Sisal Rug Downsizing

We had an interesting rug job recently when a musician brought in his Sisal rug. This musician is a session drummer and had been using the rug under his drum kit, but there was a problem. The rug was a little too big   framed around the drum kit so the drummer wondered if we could do something about it. We said, "absolutely!". We told him we could definitely downsize the rug to the exact dimensions he needed and that it would look like it was bought that way. Funny enough, the drummer had the exact dimensions on hand that he needed, so we did the measurements while he was there to confirm before we did any cutting and got straight to work. Take a look below:

We made perfect cuts to the Sisal rug and then took the canvas borders off the cut piece to reattach to the newly sized rug. Take a look at the results below:

The completed downsizing came out fantastic and was now the perfect size to frame the drummer's kit. When seeing the finished rug, the drummer exclaimed his happiness in now having the perfect rug to play onstage with during his shows. And that was music to our ears as well as his. If you have a rug that needs downsizing, bring it in to Rug Ideas so we can help you achieve the same great results!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Bokhara Repair

At Rug Ideas, we see new rugs every day that need cleaning, repair or both. But what may surprise people is that we often have other rug stores/dealers as clients who often need repair on their rugs. And when they need a repair they contact us as we have over a half century of expertise in dealing with expert repairs of all types of rugs. Last week one of our rug dealer clients came in with a Bokhara rug that needed some attention. Taker a look below:

As you can see the ends were unraveling which is not only an eyesore but also meant that if it continued it could possibly unravel into the design of the rug. Luckily the owner decided to take action before that happened. We are well known in the community for outstanding repair work and we have a great team of master weavers to repair the myriad of problems that a rug may encounter. He knew the rug would be in good hands with us, and we proceeded with the repairs right away. All the work was done by hand, and the securing of the ends came out great. Take a look below at the results:

This rug is now in great condition; look wise as well as structurally sound. If you have a rug that is doing some unraveling as well, bring it in to Rug Ideas where we can stop the damage and get it back to it's former beauty!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Turkish Rugs - City Workshops

Old Turkish carpets were woven in reds and dark and light blues, with rows of repeated lozenges, eight pointed stars, and hooked octagons. Many were woven in Ushak, which until the 16th and 17th centuries was the principal center for the Ottoman aristocracy.

Carpet production is a relatively recent occurence in the Hereke area in western Turkey, where carpet weaving was first introduced during the mid-19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. It is now the source of some of Turkey's most sophisticated carpets, which are distinguished by their elegance and the use of the Senneh knot, and sometimes with gold threads in the weaving of silk carpets. The style was inspired by Persian and French designs, and many follow the designs, and many follow the designs coming out of Kerman and Tabriz, while others were influenced by the Savonnerie and Aubusson carpets. Traditional Persian designs include motifs such as cloudbands, palmettes, and other floral elements in a purely curvilinear style, often with a central medallion and wide borders.

The villages between the towns of Kayseri and Sivas in eastern Turkey produce short pile rugs in a very broad range of designs, from sophisticated, curvilinear patterns influenced by those of Tabriz and Isfahan in Persia and adapted by the local Armenian weavers, to much more geometric styles and prayer rugs. All these patterns are worked in the red, blue, or ivory grounds that are favored in the West. What the weavers produce is controlled nowadays by a central buying policy, so that, no matter whether the rugs are in silk or wool, they are among the finest woven today.

sourced from 'Carpet Style' by Barty Phillips

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Rug Curling Solution - Leather Strap Installation

Some of our customers come in with fantastic rugs but have a problem with curling of the sides. Changing humidity or temperature, as well as storing a rug rolled up, can cause the edges of a rug to curl. Sometimes wefts may shrink and cause the curling on the edges. Using a rug pad help prevent the edges from curling but if it has already occurred we at Rug Ideas have a solution. Curling edges on a rug provide a tripping hazard and should be remedied as quickly as possible. How we do it is with leather strip installation.

