Silk fringe cleaning

i haven't run into that one but my guess would be that , like most "silk" rugs, it may just be a mercerized cotton.

If that's the case , you'd try to be as least aggressive as possible and neutral or acid as you can.
You will most likely clean the sheen out of it though.
True mercerization uses Sodium Hydroxide(lye)
A similar process uses an ammonia solution of some sort.

In the past, I've bought a product that came in an aerosol can that added the sheen back to the fiber. I looked to see if I could find it.
Maybe someone else will know where to buy it or has another process.

Hello Rugman,

Silk fringes are easy to clean if you "wash" the rug with water and shampoo.

I suppose you surface cleaned the rug ( could be a wool pile like persian Isfahan, Tabriz and even some Baluch)


Now we imagine that you want only to wash the silk fringes of a rug ( with wool pile or 100% silk)

you can lay it flat on a table with the fringes hanging at the edge, use mild water, wool/silk shampoo

scrub and work with your hands and flush and rinse with water, silk fringes clean very well.


The only issue is that one or two inches of the rug will get wet and this could be a problem if the dyes of

the rug are not color fast. So you need to fill 2 inches of the rug near to the fringes with a product that will

protect the colors and prevents bleeding ( there are many of these products especially formulated )

If you do not have any, so at least you can fill the area with a solution of a mordant for wool or silk

(alum , cream of Tartar, 6 to 8 percent of the weight of dry fiber, even 15% )

Hope it helps

good luck

jamshid rowshan

Hello

Tabriz rugs with silk warp are made of quality wool and real natural silk
and when washed come out great with natural shine of the wool and silk.

She is persian and wants a luster wash as they do in Iran? and how she knows about it?

In Iran the rugs (normally all are persian rugs) are washed routinely the same way!

1-They wet the rug on a cement slab with tap water flush and squeeze the water
2-Then they preparea watering can with Calcium Hypochlorite (chlorine) maybe 5%
and pour it on the rug and agitate a little to penetrate the solution in the wool
3-After a few minutes (5 minutes) flush and rinse with water
4-Shampoo the rug with maybe "Tide" powder!
5-Flush and rinse
6- prepare a watering can of water and hydro (reducer agent) then pour it on the rug and wait a few minutes
7- flush and rinse again with water: final rinse
8-squeeze the water and lay it down flat to dry

yes the chlorine will make the wool a little bit shiny (Dr. Aziz) in Iran maybe the rug is washed with lye (sodium hidroxide)
you have to apply an anti-chlorine product then, normally sodium metabisulphite


I do not recommend this process.

Just by washing this rug normally, it will become clean and shiny.

because is a very low pile rug maybe you can use an orbital machine (like bonnet) and use a specific juice to
polish the surface and make it look great. remember to brush then pilewise with a groomer

hope it helps

jamshid rowshan

Recently low moisture cleaned a red bleeding wool rug with silk fringes. Got the smalles bit of red on the fringe. Any way to take that out?

An acetic acid rinse (3-4% only) will give you the "luster" wash. It removes the residue that surface cleaning leaves behind, and will make it shinier. We have a few dealers that ask for the same... vinegar rinse does the trick. =)

Lisa