Afghan Rug Cleaning in Exeter – Why Colour Testing Matters

 

Afghan Rug Cleaning in Exeter

This beautiful hand-knotted Afghan Khorjin-style wool rug recently arrived at the MASTERCLEAN® rug workshop in Exeter for professional cleaning.

With its rich blue-green field, geometric medallions, stylised animals and trees, and particularly distinctive coloured thread-wrapped tassels, this was a rug that deserved a careful approach before any cleaning began.

And in this case, the testing proved particularly important.

Why We Test Rugs Before Cleaning

Before deciding how a rug should be cleaned, we assess its construction and test potentially vulnerable colours and areas.

Testing this rug showed that some of the main colours could release dye when exposed to the solutions that would normally form part of a wet-cleaning process. The red and purple thread used to decorate some of the individual tassels also showed colour instability.

Importantly, the cleaning hadn't caused this colour movement. It was identified beforehand during our pre-clean testing.

With those results, there was simply no justification for taking an unnecessary risk with a full wet clean.

Choosing a Safer Cleaning Method

We therefore tested the rug and its individually wrapped tassels for compatibility with our professional dry-solvent cleaning method.

Those tests were satisfactory, allowing us to proceed using the method we considered most appropriate for this particular rug.

The cleaning process was repeated carefully across the rug as required. As the photographs show, a considerable amount of accumulated soil was removed.

The safest cleaning method isn't necessarily the same for every rug. Testing first allows the cleaning process to be chosen around the individual rug rather than forcing every rug through the same system.

A Beautiful Result

The finished result speaks for itself.

Once cleaned, the rug retained its naturally muted character while the colours became noticeably clearer and more defined. The blue-green field regained depth, the reds and ochres became brighter, and the intricate geometric, animal and tree motifs were much easier to appreciate.

Most importantly, that improvement was achieved without taking an unnecessary risk with the colours or those unusual decorative tassels.

About This Afghan Rug

The construction and design appear consistent with contemporary Afghan Khorjin-style hand-knotted wool rugs.

Similar rugs are associated with Afghan weaving, including the Herat weaving tradition, and often combine geometric medallions with stylised animals, plants and other traditional motifs.

Without documented provenance we wouldn't claim a specific workshop, town or age for this particular rug, but its construction and distinctive decorative fringe are strongly characteristic of this style of Afghan rug.

Professional Rug Cleaning in Exeter

MASTERCLEAN® professionally cleans oriental, Persian, Afghan and other handmade rugs at our Exeter rug-cleaning workshop.

Every rug is individually assessed so that its construction, fibres, dyes, condition and any areas of concern can be considered before cleaning begins.

Need Your Rug Professionally Cleaned?

If you have an oriental, Persian, Afghan or other handmade rug that needs professional cleaning, MASTERCLEAN® can help.

Every rug is individually assessed before cleaning, with the appropriate method selected according to its fibres, construction, dyes and condition.

Call MASTERCLEAN® on 01392 276050 or use our Request a Quote page to get in touch.

Trusted across Devon for over 60 years – based in Exeter.

Visit our Rug Cleaning page to learn more.