkspur plant   Weld (a flowering herb) (Reseda lnteola) Chamomile (Anthemis chia) Dyer’s chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria) Spurge (Euphorbia biglandulosa) Sumach (Rhus coriaria)

Color : bright red to burgundy Cochineal bug: (Dactylopius Coccus) The cochineal bug gives the most color when ground into a fine powder. Colors are dark burgundy to bright red to soft lilac and pink.

Color : brown Oak bark, tree galls (Quercus)

Color :black sumach ,oak tree galls, tannin, iron, sumach. These dyes are generally damaging to wool but sumach dyed carpets relatively more endurable.

Color : green There is no dye plant that will yield a fast and intense green. The green in old carpets is always the product of a mixture of blue (indigo) and yellow dyestuffs

Mordants : Alum: (Aluminum Potassium Sulfate) This is the one of the widely used mordant. Copper: (Copper Sulfate) It is used to bring out the greens in dyes. It can darken the dye colors. Chrome: (Potassium Dichromate) Chrome make dyes more bright colors. It a vary toxic element so it should not be inhaled and gloves should be worn while working with chrome. Iron: (Ferrous Sulfate) It makes dye colors darker and dull. Overusage causes the fiber became brittle. Glaubersalt: (Sodium Sulfate) Used in natural dyes to level out the bath. Also use in chemical dye. Spectralite: (Thiourea Dioxide) This is a reducing agent for indigo dyeing. Tara Powder: (Caesalpinia Spinosa) Tara Powder is a natural tannin product. It is needed for darker colors on cotton, linen and hemp. Tartaric Acid: A must for cochineal. This mordant will expand the cochineal colors. Tin: (Stannous Chloride) Tin will give extra bright colors to reds, oranges and yellows on protein fibers. Using too much will make wool and silk brittle. To avoid this you can add a pinch of tin at the end of the dying time with fiber that was premordanted with alum. Tin is not commonly used with cellulose fibers. Calcium Carbonate: Is to be used with indigo powder for the saxon blue color. It can also be used to lower the acidity of a dyebath ABRASH (color variation): The colors in the rug may vary . As seen on the photo , there is two shade of red , bright red and rusty red .This variation in the same color called as abrash. This happens due to dyeing yarns in small batches .since traditional dyeing has not fine adjustment technology every dyeing bath may give different shades of the same color.