Two Grey Hills Rugs for Sale
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Two Grey Hills Navajo Rugs for Sale!!
Our online selection of authentic hand-woven Navajo Two Grey Hills Rugs / Weavings.
Description of Two Grey Hills Weavings:
Two Grey Hills Navajo Rugs are named as such because the style was developed in, and the vast majority of these rugs are still created by weavers from, the Two Grey Hills region of the Navajo Reservation. The Two Grey Hills area is located between Gallup and Shiprock, New Mexico, East of the Chuska Mountains. Two Grey Hills Rugs are typically recognized by their unique colors and a single or double-diamond pattern/design. Navajo rugs from the Two Grey Hills area feature intricate designs woven in black, white, browns, and greys, with varying shades thereof. Weavers produce varying subtle shades of these brown & grey hues by carding (mixing) together various colored natural sheep wools, resulting in anything from dark browns/greys to very light beige and cream colors. The black is typically over-dyed to make a more solid contrast with the other colors. A ‘spirit line’ is even more common in Two Grey Hills weavings than in other Navajo rugs. A single line of light colored weft running through the firm border to the edge of a weaving, the ‘spirit line’ is meant to allow a weaver’s creative energies (spirit) to escape from a rug so that a weaver’s spirit will not be trapped within the completed rug.
Two Grey Hills Rugs History & Origin:
The typical Two Grey Hills style of weaving is believed to have been developed around 1911. George Bloomfield, of Toadlena Trading Post, had become quite friendly with Ed Davies, who owned the nearby Two Grey Hills Trading Post. Together they worked with the local weavers to develop an improved and superior Navajo textile. Previous Navajo weavings of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s seemed to be primarily dominated by commercially dyed and often commercially spun/prepared fibers used in brightly colored Ganado and Germantown Navajo rugs. The weavers of Toadlena & Two Grey Hills did not use or appreciate such flashy colors or commercially prepared materials. These weavers preferred to use natural wool from their own sheep. Bloomfield and Davies embraced the use of natural colors, encouraged the weavers to spin their wool more finely, and to weave more tightly. The more finely and tightly woven rugs allowed for the emergence of more precise and intricate patterns. Many years of collaboration between Davies, Bloomfield, and the Two Grey Hills & Toadlena Navajo weaving artists has resulted in the Two Grey Hills style rugs being the most coveted of contemporary Navajo rugs. All of today’s Toadlena & Two Grey Hills weavers are ancestors of those who worked with the two important devoted traders, Bloomfield and Davies.
Even today, Navajo rugs from the Two Grey Hills region tend to be the most finely woven, and have a higher wefts per inch count than Navajo weavings from other areas. A typical contemporary Navajo weaving will average around 30 wefts per inch, but Two Grey Hills rugs average around 45 wefts per inch. The finer examples of Two Grey Hills weavings often have 80 or more wefts / inch. A textile with 80 or more wefts per inch is technically considered a tapestry. The most famous Navajo weaver from the Two Grey Hills region, Daisy Taugelchee (1909-1990), was known to create exceptional tapestry weavings with up to 115 wefts per inch.