Caning, Asian influences, shopping with a friend and good housekeeping practices because it's the LAW.

Greeting! After a busy few weeks, I have just completed restoration of a homemade oak rocking chair with cane seat and back I picked up earlier this year.  I took it on because I have successfully replaced sheet cane early in my restoration career and decided I was ready for another go.  I am happy to report it all went smooth and the chair is now available!  Here are a few pics from the process.

The first pic is the chair as found with a blown out back.  Step 1 was removing the old cane and spline.  The best way to accomplish this is with a $40 steamer.  The steam loosens the old glue.  I would say it took the better part of an hour to work the old cane free.  Then I visited my local basketmaking and caning supply shop (yes, that is a THING!) called the Country Seat and they helped me match up the cane and spline to the right sizes.  The spline has to be big enough to fit in the channel tightly as that what keeps the whole structure intact.  Then I returned home ready to work.  After soaking the new cane and spline in water for about 20 min, I got to work using the wood pegs to insert the cane into the channel.  Working from side to side and and making it taunt.  Once I had it all lined up and inserted as I liked, I would trim off the excess, cut the spline to size beveling my ends for placement.  Then adding wood glue in the channel, inserting the spline, pounding in with a rubber mallet and my peg and wiping off the excess glue.  Overall, this project took about 3 hours of my time.  The chair looks fantastic!  If you have an eclectic style like I do, you may fall in love with the texture of caned and woven goods. Sheet cane replacement can be tricky, but it is a lot easier and less time consuming that outright caning!  Stop by my etsy shop if you want to read more about the chair. CLICK HERE

While I was at the caning shop, I picked up some material to repair a 1930's Heywood Wakefield rattan rocker.  It is shown on my Diamonds in the Rough page.  I am going to get started repair the one arm that is a little dogged up and then redoing the seat.  I have some golden yellow fabric I thought would be a good choice with the aged orange finish of the rattan, but I am open to  using a pattern.  If you want to claim this baby now I will finish it per your specifications.  Amazingly enough, the rattan is actually a very tight twisted paper and not a reed at all!  When I snapped off a piece to take it along to the shop, I was suspicious and the woman at the shop confirmed it!  I will be replacing with a reed in the area that needs repaired and hoping I can do a close match of the orange paint to blend it in.  These kind of details are always challenging and fun for creative types like myself. 

NEW ITEMS.

I just picked up a few new items that I am getting ready to list.  I love to know the history of what I find so being able to select things from the home they lived in is a fun yet melancholy part of securing my inventory.  I was able to visit a home that is getting cleaned out after it's owner recently passed on.  She was a working artist who made her living selling prints and original oils.  I am still trying to get more info on her business but she did copyright everything she sold so there were definitely savvy practices being followed.  Her home was filled with late Bombay Company furnishings in near perfect condition.  I picked up a pair of 2005 era MING style end tables in a black finish with gorgeous burl tops.  I quite enjoy the Asian style and think it would be a great match in an eclectic or boho décor.  This will be photographed and listed in the next 24 hours- hoping for no rain and a little sun! I also picked up 2 very large original oils on canvas in beautiful gold gilt lighted frames.  They are both floral subjects.  One is marked Not Copyrighted DO NOT SELL.  The other has been copyrighted and her notes show pricing and editions for canvas and paper reproductions including her asking price on the original, $4,000.  I am trying to get some more info regarding where her work was being sold and what galleries she had relationships with.  

One  of my friends mentioned they wanted me to look for a couch for them.  A few hours later a lovely living room set gets texted to me from an estate guy I buy from. Well turns out my friend was as smitten as I and trusted me to handle his deal. He got my full services including condition evaluation, pick up/delivery and a complete cleaning and sanitization.  He is handling a structural issue with the couch himself.  My Facebook page blew up after I posted the pics so I think lots of people loved it! It is Bassett Premier, often misattributed to Adrian   Pearsall.  It is in amazing condition too! Looks great in his home and I get to visit them. 💕

