“Painting” of both new and old rugs has become epidemic. A recent trip to the New York rug market revealed room after room of employees painting old rugs. The problems with painted rugs are many and the consumer needs to be informed of the consequences.
First, if the paint is not washfast – and it usually is not – the rug will be prone to subsequent colour bleeding during professional wet cleaning. Second, the painting is often used to cover over worn areas but this is not disclosed to the customer. If the painting is in fact disclosed, then the buyer should pay a fair price for the painted rug. They should not pay for a rug that was obviously worn but has now been painted over in a circumspect or even deceptive manner.
Why do some dealers or retailers paint over oriental rugs, whether worn or new? One common scenario is to hide worn areas of an older rug where the foundation has become exposed. Using dye markers, coloured inks, water or solvent-based tints, the lighter coloured worn areas where the foundation is exposed are “tinted” or coloured over to match the original pile colour and disguise the wear. The surface painting or tinting is quicker and less expensive than reknotting or inserting new pile, which is the proper way to restore a worn area or missing pile. By merely painting over the wear spot, these worn areas will quickly return to their prior faded appearance during use by the customer.
A second and more severe problem, however, is that the surface painting will often bleed into surrounding areas of the rug when liquids are spilled or when the rug is washed. Many of the surface colours, when overpainted, are not washfast and can bleed profusely even with the best of professional cleaning and care.
Some newer oriental rugs are also painted, either on the back or on the face (pile side). New rugs from India and Pakistan are sometimes “painted” on the back (or underside) of the outer border or fringe. When painted, the colours in the outside border are typically black, dark blue, red or kelly green; and these colours are prone to bleed or colour run when wet. Other reasons for painting the pile of oriental rugs, even though new or not noticeably worn, is to enhance surface colours and/or to eliminate colour variations. These variations in surface dye colour are known as “abrash”. Though normal or pleasing to most, abrash colouration may be disliked or misunderstood by buyers, and thus some dealer decides to “paint” over this special effect. It is a strange way to go.
But how can you know if the rug you have purchased or are considering buying has been painted? First, ask the dealer or retailer several related questions. Has the rug ever been tinted or painted over, and how do they know one way or the other? Ask if the dyes and rug colouration are guaranteed to be washfast, i.e., can the rug be safely wet cleaned? They may assure you it can, even when it cannot, so get the assurance in writing. The best way to determine wash fastness is the simple Turkish towel test mentioned later. Dealers selling painted rugs are not the most trustworthy. So, if you are not assured or confident about the purchase, then avoid it and look for another rug or rug dealer, or both.
Inquire also if the dyes are natural or synthetic in origin. Naturally dyed rugs are often more aesthetically pleasing and more expensive, but your main concern should be “Are they colour fast?” That is, are the dyes and colours resistant to premature light fading and to colour bleeding when wet? Some naturally dyed rugs (and certain painted rugs) may have excellent colour fastness, but many others do not. If the dyes are not “fast” or secure and the pile has been “painted”, then the rug cannot be successfully washed and adequately cleaned.
Our best advice is to do a simple pre-test to check for fugitive dyes, poor surface colouration, or rug painting. The test is easy for anyone to do. Any suspicious areas should be tested, or do the test on all darker colours or major-coloured areas. Moisten a white (or Turkish) towel with tap water, and then rub or blot persistently on all colours. Do this on both the face or pile and on the back where appropriate. If any colour comes off or transfers onto the towel, it is indicative of a latent colour bleeding problem that can cause serious problems later.
Testing the colours on the surface or pile applies to both new and old rugs. If any colour transfers or would appear to bleed during the test, then do not buy this rug. We cannot recommend buying a “painted” rug or any rug that is not colourfast.
