Rugs That Are Risky to Clean

There are beautiful Moroccan rugs that have so much intricate detail and great fantastic color palettes to enchant any lover of gorgeous rugs.   A subset of these Moroccan rugs, specifically those that have a cotton base with embroidery-like detail, are notorious among restorers and those who care for Oriental rugs.  The reason for this is that a subset of these are made with unstable dyes and therefore are particularly susceptible to color run during the cleaning process.  It is imperative that any cleaning process controls for this risk or else the rug may be damaged permanently.  One way to do this is to do a color run test on a small discrete area of the rug.  But even if a rug's colors do not run in a small discrete area, there is always a risk that the colors in other parts of the rug may run.  It is a risk, for sure, but a color run test can usually help a restorer assess whether the dyes in the rug are generally stable. --www.traditionalrugrepair.com