Speaking of sanitizing, in other exciting news, I decided to apply for a license from my state to be able to tag my own used or restored upholstered goods after I clean and sanitize with one of 2 products the state authorized to be used. I chose Steri-Fab, which is an insecticide, germicide and fungicide.  I will vacuum and steam all upholstered goods and follow with sanitizing all areas I can get to, I am certain that not all places do a thorough job with this especially thrifts, who are required to tag and any other retailer you shop with in PA.  I was letting my mall handle it for me but decided it would be something I would do for every customer I ship to. I am already following procedures but am waiting for my license to be approved so I can order the yellow tags. Buyers can remove them after receiving the item but it is piece of mind for all of us! I welcome local people to use my services! I would gladly sanitize and clean something you found or are selling commercially so you can comply with the law. Message me and we can talk about it!

HALLOWEEN

Just to let you know I have some fabulous NEW Halloween kitchen towel from Primitives by Kathy available locally at my Fleetwood Antique Mall space and currently a few styles are on ebay.  Please stop by and check them out!  ebay.com/usr/madmodworldvintage

This towel available NOW in my ebay shop or locally at Fleetwood Antique Mall!

order now so you get yours in time!  

Thanks for reading, your comments and emails!  XO Malissa

Preserving a masterpiece and other things about fine wool rugs you may not already know.

I always enjoy a good research project.  The Leger rug has become this summer's mission.  My first stop was Ward's Oriental Rugs in Allentown, PA.  I am always concerned about pieces I bring into my home and having this professionally cleaned was at the top of my list.  I also wanted to talk restoration.  

My family did not have heirloom rugs so care and maintenance was not something I was familiar with. I am skilled enough in textiles to recognize the moth damage and know that a textile such as this needs regular maintenance and care to survive generations. The first thing I learned about care is regular vacuuming is essential to keeping your wool carpets from degrading.  Embedded dirt wrecks the fibers.  Also on the agenda should be regular washing by a professional rug cleaner. In low traffic areas, this should be done every 3 years.  A rug in a high traffic zone can be done yearly. 

Moths are attracted to dirty wool.  Rolling up a rug to store that is not clean is pretty much an invitation for moth activity.  They move in and work quickly at ruining woolens.  The larvae actually eat the knots so the piling just falls right out. But most modern rugs like my wall to wall modern carpets, are not something they would go for....that was a relief to hear!  I learned that freezing the rug will actually explode the moth eggs.  Good to know when you are bringing in new pieces all the time.  If they are small enough to get in my freezers, I am good to go. Wards has a large freezer so step one for them was to keep my piece in it for 3 days. Then they would do a thorough wash, protecting the dyed yarn from bleeding and I already knew it was not colorfast. Once clean and all of the damage was exposed, I would receive a quote for reweaving the areas of missing pile.  This is done by a skilled weaver who will match wool to the rest of the piece.  In most cases, a restoration adds value to a rug and unlike some antiques where repairs are not recommended, this does not detract at all from the value of a rug.  

The largest area of moth damage after the wash. This will all be repaired by an expert rug weaver. it could have been much worse so glad I was able to save this beauty!

The showroom at Ward's Oriental Rugs in Allentown is full of beautiful hand woven carpets, new and vintage. 

Ward's Oriental Rugs has a fabulous showroom in Allentown, PA.  If you are in the area, they have a fine selection of new and used carpets and are extremely knowledgable about them. It was a pleasure to work with them and I look forward to finishing this restoration!  Due to the slow time of year and my cash flow, I am holding off the the reweaving until I can fund it but hopefully it will be complete in the next few months.  

Materials I reviewed in the library at the Philadelphia Art Museum. 

