Mercenized Cotton
- Thread starter Timothyscarpet
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No tag, just burned fringes and face yarns, both smelled like paper....maybe rayon face and cotton foundation. I read about mercenized Cotton being made to help the cotton fiber stand up to crushing. It was a rug I bought at an antique store to practice some cleaning techniques so I'm going to try and see what my limits are....looks like there is a double weft yarn with blue weft and a white weft. Around 391kpsi. Super filthy though should be a fun one
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- Nov 12, 2008
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That's a tough one to advise on w/o actually seeing it. I can tell you from years of experience when I see those deep reds in ANYTHING whether upholstery or area rugs I proceed with more caution. The reason is I would say that rug has a fairly high chance of bleeding and if it does it will almost certainly be the red dyes that will do it. I would not use the oxy buff shampoo or anything with oxy in the label for that matter just to be extra cautious on that particular rug. If you cannot determine for absolute certain the fiber content and there is no tag that is automatically good reason to ask the customer to sign a waiver. If they're not willing to do that pass on it, end of story. Cotton and rayon will burn similarly, but I haven't seen enough rayon/ viscose in my area to be really expert at identifying it. Wool is extremely easy to test because it smells exactly like burning hair. The fringes are almost certainly cotton and that may be the foundation of the rug. I strongly suspect the face fibers are not rayon, but wool, but I can't possibly be certain from a picture. Wool is a great fiber and normally very easy to clean. Rayon fiber will distort easily and if left distorted to dry it is near impossible to get it right again.
So, what to do. Be extra cautious how you clean it and especially what you use on it. I'd recommend either a good prespray that is wool and fine fabric safe or a wool shampoo. The natural sponge is what I use too on some rugs if I'm being over cautious. I also like to know the original cost of the rug before I clean it and again, no waiver on that and I'm not doing it, period. With a fine fabric shampoo followed by light extraction w/o getting too wet at any point that should clean up good. If it does turn out to be rayon you'll need to be extra careful about grooming it out as it dries. I would be surprised that the owner does not know what that rug is, but perhaps they just never paid attention. If it's an older rug that also lends to it NOT being rayon/viscose. Cleaning these kinds of rugs in the home can back fire on you and it would be advisable to take both a rug cleaning and upholstery cleaning course. Last thing, do whatever you have to in order to get it dry quickly. Bleeding happens as something is drying. If it dries with bleeding it's extremely difficult to correct. Those fringes don't look too bad and should respond well to shampoo. I don't know if the Oxy buff would harm it, but I'd be a little gun shy using it on that particular rug. Oh, one last very important thing. Be absolutely certain to check whatever chemical you use with a cotton towel for bleeding on that rug. I'd be surprised if at least the red doesn't test positive for bleed, but again, I'm looking at a picture. I hope this helps.
I can't say I've run into Mercerized cotton in rugs before. It's certainly possible, but given that the point of a cotton rug would be cost-reduction and rayon is much cheaper than even cotton it would be an unlikely material. At any rate if it were a customer's I would treat it like the more delicate fiber, just in case.
With cotton you could get away with more agitation, but agitation on wet rayon will likely tear fibers apart. Check the sponge and rinse water for excess shedding as you go, it should make for an interesting experiment. Bright colors bleed easily on both fiber types, so be prepared for that.
I haven't used OxyBuff, but looking at the sale page I'm not sure I'd use it on dyed fibers. At any rate testing is always a good habit. You can use a chem 1000 times and it'll do something weird on the 1001st.
Cotton and even more rayon will dry brown and stiff if you don't give it some attention and fast drying. Groom, groom, groom to keep it soft.
I'm not sure it's a project I'd take on for pay, but since it's your rug have fun and try out anything that comes to mind.
With cotton you could get away with more agitation, but agitation on wet rayon will likely tear fibers apart. Check the sponge and rinse water for excess shedding as you go, it should make for an interesting experiment. Bright colors bleed easily on both fiber types, so be prepared for that.
I haven't used OxyBuff, but looking at the sale page I'm not sure I'd use it on dyed fibers. At any rate testing is always a good habit. You can use a chem 1000 times and it'll do something weird on the 1001st.
Cotton and even more rayon will dry brown and stiff if you don't give it some attention and fast drying. Groom, groom, groom to keep it soft.
I'm not sure it's a project I'd take on for pay, but since it's your rug have fun and try out anything that comes to mind.
This one is my let's see what happens rug! At least if I ruin it I will gain experience in what not to try! I'll keep the thread posted.
You didn't read the post about this being a rug I picked up for 25 bucks at the antique shop. This one will be a "let's see hoe far we can push it" I've already determined the face yarn is either cotton but probably rayon. Definitely not wool, I've cleaned plenty of wool rugs. Dye bleed test didn't give any color transfer. I am curious about the blue weft yarns, though. At any rate all good points you made however this one is strictly practice time for me. I'll keep yall posted
I love this stuff! So in the picture you can see the top area where I test cleaned, half the fringe with oxybuff, rinsed with all fiber rinse looks amazing. The top right corner I applied the oxybuff right to the face yarns and it actually looks way brighter than the rest of my test area. To the left was pre treated with Rug Smack and rinsed. Looks ok....the racing strip in the middle was just my acid rinse. I used a continuous flow up tool to rinse all the test spots. I'll see how it dries down but as of now I'm thinking oxy buff for the win! No bleeding yet either. I'm thinking this may be a decent little rug after all.
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Hi it appears to be a chinese faux silk rug. These rugs are a blend of cotton and silk .The blues usually bleed first more of an unstable dye then possibly the red. If you want to clean the rug then i would acid rinse the dyes let stand for about 5 mins dwell time. Then I would spray the fringes with a powder bleach sodium carbonate then scrub by hand with a stiff hand deck brush all this while the acid rinse is working on stabilizing the dyes . Then start your wash process wet the entire rug its got to be all wet then scrub with a soft brush. using mild rug shampoo , conditioner, then set the pile then rinse it . either use a wringer to squeeze out the remainder of the water then dry face down outside in the sun . hope this helps
I thought the hand felt different than a typical rayon rug....the colors were pretty stable with the exception of some red in the central medallion. Blues stayed put, fringes look freaking amazing. The whites browned out in spots, any ideas on how to reverse that?
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