Carpet

Carpet is a string with a richly worked surface covered edge to edge in pattern: the grains are carved or composed so densely that the whole cord reads as a single ornamental cloth, with no empty smooth stretches. The name is a metaphor — telling such a string recalls a woven carpet, where the pattern runs from border to border without break. Achieving it is hard: each bead's design must join its neighbours into a continuous repeat, so a carpet demands both precise carving and a composition planned across the whole strand. It is worked slowly and with study — first of all a decorative, showpiece object, pleasant to turn to the light while watching the ornament flow across the surface. The surface is textured, with the carving catching agreeably at the fingertips. The sound is dense, slightly muffled by the relief. The model's signature is maximum decorative density and the wholeness of the pattern along the entire length. The form shows best on uniform, easily carved materials that hold fine relief — mammoth ivory, dense wood, horn and bone — where the carving comes out crisp and patina, over time, underscores every line of the ornament.