My research:

 In the mean time, I have been researching this rug like crazy. I spent a day reviewing some catalogs at the Philadelphia Art Museum and ordered a 1960's catalog from a tour of Marie Cuttilo's works, of which the Maquette or working sketch for this piece was included. The rug in the tour was larger than mine and slightly different coloring, so I really want to make sure that this rug was not copied by another maker.  I am certain that everything on this piece follows suit with what she made, however, but the only way to be sure is to find the proof. I have a magazine coming that has an article about her tour so hoping that helps as well.  She had this tour in the 60s to sell more rugs and although that did not go as well as she had liked, I suspect that this rug was one of those she sold.  I have some good comps on it that all provide a little more info and provided those galleries did their research thoroughly, I am still convinced this is her piece albeit a mid century produced piece and not from her beginnings in the 20s and 30s. Regardless, I do believe this was a very small series of about 20 so it is definitely not going to be something that pops up a lot for collectors and that makes it very special.  Whether a fan of the artist Leger or a fan of the amazing woman who attempted to bring back the art of tapestry by translating fine art into fiber art, this rug is just an amazing representation of a time when both worlds collided. 

A Marquette is the working drawing that was commissioned by the artist and which the rug design was based on. Most refer to this design as 'Blanc' which is referring to the white background on this design. 

The cleaned rug all ready for restoration. It was frozen, cleaned and treated with a moth deterrent.  I would hope my future buyer will consider hanging it, but I was told it has many years of life left on the floor if properly maintained and in a low traffic area.

I will update more if I discover more about this piece or start to proceed on the restoration work! 

XO Malissa

Take A Magic Carpet Ride

I hope you enjoyed the vacation blog. I figured it would be a nice change of the usual stuff and if you are outdoorsy, might help you plan a trip.   I always hope that you find my posts informative and useful and try to share my experiences sourcing, cleaning and evaluating. If I can help just one person I feel like it was a worthy post! I understand that most of us get slammed with junk mail all day (the Gap sends me no less than two emails per day) and I always wonder if my one a week or so emails annoy people. If anyone has any complaints, critiques, please comment!  

Anyway, Just before I left for vacation I won some things at auction. I am only now going through them, cleaning and evaluating and listing things. There is a great set of teak nesting tables by Bent Silberg Mobler which I will be tending to shortly. I also picked up 3 fabulous rugs.  

Just listed! https://www.etsy.com/listing/541370161/on-sale-antique-persian-hand-knotted

I have been researching my finds. Rugs is one thing I have interest in but is new territory for me so each purchase is really a means to learning more.  I know enough about textiles growing up with a mother who sews, quilts and does alterations. This knowledge is super helpful when seeking vintage textiles. It really honed my ability to quickly identify quality workmanship and materials. I have a special love of wools and natural fibers so rugs just seem like another place I wanted to be.  I have been doing some auctions online without seeing the goods in person. It can be risky. Always assume the dealer is not an expert and has not disclosed everything!  If you keep that in mind and have the know how, resources and determination, you can usually repair most of them.  The little mat above has many issues but in the cases of antique rugs, they are best kept with their flaws and wear intact, it is personal preference to the user, but patina on a rug is not a bad thing at all.  Finding a 60+ year old piece with no issues will not happen often.  I delve into researching. This rug is definitely a hand knotted rug.  I find some sources online telling me how to spot machine made rugs like Karastan over hand woven and study up.  Then I think the size may lend to being a prayer mat. I research religions and although I thought some Jewish sects used prayer mats, my research showed Muslims are the only religion which would consistently use one. The wear on this one, to me, could be from kneeling.  Having dealt with an estate in the past that I knew the man had lived in Israel for some years and was a rug collector.....I mean he had rugs on top of rugs and although I only took one textile home, i did take an acid etched piece home that was from an Iranian artist, Bijan.  So right away, I am thinking Iran. They are known for rugs.  My searching showed me that most Muslim prayer mats have a definite top and bottom in the design. Many are similar to the shape of a Mosque, like a key hole. This rug depicted flowers and not other typical patterns that were on prayer mats. Not that is was not one, but I found no florals without a center medallion like most of the oriental rugs depict. Iranian rugs were the closest to what I had but to date it, or even confirm that is just pretty hard for a novice.  Rugs from the region in which Iran is located typically are referred to as Persian so I knew that is what I had but I also knew there was more to the story.  Turns out that I have a colleague who is a rug specialist and without me asking, he told me I had a Sarouk rug (which is a region in IRAN!) and he dated it to the 1930's. It is a real treasure! The quality of rugs in this sale was good. I could tell by viewing the lots that these were fabulous antiques. It is always nice to get validation that my hunch was correct! This beauty is listed and ready to ship. I would definitely keep her in a low traffic area to prevent further age related issues. I will discuss care in a bit.

