Posted by Steve Price on April 11, 1999 at 18:21:40:
In Reply to: Dyes in the Aging Process posted by Irwin Kirsch on April 11, 1999 at 18:11:54:
Dear Irwin,
I don't have direct experience with this, but here's the general principle. Dyes fade with exposure to light. The fading, as judged by eye, is not uniform with time, but looks like it is happening quite rapidly at first and then continues much more slowly.
So, if you are repairing an old rug and you use new wool that matches it perfectly, in a relatively short time that wool will not longer match the original. If, on the other hand, you use old wool that matches it perfectly, it will likely continue to do so for quite awhile, maybe even forever.
That leaves the question of where to get old wool. The answer is that old kilims can be a source of rather long lengths of antique wool, as the colored parts of them are the weft.
It is my understanding that this works in practice as well as in theory.
Steve Price