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Not all Persian or oriental rugs stack up together. If you want to maximize the originality and value of your decoration, a handmade Persian or Oriental rug is always the best choice – these pieces have durability, charm, and investment value. Here are some tips to help you determine authentic Handmade Oriental Rug.
Inspecting the back of the Rug or Carpet
Check for unevenness in the colored knots in the back of rug. You should see uneven areas thicker than others. Look at the weave at the back of the rug. Look for blue, red, or white horizontal lines of foundation threads. These threads are named Weft Threads – you might see wefts moving only about an inch and then covered by wool knots – but they have to be horizontal to the rug’s fringe.
No handmade rugs have any backing on it – whether it’s rubber or another synthetic material. Handmade rugs additionally never have the fringe sewn directly onto the rug.
Inspecting the front of the Rug or Carpet
Look at the front of the rug. Authentic handmade rugs will have design patterns of varying sizes and shapes from one end to the other. Check for cloth tags in the corner of the rug. These tags which often say ‘Made in Iran’ are a sure guarantee that the rug is most likely handmade.
Handmade rugs are usually made with wool – any sort of machine made fabric like nylon or polyester renders the rug not handmade. The weave of these synthetics is usually completely uniform – with none of the characteristic unevenness as a real handmade rug.
Quality Material Authentic Handmade Oriental Rug
Good wool should have a particular kind of sheen or luster – but should not shine. Many of today’s wool products blend them with petroleum based artificial material to attempt to make it resemble quality wool – this never really quite works, as it causes the wool to fall apart and become brittle, not to mention carry a bad industrial smell. The best wool is handspun, which can be identified by its knobby texture.
It’s somewhat easier to assess the quality of Silk than wool. It’s as simple as pulling a single small strand of silk from the rug and burning it – if it immediately shrivels and smells like burnt hair, it’s authentic silk. If there’s any other sort of reaction, then it’s made out of another material, most likely a treated cotton. Silk should always be extremely shiny.
