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Rug Damage: Colour restoration
Colour bleeding is a very common issue. When a rug is cleaned in unorthodox ways it is likely to damage the rug and lead it to bleeding colours into the wool and creating a blurry image. Flooding and water damage can also lead to colour bleeding. If you believe that you have a valuable rug that needs cleaning, always leave the work to professionals as the damage can cost you much more to fix and possibly lower the value of the rug.
Rugs can be subject to all sorts of stains and spillages such as wine stains, coffee spillages or ink and wax that require specialist treatment to remove. Wool fibres are not as resistant to stains compared to synthetics fibres that are easy to clean off. This specific quality of wool makes it easy to stain and easy to dye using natural or vegetable dyes.
Silk fibres are also very strongly impacted by stains and therefore difficult to remove. This is due to the unique glossiness of the material that will not be maintained if the work is carried out inaccurately. Consequently, a series of tests are carried out before the stain is recognised and only then, our specialists will begin working in the colour repair.
There are a vast range of dyes used in handmade and machine-made rugs including vegetable dyes, azo dyes, aniline dyes, azo dyes, and chrome dyes. And there is a definite risk of damaging the rug through stain removal techniques which could cause colours to run or fade and even weaken fibres of the rug as a result. Therefore testing is used to minimise the risk of damage on a rug before the full procedure is carried out. There are a series of chemicals and natural ingredients used in the process of repairing the colour damage in a rug that depend on what category/group of stain is involved. Our dedicated stain removal specialist will analyse and test your rug before the procedure is introduced and when the essential information about the stain has been considered they will begin restoring your rug.
Stains can easily spread and sink into the pores of a rug which is why it is imperative that the stain is removed straight after the spillage has occurred. If left for long periods of time the fibres weaken and can even lead to rotting which is a much longer and costly restoration procedure. An example of this can be seen in one of our case studies where the rotten parts of an antique Persian Tabriz rug had to be completely removed and rewoven.
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