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Joined: 2/9/2008(UTC) Posts: 803 Points: 3,293
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Wow this is some interesting thread!!!!! Started by very smart, educated, pro-active and focused human!
I knit. well not now cause no time, but I did starting in high school. Wool is treated & loomed in different ways, worsted, not worsted, sometimes combination of more than one kind of wool, silk, and sometimes various man made materials for various purposes.....and the end product can comprise different plys.
A timely example might be, President Obama has chosen a domestic, long established men's clothing company, Hartmarx, to make all his suits. His basic model, custom to his measurements & style detail preferences, of course, is made of fabric that is mostly worsted with no silk content but some cashmere. In politics, you gotta have a little GOAT. lol Each costs around $1,500. The antidote for say, custom Italian suits....and also those custom made on Saville Row.
All ply means, is how many strands of wool (or any other material) comprise one strand? Single, double, triple....and how are they merged-twisted into one strand. This is not unlike metal cable. Some comprise many narrow strands, some fewer, and their tensile strength, pliability, etc., depends on all of that....not simply the final diameter. In wool or pseudo wool all this also impacts durability, resiliency and what people now call "the hand".....the FEEL OF THE WOOL TO THE HUMAN HAND.
The source of the wool, composition and the ply also impact how wool accepts and RETAINS dye....then, there are a gaizllion kinds of dye I have learned here, including one later found to Be toxic IN POTENTIAL: analine. Acuity of attention in just the dying process also impacts.
Not all painting of rugs is bad. Most famous example: the evolution of an entire genre made in Persia for the American market known as "American" sarouks. This evolved in the 20s carried thru to the 30s and ended with The Big War. When makers of these rugs in Persia exported them in large quantities to America, largely to a large New York Rug importer, they were initially a colossal failure! It was discovered the pale and often tepid pink field colors marking these rugs was the issue. A now famous and brilliant solution...one requiring the infinite time and patience of many American artisans was found: With small brushes and, again, infinite patience, the fields of these rugs were transformed into deeper, richer reds......daunting given this had to be done around each and every margin of each and every field detail!!!
The net result---two fine example of which I was raised with....metamorphosed a commercial disaster into a wild success. Also. this process did not negatively impact the rugs or lead to color run! The latter, I had no idea existed until I found & joined this site.
This is hardly the same as someone using "paint" to disguise-obfuscate some flaw in a given carpet which more properly should be repaired.
I hope everyone has not fallen asleep.
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