A couple of Rug questions

harryhides

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Oct 7, 2006
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Canada
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Tony
Customer had a little water in their basement and got the carpet damp.
This rug was laying on top but there were zero water marks or evidence of water.
Anyway, they claim that Grandma bought it in Turkey some time ago and that it is a silk rug and now has shrunk a bit into the middle
along the two long edges. They also claim that it was perfectly square before the water incursion.
Insurance adjuster wants me to try to comply with the customer's wishes to block and re-stretch it back to square.
I believe that it is made of Rayon and not worth the risk of attempting to re-stretch it.

What say you Ruggies out there ?

It lays flat and it not that far out of square.
Any idea where this rug was made and it's worth ?

PhelpsRug_IMG.jpg
 

sweendogg

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David Sweeney
If it was a true turkish or even persian oriental, they are often times not square because of how and where they are made. Pakistan and indian and some chinese work room rugs are coming out straight because they are slicing through the wefts to make the sides straight for us "westerners." I guess they decided (and proof by your customer) that Americans/Canadians have to have everything straight. Of course this causes alof of the problems with the overcasting being torn off the sides.

Harry have you pull any fiber for burn test? Silk burns alot differently than Rayon.
 

harryhides

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It's an 8 x 10 and I did do a burn test which is why I conclude that it is not silk but rather Rayon.

Here's another pic:

Phelps2_IMG.jpg
:
 

The Great Oz

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seattle
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bryan
I haven't seen a hand-knotted rayon rug yet, but that doesn't mean someone hasn't tried it. If the rug isn't silk it would most likely be made with mercerized cotton, which looks like silk initially and gradually loses shine with use and exposure to humidity. It also loses color easily and if hack cleaned will look like a bath towel when dry.

You can block it to square without too much trouble if you have a tack out floor, but when put back in use will gradually return to the present shape.

richardrothstein.com has a couple of sanitized pictures of Oriental rug blocking. ("No forced-air or harsh drying machines are used." When it comes to BS, Oriental rug dealers just can't help themselves.

PS: The sides falling off of Pakistani rugs is because they find it far faster to repeat the pattern of smaller rugs on big loom rather than make small rugs on a small loom. When they're finished they cut them apart and wrap the cut sides. If the rug happens to be from the side of the loom, it will have one side that will remain intact, because the weft fiber return into the weave holds it in place as it should. If from the center both sides will be prone to coming off since there is no return on either side, Unfortunately, "advances" in rug making get picked up in other rug weaving areas as well.
 

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