Next win was a slightly larger Turkish flat weave kilim rug.  These rugs have no pile like a knotted rug. They are more similar to the style of weaving you learn as a kid in art class, but a lot more intricate. This rug is also wool. Unlike the thicker knotted rugs, these are very pliable. I have a few throw pillows that were made from cut up rugs and they are so fabulous, the never got listed. This look is very boho, tribal and honestly looks great in all decor. It is classic and sophisticated. Investing in an old rug is very much like investing in quality original art. They can hang on walls, used as room accents interspersed with furnishings and repurposed into pillows, not that I ever recommend cutting up a rug.  Sometimes the damage involved may warrant it. This rug does have some holes but it generally is in pretty good shape.  I cannot determine age but I would guess that it came from the same home as the others which could be 30s-50s era. Shabby rugs are trending right now too!

Beautiful Turkish Flat Weave Kilim https://www.etsy.com/listing/527579136/on-sale-turkish-wool-flat-weave-kilim

The final rug I bought that day makes me feel like I won the vintage lottery! There was a picasso rug that got higher than I could spend so I concentrated on one signed Leger. It reminded me of 80s pop art. I won it. Fernand Leger was a French cubist who pretty much inspired the 80s pop art movement and so many other artists we know and love. His style was so cutting edge, it was in the 1930's when he was doing this stuff! He died in 1955, by the way so his stuff is pre mid century. Some great reading on Leger can be found here, a preview to an exhibit that was showing his work at the Philly Art Museum. He was involved in early television and his art pieces sometimes were referred to as cartoons.  It's fascinating. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/leger-modern-art-and-the-metropolis-at-the-philadelphia-museum-of-art/2013/11/14/0faa43f4-4c87-11e3-ac54-aa84301ced81_story.html?utm_term=.6888ca2d8627 As awesome as he is, I found out more on my rug that is equally as awesome! Meet Marie Cutillo, an Algerian who spent her life reviving a waning Algerian art of rug making! She purchased original art from the great cubists and had her newly trained rug makers replicate their designs in textile form. She collected the original art and eventually donated her entire collection including many Picasso's to the largest art museum in France. Her fashion house, Maison Myrbor, was who sold the rugs in Paris and the clothes and rugs: haute couture. Art collectors world wide were purchasing them for their collections. I could go on but I am still learning things. The research continues!

My rug does have some issues. I am doing some cleaning today. Delicate stain work using a watered down dis solution. I suspect there was moth activity although I found nothing to lead me to believe there is an active infestation. Moth larvae does horrible things to rugs. I plan on taking this to a rug cleaner and restorer in Philadelphia in the coming weeks. I have found comps ranging from $7500-35000 for this design. So definitely with investing into. I also am considering adding casings to wall hang. I am worried that the  damage has weakened the structure that it would not be feasible to use in a floor situation. The other concern is always preservation.  I am hoping to get some quotes in a few weeks for cleaning, restoration work and possible casings, but I think I can do that myself. There is a book on Marie Cutillo, however it is in French. I may pick it up though. My boss is fluent. ✌️Here's a pic of this lovely piece. I will share more as I work through getting it ready to sell. This piece is definitely a collector piece and I am so lucky I could obtain it! It is a pleasure to be able to help it connect to a new home where it will be preserved! 

Shadow from deck rails and a plant but you get the idea. I am getting ready to steam it.  Steam will kill any moth activity and eggs. Leaving in a hot car for a few days will help as well. this is just one more reason to trust your dealer. Insects can be a problem with vintage goods.  Bedbugs, moths, etc. I am very careful to inspect and clean everything that I sell. I spray all wool and non washable fibers with Cedarcide, a natural insecticide. I will invest in a pro cleaning on this piece after it is professionally evaluated.

Hope you enjoyed leaning about rugs!

xo Malissa