How To Flatten A Rug That Got Wet

How go a puckered rug to lie flat

(Reader photo)

Question: In my dining room, I accept a kilim rug that's most eight feet by 11 feet. When I had it cleaned, the warp threads shrank, as they often do in handwoven fabrics, and the rug became so rippled it was unsafe to walk on. I tried putting information technology on my couch, but every bit I'm allergic to wool, that meant I couldn't sit in that location. Then I left information technology flat for a while in a adequately humid environment. It seemed to relax a fleck and I put it back in the dining room. But while the central surface area is now flat, the side edges remain wrinkled. How can I treat them to avoid tripping without also dissentious the rug?

— Silver Spring

Answer: Andrew Ayoub, the manager at Ayoub N&H Carpeting & Rug in Kensington (240-430-0994; www.furniturerugcleaning.com), suggests turning the carpeting over if the pattern looks skilful on both sides, as kilim rugs oftentimes do. If reversing the carpeting isn't sufficient, the next step would be to have the rug blocked, a process that involves stretching it slightly and applying a minor amount of moisture. His shop charges $ane a foursquare foot for this service — near $90 for a carpeting the size of yours.

If the wrinkles persist, you can have a strip of vinyl attached to the underside of the curled edges. Because it would be stitched on, the process is reversible and therefore shouldn't damage your rug. Ayoub Northward&H Carpet & Rug charges $xx per linear foot for this treatment. So if the curled edges are along the carpeting's narrow width, the cost would exist about $320 (for 16 linear feet). If the long edges are wrinkled, it would be $440.

Question: I have a watercolor painting that has what appears to be mold backside the glass. The spots are white on the painting and light chocolate-brown on the mat, and they vary in size from pinhead to a quarter-inch. Is in that location a way to remove the spots without damaging the painting? The painting was washed past my father in the 1930s. It's not valuable enough to take to a conservator, so I am hoping to treat information technology myself.

— Bethesda

Answer: Fifty-fifty though you don't consider the painting valuable enough for professional conservation, you lot'd exist wise to start by getting advice from but such a person. Most conservators give free estimates. The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Creative Works has a free "observe a conservator" service on its Web site, www.conservation-the states.org, that allows you to search for experts close to where you live. For watercolors, y'all need a "paper conservator." A "paintings conservator" deals with oil paintings.

Ingrid Rose, a newspaper conservator in Washington (202-364-0599; miltonrose9@gmail.com), said people shouldn't be inconversable virtually asking for an estimate even if they assume a work isn't valuable plenty for professional person handling. "I learn from everything that comes through my shop," she said. "And if I can help educate people about the need for conservation framing and materials, I've done my job."

Rose said the brown spots on the matting are what is known every bit "foxing," which tin be caused past mold or metal impurities in the matting. Replacing the matting with new, conservation-rated material would be the easiest solution for that.

The white spots on the watercolor itself are more of a mystery considering they indicate that something removed bits of the pigment. (There is no white in watercolors; artists have to be careful to leave the newspaper showing where they want white areas.) Rose said at that place could exist something in the paper that leached and ate into the pigment. "But I would actually need to see information technology to respond that question."

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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/how-get-a-puckered-rug-to-lie-flat/2014/03/18/05832b20-a87b-11e3-8d62-419db477a0e6_story.html

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