Rug Weaving – Sharing the Art and History

January 28, 2010 — admin

In this day of disposable products everywhere you look, there is reason to have deep admiration and appreciation for anything that is hand crafted.

Many of these crafts and arts are dying off. So when those who LOVE handmade items get together, there is an intensity, energy, and passion that you don’t find many places.

Those who learn a bit about hand woven rugs, and know how they are woven, one knot at a time, generally LOVE them. I know I do.

Loom used to hand weave a rug - one knot at a time.

Loom used to hand weave a rug - one knot at a time.

A 9×12 rug can take three weavers working 6 days a week, ten hours a day, over a year to weave a hand-knotted rug. That is a piece of someone’s life you have on the floor. A piece of their heart and soul. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the shearing of the wool, dyeing of the wool, spinning of the wool, before they even begin to weave the rug.

My mother Kate Blatchford  and I had the pleasure of being featured presenters to a recent meeting of the Palomar Weavers Guild – a group of fabric, textile, and dyeing experts. My mother Kate is the founder of our San Diego Rug Cleaning Company, and she and my brother David have launched a blog dedicated to rug repairs.

Here is me and mom at the weavers event:

Kate Blatchford talking with members.

Kate Blatchford talking with members.

Here I am speaking with some weaving guild members.

Here I am speaking with some weaving guild members.

We also hosted a meeting at our San Diego Rug Cleaning Company plant, and I welcomed industry professionals from the local Carpet & Fabricare Institute chapter to learn about rugs in the rug repair section of our facility.

Exclusive rug workshop for local CFI members in San Diego.

Exclusive workshop for local CFI members in our repair wing of our facility.

There are not many resources out there for those in the general cleaning industry to learn about rug care from those who actually DO the craft.

I have not conducted full multi-day rug cleaning clinics for many years… but this year I am planning to do a number of them.  Some for those professional carpet cleaners and restorers who want to learn the craft properly (and how to find the right clients to clean for)… and some other workshops for consumers who are interested in learning more about the art and history of rugs, and also what rugs to absolutely buy, and which ones to run away from.  The good, the bad, and the ugly in the rug world.

Opt-in to my Rug Chick updates list, and you’ll get first notification of workshops coming across the US this year. They will be small, and extremely in-depth, and they will fill up very fast.

In the meantime, any questions you have about rugs, or topics you would like to see covered here on the Rug Chick blog – please post them in the comments. I’d love to know what you’d like to learn more about.

- Lisa

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Why do some wool rugs fade?

January 24, 2010 — admin

Certain rugs – especially those from China – are given a strong chemical washing using chlorine bleach (which DISSOLVES wool fibers) in order to make the rug more appealing to buyers. It makes the wool cuticles smoother, and as a result they reflect more light and appear shinier and silkier. They also are softer to the touch as a result.

But- if the process is too aggressive, it can make these rugs EXTREMELY sensitive to permanent stains from spills (especially acid spills), to loss of color during spot cleaning, and also fading and total loss of color if placed in an improper setting (direct sunlight) or improperly cleaned (being cleaned in the home).

Here is a Chinese rug that was cleaned improperly with aggressive cleaning agents and dried in direct sunlight (a horrible double whammy):

This blue rug has faded to beige from improper cleaning.

This blue rug has faded to beige from improper cleaning.

Many rugs, when you grin open the fibers, if they are susceptible to fading you will see a distinct difference in the base of the fibers to the tips.  The base will be DARK, and the tips will be LIGHTER. Almost frosted.

What you need to know about these rugs are that they are more susceptible to permanent staining because the fibers are already weakened by this chemical processing. This does not mean that the rug will not last you a hundred years (wool is by far the BEST fiber to use for a rug) – it simply means you cannot grab an over-the-counter spot remover to use on these rugs, they will cause a loss of color that will be MUCH worse than the original spill was.

While we are talking about over-the-counter products, you want to make sure you NEVER use these on any wool oriental rugs, or other natural fiber rugs (silk or cotton).  These chemicals are formulated for synthetic wall-to-wall carpeting and are much too aggressive for natural fiber rugs.  Folex, Resolve, Oxyclean.

Even Woolite, when applied directly to certain wool rugs, will bleach out colors or cause discoloration that is not correctable due to some optical brighteners that are used in their formulation.  I find customers tend to not dilute it when they use it, and it almost always created dye damage as a result of a panicked over-use.

