Artisan dyes ropes with natural madders for weavers in Turkey, abroad

Ali Ihsan Karaağaç, 68, who has been engaged in rope-dyeing with madders for 55 years in central Aksaray province, is striving to meet heavy demand from both Turkey and abroad.

Karaağaç was introduced to the craft at the age of 13 when his father apprenticed him to a madder dyeing workshop in the Bor district of central Niğde province.

Karaağaç, who is now a master craftsperson, opens his workshop in Aksaray every morning as enthusiastically as he did when he started the profession.

Karaağaç said that after he mastered the craft as an apprentice, he moved in 1978 to Aksaray, where he started his madder-dyeing business.

He only took a brief pause from his work to fulfill the mandatory military service, but since then, he has been continually engaged in the craft.

“I open my workshop after I perform the morning prayer every day," Karaağaç said in an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), noting that the day begins with lighting the gas stove.

He arranges dyes according to the orders he receives and steeps ropes in the boiling dye cauldron for two to three hours, or longer for a richer hue. After the ropes acquire the right hue, they are sundried.

“For some colors, we put the ropes in the water at night and take out them in the morning. The longer the madder is kept in the cauldron, the better color it gets. After wringing the water out of the dyed ropes that we take out of the cauldrons, we put them in the sun to dry. Then we send them to our customers," he said.

Karaağaç sells madder-dyed ropes to foreign countries as well as to domestic weaving workshops. "Madder is very healthy. That is why it is still preferred," he explained.

"We used to dye tons of rope previously. There were times when I employed 15 workers. Our business has been on the skids in recent years. I am working alone. I am trying to fulfill the orders on my own,” he said.

Karaağaç said demand for madder-dyed ropes mostly comes from the provinces of Istanbul, western Izmir, southern Adana, central Kayseri, central Sivas and northern Tokat, noting that he is mostly dyeing rug ropes nowadays.

He also has customers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. “Some want to do this job in these countries. They call me, and I tell them how to do it," he said. "I am the last representative of this job. If I quit, no one will deal with it."