What to do with a damaged rug?
    Rug Restoration

If you face the dilemma of what to do with a damaged or worn rug, SORKIN'S can offer expert guidance. Quite often, the decision has many variables that need to be considered. But, to put these variables into proper perspective, one should understand just what options exist for repair or restoration of damaged rugs.

In the Oriental rug trade, quality restoration requires knowledge of rug structures, dyes and the hands of a skillful technician or restorer. To some people in the rug trade who simply do not have the knowledge or skill to execute restoration "repairing a rug" may simply mean cosmetic treatment to improve or mask the damage or problem.

Unfortunately, we see too many rugs that have simply been touched-up with dyes, had worn areas simply removed or had patch-work done. These remedies may suffice when costs do not justify better options. However, too often people seeking solutions to their damaged rugs are simply not properly informed of all the options available. In many cases, dealers who advertise "repair", simply do not know how to properly execute good restoration work.

Restoration is just what the word implies. A damaged area is actually rewoven to emulate, as much as possible, the original knot structure, design and dye intensity...thus restoring not only the rug visibly and structurally, but often the monetary value, as well.

The examples that follow will show some of the possibilities one can consider.

Border Damage

The border and side cord, or selvage, of this late 19th century Persian Ferahan-Sarouk, diminish the fact that most of the rug was in excellent condition. However, one's eye would always fixate on the minor worn areas.

Below you can see the results of a small investment in properly restoring such areas. Now, both the worn portion of the border, as well as the sides, are in excellent condition...structurally and visually, making the entire rug a visual treat!

Restoration can be particularly difficult when there are large areas that are badly damaged. Our restorers literally create a loom in microcosm within the existing rug. New warp threads must be woven into the rug and restoration then takes place around this new section of foundation that has been woven into the damaged areas. The close-up photo below provides an example of the small areas within which the restorer must work.

Major Restoration

SORKIN'S will advise clients on the viability of major restoration projects. An example is shown on this Persian Sultanabad, which dates from 1870-1880. The photos below show two views of just one of many, very damaged areas.

This particular rug had extensive areas of wear, similar to those shown below.

This was a very large rug and it was important to advise the clients whether an investment to the extent of this project was warranted. We provided examples of Sultanabads of similar vintage and size; the replacement costs, what such rugs have sold for in Sotheby's and other auction houses specializing in antique rugs, thus helping to provide justification for the investment.

As this rug was also a family heirloom, this added yet another element to be considered by the owners. The decision was made to proceed with the project, which took over a year. However, as the close-up below shows, SORKIN'S can provide excellent restoration.

This is the post-restoration view of the area shown above.

As this interior photo of the bedroom illustrates, the rug is now in wonderful condition, both structurally and visually. Our clients were delighted!

Pre-Restoration

In this example, the rug was a very large Persian Bijar rug from the 3rd quarter 19th century. The rug had various levels of wear and holes. However throughout the rug, there were areas that showed many years of very active use, according to the family member who presently owns the rug. Bijar rugs are particularly difficult to restore, as their very heavy texture make repiling difficult. In the attached pre-restoration and post-restoration comparison photos, one can see dramatic change. Again, the key was emulating the Bijar knotting structure, as well carefully matching or dying to the original yard colors.

Post-Restoration

Pet Stains!

Another area where SORKIN'S can provide excellent results is in the cleaning of rugs and removal of stains. We hand clean each rug, ensuring that worn areas or problem dyes do not become bigger problems, which is a frequent problem when such rugs are cleaned by people who do not specialize in cleaning of antique rugs.

Among the most difficult stains to remove are old pet stains. The example below shows dog urine on the ivory colored field of a Kerman rug. The owners had an old dog that left many such stains throughout the rug.
(show photo of pre-stain removal)

These type of stains take considerable time to remove and while not always 100% successful, we can usually remove most of the stain, if not all of it. Judge for yourself on the results of this Kerman. The clients were delighted, particularly since there were many such stains and the rug had been in the family.

Dog Damage!

Unfortunately, sometimes clients have dogs that have badly chewed a rug. This can be very unfortunate and can potentially do considerable damage. In this case, the dog took a chunk of nearly 5" off of the rug!