Many rugs are chemically washed – as are many fabrics and other natural fiber objects we use daily.  You just want to be able to point out which ones may be a problem in terms of color loss and fade from sun.

Gentle, proper washing of wool rugs does not fade a rug. 

What fades a rug is direct sunlight in a room, or direct sunlight drying of a rug being cleaner.  

What fades a rug is improper choice of cleaning solutions – using the same chemicals from your wall-to-wall synthetic cleaning on wool rug. 

Or what fades rugs is cleaning them in the home and as a result leaving cleaning chemical residue in those fibers afterwards because you are not washing the rug and rinsing those fibers clean.

Those are situations that contribute to further and faster fading of a rug.

- Lisa

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Rug in the washing machine – oops!

January 14, 2010 — admin

Take a look at what happened when one of a matching pair of Flokatis (handmade rugs from Greece) was placed in the washing machine.

Hot water and detergent shrinks and yellows the rug on the left.

Hot water and detergent shrinks and yellows the rug on the left.

For the complete blog post about these two rugs, and this client’s unfortunate accident with her washing machine and this rug, visit Rug Care Central for this Flokati post.

Hot water, alkaline detergents, and hot air quick drying do not work well with wool.

Lisa

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Rug To Run From: Viscose Rugs!

January 2, 2010 — admin

Real rugs (hand woven oriental and occidental rugs) are truly pieces of hand craftsmanship to showcase in your home.

They are a piece of a weaver’s life that you get to enjoy. A piece of art that will live centuries (if it is properly cared for).

Commodity rugs are mass produced today to feed a need of the fact that many people have hard floors in their homes, and they want a nice looking area rug, but they do not want to pay a fortune for it.

As with anything produced today, there can be items that are truly a great value, and others that are not worth your hard earned money. And viscose rugs are one of these areas where the great deal is just not worth it.

Viscose (also known as rayon) is in my opinion one of the absolute worst fibers to ever choose to use in something that people will walk on. Here are just a few reasons why:

Rayon/viscose is a weak fiber that distorts and breaks.

Rayon/viscose is a weak fiber that distorts and breaks.

In strength tests, wool fibers can be bent up to 10,000 times before it breaks. Silk is also very strong at 2,000.

What is rayon? 70.

Yes 70. So as you can guess, walking on it becomes quite stressful for a viscose rug. Also, washing the rug (where you are required to do a little scrubbing) can be very stressful.

Rayon/viscose, because it is made from cotton by-products and wood pulp fibers, tends to show soil very quickly. It also yellows with time and can have a yellow/brown cast when it gets wet. (If you are a professional rug cleaner, you will want to give the rug a vinegar rinse, and dry face down after water removal so that you can lessen this browning and wick any that occurs to the back side of the rug.)

Another weakness of viscose rugs is the dye quality. They easily bleed.

Viscose rugs have dyes that are rarely colorfast.

Viscose rugs have dyes that are rarely colorfast.

In this case, a cold water flood in a home resulted in these dyes migrating all throughout this viscose rug. This is not reversible.

A flood, improper cleaning, or even a simple spill can bleed viscose rug dyes.

A flood, improper cleaning, or even a simple spill can bleed viscose rug dyes.

Why would manufacturers use a fiber so unsuitable for a rug in their inventory?

Simple. Because it is CHEAP.

They want the look of silk, but they do not want to actually use silk. They turn away a far superior fiber that will last a century, and exchange it for one that might have one solid year of looking good.

For professional rug cleaners, they are trained to identify rayon/viscose rugs and to run from them. They are one of the few rugs that end up looking worse after cleaning than better. They distort, the dyes can bleed, they fade, and they look shaggy over time.

For rug buyers, if you want the look of silk, I would suggest seeking out a lower grade silk rug over anything made of rayon or viscose. The taller the face fiber height, the lesser quality a silk rug. High quality silk rugs have a high knot count and a very low nap. Here is a very nice Qum silk rug, woven in Iran.

If you want the look of silk, then buy a real silk rug.

If you want the look of silk, then buy a real silk rug.

Viscose rugs are what we in the industry label as “disposable rugs” because they have a short life under normal foot traffic, and then they end up in the landfill and you have to go buy another one.

If all you want is a disposable rug, then go get one. They are cheap. But you can also find some great deals on wool rugs, which are fantastic for the floor and will not give you any of the headaches that viscose does. And they will last you a much, MUCH longer time.

- Lisa

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