Tapestry Repair and Restoration, 18th Century Tapestry

We just finished restoration of big ca 8' x 10' 18th century French tapestry. We are going to deliver and install it on the wall tomorrow. We're all excited that we finished this very difficult job. This beautiful antique tapestry was falling apart when we picked it up from our customer's house. It has wool and silk face and silk parts were rotten and in the process of repair, the silk threads disintegrated and became like dust and powder. The wool parts were in better condition.

It was a delicate job and where ever we wanted o put the needles through to secure was weak and almost
un-repairable. But, we managed to finish it. Tapestry cleaning and repair is a good part of our service department and we have knowledgeable repair crew who do this with love and care.

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

San Francisco Antique Rug Show

San Francisco Antique Rug & Textile show will be held for the 3rd year from October 20 to 23, 2011 in Motel Capri. I just returned from Rug Summit 4 in Ann Arbor Michigan and had no intention of visiting S. F. show this year. But I changed my mind last night and reserved a hotel to drive there from Los Angeles this coming Friday.

It is fun, and educational. Besides, you can see many good pieces from around the world as dealers who participate and exhibit will bring the best of their rugs there. It is not late yet to plan your trip. You don't have to buy anything (of course if you can resist). Just come and visit the show. Unlike any other exhibitions in halls, and hotels, this one is in Motel Capri in a kind of Oriental bazaar type of setting. This motel has 40 rooms and each exhibitor rents one room with one big bed in it. They open up their rugs on the beds, chairs and hang a few pieces on the walls. They also hang their best pieces from the rods in the balconies, and this creates a beautiful cottage and rural scene.

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

Boring Depressing Life

Life is beautiful and exciting. It is like a mystery box. You never know what is in this box. You open it every day, every hour, and every minute. It surprises you all the time with something new and unexpected.

Have you ever thought if we had no color in life, what a boring and depressing life we would have?! Imagine if rather than a colorful life with thousands of shades of colors, we had everything in white, gray, or light brown. Could we stand that kind of life?

So let us celebrate life and enjoy it to the fullest extent. Let us do something good today to make someone happy. I promise to practice what I preach. I start from myself.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com

Tel. 310-770-9085

Qashqai Blak Tent

I took this picture from the inside of a Qashqai tent. Pure clear sky with no pollution. No traffic, no bills, no CNN to scare you to death with always breaking bad news, no stock market news and artificial ups and downs. Look at the tent decoration and Qashqai weavers' work of art. Qashqai hospitality in incomparable. If you pass by their black goat hair tent, they invite you inside and share with you lunch or breakfast. They always have milk, hot tea, organic yogurt, and freshly baked bread to offer. What a simple and stress-less life. I miss those trips. Really :-(

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

Rug Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning: The Traditional Way

When I was a teenager in the mid and late 60's, I helped my dad in his carpet shop in Tehran. I remember one carpet cleaner with whom my father used to work. He had a chariot with two horses pulling the cart. He came to the store on odd days of Tuesday and Thursday to pick up and drop off rugs for cleaning. He took the rugs to a fountain in south east Tehran called Cheshmeh Ali  for dusting (beating by sticks) and cleaning in the river. He did not use chemicals (Tide was introduced few years later) to wash the rugs with. Instead, he used a kind of soapy roof, amole, or the root of the soap plant. 

After washing, rinsing and extracting water by hand squeezing they put the rugs on the rocks under the sun to dry out naturally. Everything was very simple but efficient. There was no dryer, no wringer, and no centrifuge machines, but the way they did it, worked pretty well. I miss those days. They passed so fast. Now our lives is full of chemicals and toxic materials. We cannot go to bed without checking our e-mails, text messages and visiting our facebook accounts. What a stress!!


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

Rugs, Carpets and Qashqai Men

Qashqai tribe in the province of Fars has a long history of around 600 years. Qashqai tribe is consisted of six clans or sub-tribes such as Shesh Boluki, Large Kashkuli, Darreh Shuri, Amaleh, Farsi Madan, and Small Kashkuli. The tribe migrates around 300 miles twice a year. In the hot summer they go north to the foot of Zagros mountain. In the cold winter, they go south to get closer to the Persian Gulf in search of pastures for their herds. Qashqai's live in black tents made of goat hair which is oily and greasy which make the hair/tent waterproof in the rain and cold winters of the region. Many of the Qashqai's are settled and do not migrate anymore.

Qashgai weavers make beautiful Kashkuli and Gabbeh rugs. All these rugs/carpets are woven by talented Qashqai women who learn how to make rugs from their mothers. Men always seen in their felt hats in the tribe help with shearing and dyeing the wool. The weavers use ground or horizontal looms as this type of loom can be disassembled easily when they want to migrate. Dyeing is a secret not shared with the public and only few know how to create beautiful hues out of local herbs and plants. Walnut husk, pomegranate, and indigo are among the stuff they use for dyeing.