In this first example, these clients had recently purchased this rug. A new Oushak design, woven in India. Despite being a new rug, the rug was made to emulate the genre of Turkish Oushaks from the late 19th century, rugs which often used very soft wool, very textured in their knotting and in many cases, very soft colors. In some cases, Oushaks of this period mixed domestic wool with Angora wool, resulting in a very soft, lustrous pile. In the case of this new Oushak design, the weavers in India who made the rug did a superb job of capturing the spirit, in tone and texture, of the 19th century Oushaks. Unfortunately, this made restoration of the dog damage all the more difficult. This type of wool is particularly difficult to match, even harder when there is only one color, particularly if the color is a neutral tone.

In order to match the texture of the wool, we plied together two different shades of wool. The actual knot structure used on the original rug was the same as that used on Oushak rugs in the late 19th century. Had just any knot been used, it would have provided pile where the dog had destroyed the pile, but the texture of the pile would have always been apparent as being different from the original.

The fringe was another difficult aspect that required adapting techniques. The original rug uses a wool warp, a la the 19th century Oushak that it was emulating. To achieve this very soft wool for the warp threads required doing something to the new wool to capture the same texture as on the wool warps of the remainder of the rug. The solution was to heavily brush and hand card the wool, creating the fluffy texture found on the remaining fringe.

In the end, other than the owners who know where their dog did the damage, it is very likely that anyone would ever notice the restoration and structurally and esthetically, the rug has been revived...

More extensive wear requires more options to consider...

One must always consider if the money put into repair or restoration will result in a rug that will have value that justifies the investment. These clients made an appointment to bring in nearly a dozen rugs from their family, most of which were 19th century. Nearly all of the rugs were much damaged and due to budget constraints, not all rugs justified the investment of repair.

We advised these clients about certain rugs which simply did not justify making an investment. In other cases, rugs warranted modest repairs to improve them structurally or esthetically, but we advised them as to which rugs warranted repairs. In some cases, we suggested different repair options.

The clients had one rug which we informed them as being quite special. Special due to the fact that it was 19th century, with wonderful colors and for about 80%-90% of the rug, in wonderful condition. However, the 10%-20% of the rug that was not in good condition was heavily damaged or simply missing areas.

We provided a sense of the varying degrees of which the rug could be restored and an estimate of the costs. In the end, after evaluating the various options, the clients chose to fully restore the damaged areas; a decision which we felt was financially justified.

These photos show the Kuba before and after repairs...

Let's look at the various areas to be repaired...

Beginning with the corner of this Caucasian rug, where the sides meet one end...

The sides, often referred to as "selvage", were much worn and in some cases, simply missing. The ends were also quite worn, with the wear eating into the body of the rug. Thus, the optimal means of restoration was to actually rebuild the selvage. In doing so, the goal was to emulate the original, undamaged areas of the rug, while at the same time, ensuring that any restoration would capture the character of age.

First, we proposed recreating a selvage that had multiple cords of warp threads and the use of blue dyed wool, as in the areas that were not damaged. Doing so required that the colors that naturally mellowed over time into a medium blue of varying shades were captured in the restoration. To accomplish the colors, we blended wools by plying them together. Using just one shade of blue, however good a color match, would have caused too much of a contrast in the blues. Plying more than one tone helped to capture the gradation of tones that comes with age.

The fringe was handled by actually reweaving new foundation, using wool warps that matched the original wool warps. This also allowed restoration of the knotted pile in a manner that captured both the color and texture of the original portion of the rug, while resulting in a fringed ending that also resembled the original areas.

As with the prior comparison, the blue selvage is worn, as it was through much of the rug. The post restoration photo shows the transformation. In the pre-restoration, one can also see the wear in the pile of the rug. In the black areas, the wear is actually oxidation due to a corrosive mordant used in the original dying. If only the black corrosive tones were low, we would probably have not suggested restoring the other areas. The reason being is if the only low areas were the corroded ones, it would help underscore the age of the rug. However, in this example, we felt it would be best to restore all colors, but used a sheared the black yarns very short, so they maintained the height of other black yarns that had corroded throughout the rug.

The end result is that the restoration is almost undetectable. Not all rugs would warrant such extensive work. However, in the case of this rug, some 80% - 90% of the rugs was in wonderful condition. Unfortunately, the 10%-20% that was worn drastically took away from the esthetic enjoyment for the owners and also, helped to restore both the esthetic and structural integrity of the rug.

We have included one more example of the transformation that can result from good restoration. Below we show the before and after photos of damage done to a late 19th century Rabat rug, from Morocco.

As with any rug, we needed to evaluate whether the cost of restoration would be warranted. In this case, recognizing that late 19th century Rabat rugs are far and few between, we felt the restoration would be financially justified. Again, the post-restoration photo below illustrates the success of the restoration.