The finished installation of the straps looks fantastic and will keep the rugs nice and straight. The leather strips hold the sides open as well as provide some weight to keep them in place. We still recommend using a rug pad for the reasons we wrote about in our previous posting of why to use rug pads. With the curling taken care of the rug aesthetically looks better and no longer provides a tripping hazard, which makes our customers very happy.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Beautiful Sarouk on Sale

Today we'd like to show you a wonderful Sarouk rug that is available at our showroom here in Los Angeles. It is a square Sarouk Rug, measuring 3'4" x 3'4". It is in excellent condition and can be used in a myriad of ways in ones home to liven up your decor. And right now it is priced to move at $1,150. Take a look below:

Sarouk rugs are those woven in the village of Saruk and also the city of Arak, Iran and the surrounding countryside. Sarouk rugs have been produced for much of the last century. The early successes of the Sarouk rug are largely owed to the American market. From the 1910s to 1950s, the “American Sarouk” also known as the “Painted Sarouk” was produced. American customers have an affinity for the Sarouk’s curvilinear and floral designs.

Sarouk rugs continue to be produced today, using the same methods as during early production. Known for their exceptional quality and ability to withstand decades of wear, Sarouks continue to be a best seller of the Persian rugs. They are made with a high quality, tough wool using a Persian knot. A tell tale sign of a Sarouk is usually its blue weft threads, salmon or tomato-red color mixed with ivory and blues, and a very traditional, floral style. We have a fantastic selection of Sarouk's, so come in to Rug Ideas today so we can show you just how great they are!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Water Damaged Rug - A Rug Rescue

Last week a customer brought in a rug of hers that had just gone through some water damage. She was away for the weekend and when she returned home, her whole apartment had flooded due to a water pipe breaking. While removing the rug from her living room, she placed it in her backyard. Unfortunately it was not dried flat, so bubbling of the rug occurred. Not only that but it was hard water that damaged the rug so it's texture was very rough/hard. Take a look below:

The owner thought her rug was a complete loss, but we put her mind at ease. What this rug needed was a thorough deep cleaning, which involves a complete wet washing. We went to work right away on the rug and  after we completed the natural drying it was a completely different rug. Take a look below:

Not only did we get all the bubbling out, but after our deep cleaning the pile is nice and soft again as well as being sanitized and deodorized. Our customer was so happy that she did not have to call this rug a loss. It now looks brand new and is ready for many more years of use. Another happy customer left with their rug and we were more than happy to help. If water damage occurs in your home and you need our help to rescue your rug, contact us right away so we can step you through your options to just that... the Rug Ideas way!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Turkmen Weavings: Some Thoughts on their Vocabulary of Ornament

Rug Ideas of Los Angeles presents:

Turkmen Weavings: Some Thoughts on their Vocabulary of Ornament with Dr. Jon Thompson

Oriental Carpet Scholar, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (retired)

Weaving among the Turkmen was a memory-based skill. As with language and folk music, it can be demonstrated that patterns transmitted from person to person by memory can remain relatively stable throughout many centuries. Also like language, the vocabulary of ornament is enriched from time to time with loan motifs, which undergo a slow transformation. This presentation examines several Turkmen motifs in detail. It will discuss their various sources, the transformations they have undergone, and in some cases their remarkable antiquity. It also mentions some of the pitfalls in this kind of art historical inquiry.

Dr. Jon Thompson is one of the foremost scholars in the field of Oriental carpets. He co-curated an exhibition which was highly influential in the recognition and appreciation of Turkmen rugs, and textiles, and generated collecting interests in this area that still exist today. He held the position of May Beattie Fellow in Carpet Studies at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and the Khalili Research Centre, at the University of Oxford in the UK, until his recent retirement. Dr. Thompson continues to teach in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and at the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2008 Thompson was the guest curator of an exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary of the New York-based Hajji Baba Club. The exhibition was on view at the New York Historical Society and at The Textile Museum on October 18, 2008, and was accompanied by a beautifully illustrated catalogue, Timbuktu to Tibet; Exotic Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors, also written by Dr. Thompson. Dr. Thompson was the 2008 recipient of the Textile Museum’s George Hewitt Myers Award, the highest honor given in the field of textile arts, which recognizes his lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions to the study and understanding of the textile arts.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

The Northeast - Caucasian Rugs

Caucasian rugs come in a wide variety of colors and geometric designs, with blue and red for backgrounds. A rug may be called a Shirvan, but the name only refers to the pattern. Ancient Caucasian populations probably learned the technique of knotting from the Seljuk invaders in the 11th century, but nothing survives from that time - not even any pictures - and the oldest known examples of carpets date from the 16th and 17th centuries, by which time the Persian influences were much in evidence.

