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Best done
by professional, a few minor repairs may be attempted at
home.
If you have
the skill, experience and patience, you may carry out minor
repairs such as sewing the side cords, and the curling
edges. The basic tools required are more or less the same as
for weaving.
Scissors,
curved knives, metal combs, various sizes of hooks and
needles, beeswax, pliers, a small wooden frame, natural
fibre of cotton, wool and silk for piling and a set of magic
makers.
The
fringe
Most rugs
are characterised by a fringe on both ends.
There are
some carpets which begin or end with a woven section of
Glim-baft, and some which have no fringe at all. The true
purpose of the fringe is to protect the pile. When the
fringe is damaged speedy attention is needed to prevent the
disintegration of the pile realising a new fringe must be
done only by professional.
Repairing gilim ends
After the
fringes, the Glum ends, are immediately woven to the rug. To
prevent from fraying and to protect the rug, these weft
threads have the same function as the fringes, If any thread
in the Gilim gets loose, these gradually break one by one
effecting the knotted pile and the Gilim gets ruined over a
short time. In case the warp and weft threads of this area
get disintegrated or rotted, they should immediately be
removed until the firm and solid weft threads are reached.
Then with a
strong and matching thread, normal, diagonal or zig-zag
stitches can be sewn along the warp threads. By this method
the decomposition of the rug is prevented.
Side
cords
After
knotting the first row of the rug, the weft threads are
passed between the warp threads. A few of these are bound
around the last two or three warp threads, which form the
side cords. In addition, extra woollen or silk over binding
(depending on the type of rug) acts to protect the rug. The
side cords are often exposed to constant wear; therefore
they need to be repaired as soon as the cords break and
before getting damaged.
Repairing
side cords doesn’t influence the value of the rug and helps
it to live a longer life.
Curling
edges
The sides
of some rugs such as Sarugh, Bijar, Kãshãn, Ghom and Tabriz
are susceptible to curling.
This seldom
happens in loosely knotted and single weft rugs. when the
weft threads are pulled tightly around the warp or if the
threads are made of over spun fibres, the curls tend to
develop more often. The repairs can be carried out at home
by laying the rug on a smooth surface, pile downwards.
A 4 cm.
Wide leather or linoleum strip is sewn with a strong thread
and needle all along the length of the rug. The thread
should always be run over a lump of beeswax, before
commencing the sewing process. The stitches should be very
small on the rug and not visible through the pile.
Darning
and re-piling
When the
warp, weft and pile of a carpet gets damaged by fire, moths
and constant wear, it needs to be repaired immediately.
Repairing the damaged pile is not an intricate task but one
that does require some experience. The first step is to
clean the carpet.
The damaged
knots are pulled out from the front of the rug by a needle
or hook. New warp and weft threads must match the one in the
rug, both in thickness and colour. Before starting the
process of re-piling, the type of knot whether Senneh or
Ghiordes should be ascertained.
Also
examine carefully from the back of the rug, the design of
the carpet. After re-piling the damaged spots, the newly
repaired part should he flattened tightly from the back with
a warm iron.
Another
easy method of concealing, the wear in the rug is to “paint”
it with a colourfast paint (Magic Markers). This is a
temporary patch work arrangement, as over a period paint
wears off and the damaged portion is again visible.
Wrinkles
In some of
the rugs with the woollen warp and weft some parts develop
wrinkles, which means the foundation has rotted.
There is no
solution to get rid of these wrinkles.
It’s best
to use these rugs in an area where there is less wear. If
the wrinkled area is in the centre, the warp and the weft
can be pulled and stretched by inserting it into a wooden
frame.
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