How an Ovis rug is made, from Midlands merino to your floor

Seven stages and about sixteen weeks, all by hand, in the Ross schoolhouse where Agnes Brennan set up her first loom in 1937.

The fleece
Every Ovis rug starts with superfine merino from flocks within 30 km of Ross, in the Midlands, shorn once a year in spring. The same three families have sold us their clip since the 1950s.
Spun
The fleece is scoured, carded and spun to a firm two-ply yarn. Firm enough to hold a knot for a hundred years, soft enough to sit on.
Dyed
Skeins go into pots of lichen, madder root, weld, indigo and eucalyptus bark behind the workshop. No two pots come out quite the same.
Warped
Undyed cotton warp is strung on a frame loom taller than the weavers, one thread for every two knots across the width of the rug.
Knotted
Two weavers sit side by side and tie each knot by hand, about 9,000 a day between them, beating each row down with a comb.
Sheared and carved
Cut from the loom, the pile is sheared level with hand shears, then carved where the design asks for two heights.
Washed and dried
Every rug is washed in rainwater and dried on the rail outside, with the Midlands hills behind it, before it is numbered, signed and rolled.

One rug, in numbers

Five people, two looms and a spinning wheel, in a sandstone schoolhouse in Ross. Isla is the fourth generation of Brennans at the loom.

Made to order: Knotted or woven for you in 8 to 16 weeks, with one size of each rug kept ready to ship.
Free delivery: Rolled, wrapped and delivered free anywhere in Australia.
Wool samples: A 20 cm square of any rug for $15, taken off your rug.
Repairs for life: Send it home to Ross for re-binding, re-fringing or a clean.