J. Brightwell
Member
I attended carpet and rug dyeing training this week with Chris Howell/Colorful Carpets and thought I would provide a short review of the class. As I don't post here and don't really have a dog in the fight with regard to some of the observations made when Chris posts about his work and the prices he commands, I hope this review is seen as being unbiased. Full disclosure, I did attend the class for free. Chris sets aside one seat in each class for a veteran to attend at no cost and I was fortunate enough to do so this week.
I attended an IICRC Color Repair seminar a while back, at least eight years ago. Simply put, it wasn't worth the money I spent. I never considered offering the service because there was little hands-on work during the class and the dyes used were absolutely horrible. Really, a complete waste of time and money. With that being my color repair experience, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Chris' class. There is no comparison.
I would say the ratio of note taking to hands-on work is about 40/60. We got into the hands-on work the very first day with working on bleach spot repairs. No standing around waiting either. Although a small class, we each had our own equipment and material. I learned more that afternoon than I did in the two days at the IICRC course. That was pretty much the format for the three days, some discussion of what we were going to do and then jumping into actually doing it. In addition to the bleach spot repair, the hands-on work included air brushing rugs, creating custom colors, the ColorClean process, and a complete color change on a rug. There might more that I'm forgetting right now.
As for selling product, Chris had a number of products available for purchase but didn't pressure anyone into buying anything. With the exception of his dyes and his Color Cue app, which are proprietary, if you didn't want to purchase product from Chris, he had no issue providing the information so we could purchase supplies on our own.
I can't speak to the value of the class as it relates to the price because I attended for free. That said, if color repair is a service you want to offer, the value in Chris' class would be exponentially greater than that of an IICRC course.
Overall, the class really was worthwhile. The dyes are outstanding and after seeing them in "action", I'm convinced they are permanent. The Color Cue app Chris developed makes matching a color much easier. Not necessarily easy, but easier than using a color wheel. Again, the class was small but Chris answered all our questions and spent plenty of time with each of us during the hands-on training. There is also a private FB group that has a lot of information available as well as being a resource for advice and assistance from others.
Although plenty of practice is required, I have a completely different outlook on this service when compared to what I thought after the IICRC class and am pretty confident I'll be adding it to the arsenal.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
I attended an IICRC Color Repair seminar a while back, at least eight years ago. Simply put, it wasn't worth the money I spent. I never considered offering the service because there was little hands-on work during the class and the dyes used were absolutely horrible. Really, a complete waste of time and money. With that being my color repair experience, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Chris' class. There is no comparison.
I would say the ratio of note taking to hands-on work is about 40/60. We got into the hands-on work the very first day with working on bleach spot repairs. No standing around waiting either. Although a small class, we each had our own equipment and material. I learned more that afternoon than I did in the two days at the IICRC course. That was pretty much the format for the three days, some discussion of what we were going to do and then jumping into actually doing it. In addition to the bleach spot repair, the hands-on work included air brushing rugs, creating custom colors, the ColorClean process, and a complete color change on a rug. There might more that I'm forgetting right now.
As for selling product, Chris had a number of products available for purchase but didn't pressure anyone into buying anything. With the exception of his dyes and his Color Cue app, which are proprietary, if you didn't want to purchase product from Chris, he had no issue providing the information so we could purchase supplies on our own.
I can't speak to the value of the class as it relates to the price because I attended for free. That said, if color repair is a service you want to offer, the value in Chris' class would be exponentially greater than that of an IICRC course.
Overall, the class really was worthwhile. The dyes are outstanding and after seeing them in "action", I'm convinced they are permanent. The Color Cue app Chris developed makes matching a color much easier. Not necessarily easy, but easier than using a color wheel. Again, the class was small but Chris answered all our questions and spent plenty of time with each of us during the hands-on training. There is also a private FB group that has a lot of information available as well as being a resource for advice and assistance from others.
Although plenty of practice is required, I have a completely different outlook on this service when compared to what I thought after the IICRC class and am pretty confident I'll be adding it to the arsenal.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