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

Rug Summit 4, Ann Arbor Michigan Second Day

Today, Saturday October, 8, 2011 was the second day of the Rug Summit 4. Several speakers talked about the following matters:

- Armen Dohamian about Association of Rug Care Specialists (ARCS)
- Howard Morris on Using Media & Video to Sell Your Services
- Greg Turcotte on Equipment & Chemistry
- Panel on Rug ID

A good part of the program that I liked very much was asking several people from the audience to get up and express their opinions on different matters. I was also given a chance for a few minutes to talk about my appearance in Judge Judy's court. I liked Armen Dohamian's talk about a new professional organization, Association of Rug Care Specialists ARCS which specifically deals with rug care and not the general field of wall to wall carpet and broad field of mold, fire, restoration, and ... which does not directly deal with rugs. I filled the application to joint ARCS. I believe rug specialists and enthusiasts should support and join this association.

The Summit ended around 3:00 pm. Some of the participants left for the airport to return to their cities. Several went to Tom Monahan's rug washing studio for a test of few bleeding Afghan rugs cleaning.

Overall, I liked the Rug Summit and it was well worth to leave my work for a few days (four days) to attend it. I did not want to rush back to Los Angeles right after the Summit. I will go back tomorrow which is Sunday. I will be back at work on Monday morning. I have already missed my rug gallery.

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

Rug Summit 4, Ann Arbor Michigan

I am in Ann Arbor Michigan now attending Rug Summit 4. I got here at 1:00 am this morning from Los Angeles. Registration began at 7:30 am followed by several presentations:

- Introduction and Welcome by Tom Monahan
- Making the Phone Ring Off the Hook by Bob Brewer
- ARMS, Software For Your Rug Business by Greg Turcotte & Randal Stopp
- How to Effectively Clean Sewage-Saturated Rugs by Michael Pinto
- Creating an Effective Website and Search Engine Optimization by Gary Arndt
- 30 Years of Rug Washing by Robert Mann
- Higher Level of Instruction by Aaron Groseclose

I enjoyed the talks as they were educational, informative and fun. I met several good old friends, few Internet and Facebook friends, and met many new ones. The program lasted until 4:00 pm and was followed by a tour of  Centrum Force's facilities, and a dinner party. The program begins tomorrow Saturday at 8:00 am.

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

Moth Damage and Rug Cleaning

 Moth damage that goes unchecked is one of the worst things that can happen to your rug. Moth damage on carpets is like rust on metal. Once it sets in the entire piece can start falling apart with no way to save it. It can happen when a rug sits in storage for a long amount of time but also happens in your home if the rug is in a dark area and is not regularly cleaned, vacuumed and rotated.

Moth damage to rugs is caused by the common clothing moth. It's small and is usually silvery tan or soft brown in color. This moth flies slowly but with a rapid flutter of small wings. The females can lay hundreds of eggs each, and the eggs hatch into larvae that consume wool and silk fibers. Moths and their larvae thrive in dark, undisturbed areas where a rug gets little traffic and is not often vacuumed. A bad infestation sometimes leaves a cobweb-like veil in the area of the damage, along with fine, sand-like debris. An infestation often involves more than one rug, and can spread to (or from) woolens or furs hanging in a closet or sweaters stored in a drawer.

A moth infestation can be easily deterred by a few housecleaning tips:
•Have your area rug professionally cleaned. Once a year is recommended.
•Vacuum the entire rug, especially areas under furniture. Once a month is best.
•Rotate the area rug, this always helps the area rug wear evenly. Twice a year if possible.
•Get your air ducts cleaned once a year. Moths love undisturbed areas.
•Before storing your area rug get it professionally cleaned and properly wrapped for storage.

In certain cases like in the pictures shown above it is too late for saving the rug and the only viable option is throwing it away. If you do happen to see moth damage in its early stages we may be able to help with moth damage restoration. By following the tips mentioned above, though, you have the best chance of keeping your rugs moth free, looking great and have them healthy to use for years to come.


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

Tapestries

 

We've done a little reorganizing at our showroom recently and have put some great tapestries on display. These works of art are beautiful, portable and can brighten up your home; not to mention the great conversation pieces they make.

Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length (called the warp) and those parallel to the width (called the weft); the warp threads are set up under tension on a loom, and the weft thread is passed back and forth across part or all of the warps. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike cloth weaving where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous; the artisan interlaces each colored weft back and forth in its own small pattern area. It is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colors worked over portions of the warp to form the design.

The success of decorative tapestry can be partially explained by its portability. Kings and noblemen could roll up and transport tapestries from one residence to another. In churches, they could be displayed on special occasions. Tapestries were also draped on the walls of castles for insulation during winter, as well as for decorative display. Now they can be bought and used to update the decor of any home. So come on in and take a look at a new way to liven up your residence... and if you already own one and it needs cleaning or repair contact us anytime as we are the experts to handle that job as well. "Beautiful, just beautiful!"


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

Rug Repair or Rug Weaving: Which One Is More Difficult?

While weaving a rug requires talent, patience, and love, it only deals with one type of rug weaving and knotting technique. Let me elaborate on this. If you are a weaver in Tabriz in north west Iran, you only weave Tabriz carpets with symmetrical knots. If you are a rug weaver in Kerman in south  central Iran, you weave rugs with asymmetrical knots.

But if you're one of the repairmen/women working in our team in Los Angeles, you should expect unexpected as you maybe assigned rugs/kilims to work on from different countries/cultures from around the world with different weaving techniques, construction, and material. Shag, Flokati, atrificial silk carpets, machine made area rugs, and old/antique tapestries are among these types of rugs that we receive for cleaning, repair and restoration.

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