Russian rule in the early 19th century meant the end of the nobility, and therefore the decline of the specialized workshops and the Persian influence. This gave an opportunity for the small village workshops to come to the fore, when there was a period of discovery of traditional motifs and techniques, going back to early weaving roots, and perhaps even to the Seljuk traditions, but the court motifs were absorbed into these designs, and these are the carpets that are found today.

Caucasian rugs are lively, abstract and noticeable. Shirvan come in three basic designs: large medallions (with the open spaces filled with small motifs), overall patterns of tiny, geometrical floral motifs and prayer rugs with blue and ivory ground. Baku carpets have large motifs and muted colors, such as ivory, blue and light blue. They are woven in small, neat, individual geometric motifs, and in the floral and boteh forms. Striped medallions, which originally come from Iran, are more in evidence than in rugs that are woven in other areas. Hila (Chila) carpets have a medallion layout with corner motifs, and the field is closely covered with botehs. Kuba carpets are very similar to Bakus, but the pile is longer and the colors much brighter. In the mountanous are of Daghestan, coarse carpets with a high pile are woven.

*sourced from 'Carpet Style' by Barty Phillips

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

City Workshops

Cities, such as Tabriz, Kerman, Kashan, and Meshed, are historically the largest in Iran and the most important centers of trade. During the "court" period (late 16th to early 18th centuries), finely knotted silk carpets, with gold and silver threads woven, were woven for the Safavid nobility. A court miniaturist created the designs, which were then converted to cartoons and used as models for the weavers. Persian artists, constantly searching for something new, devised more and more complex designs, and often introduced religious and poetic verses into the rug.

Court carpet workshops closed in the early 18th century, when the towns were occupied by the Afghans. In the 1920's, however, workshop carpets from these cities began to appear in Europe again, and they are still among the most outstanding oriental carpets that it is possible to find. The pile is cut very short, so that the contours of the pattern emerge very clearly. Almost all the city workshop carpets have a bright ground and symmetrical design. Medallions are often lobed, with 8 or 16 points.

Best-quality carpets are not normally woven in very large sizes, because they take several years to make. Many city carpets are renowned for their fine detailing. The pictorial rugs are justly famous, and include the four seasons (an allegory of the life of an Azerbaijanian peasant), ruins of mosques and palaces (of which there are many in the area), and magnificent vases and bowls found by archaeologists. Meshed carpets usually date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the most common design is the medallion, usually round or elongated in shape, and decorated with pendants and floral motifs. They are sometimes made with the jufti knot, which originated in the region. The coarser qualities are not particularly hard-wearing.

*sourced from 'Carpet Style' by Barty Phillips

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Cleaning & Repair - Antique Malayer Hamedan Rug

A new customer of ours brought in a beautiful rug that needed some attention. The rug was a Malayer Hamedan rug and was 100 years old. It needed a professional deep cleaning as well as repair work done. Both ends and sides were in different stages of unraveling and needed securing and rebinding to get it's structure sound again. Take a look at some before pics below:

We first secured the rugs ends and sides to prevent any further unraveling from happening while we proceeded with the deep cleaning. After the deep cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing was complete we put the rug in the hands of one of our master weavers so that the repairs could be completed. New Zealand wool was used for the sides and the work was all done by hand. The results are fabulous; take a look below:

This antique Malayer Hamedan rug now looks absolutely beautiful and is in great condition. The owners were actually speechless for a minute when they saw how good the rug looked after the cleaning and repairs.  They have since contacted us again to pickup a set of rugs they also have that need the same great attention to detail that Rug Ideas is known for. If you have a rug that needs some TLC, contact us at Rug Ideas so we can step you through your options for cleaning & repair!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085