u/h-ster

This lovely rug has significant amounts of iron dye rot where the pile is severely faded and etched and foundation is exposed. It's not UV damage as the worst of the rot is split by exact row on the upper half. Even the damaged areas, there are a few stranded small raised sections from the old yarn batch.

I had a few questions about this rug, any input is greatly appreciated.

1. Because so many spots are worn down due to the dye rot, is this rug only good for hanging now as walking on it will damage the degraded fibers?
2. Is the worst of the dye rot over or will it slowly be eaten away to the foundation? This rug was advertised as 1970s, so ~50 years of acid corrosion?
3. Peter Stone's Oriental Rug Repair book says this kind of dye corrosion tends to be on black or brown yarn. Is there anyway to know what the original colors were?
4. The hunt theme and cruciform is common enough, but I don't see this type of detailed figural and less geometric renderings in Baluch rugs. I'm just curious is there are more like these out there and I just don't have the right search terms to look for them. Reverse image searches have not been useful.

It's such an interesting example but I worry there is a ticking time bomb of complete rot in there.

My dad loves seafood buffets so I tried to recreate one for him in Tamriel. I've never had so much fun in ESO as everything I did for a few months directed at filling out this table. I visited almost every house to site the perfect buffet and I was thrilled to find Bismuth Steam Baths was available after questing.

I must have fished a thousand times to pull out the shrimps, oysters and crabs out of Solstice. I've slain hundreds of chitinous creatures for decorative wax. Having such a long term goal really made everything even grinding more pleasurable.

A deep bow of gratitude to the ZOS design team for creating this house and the fantastic Solstice furniture.

(In PCNA you can visit "Dad's Seafood Buffet")

I got this Baluch rug recently (photos from vendor) and want to know where I can find something similar. It has a fair amount of moth damage so I wanted to find one in better condition to put in a high traffic area. I've worn my eyes out on scanning thousands of rugs on Ebay/Etsy but cannot find it's like. It's such a cool design, why is it not being made any more? I see a lot of the same deer and red lion rugs on every afghan/pakistani etsy rug seller, but why aren't these kinds of designs more commonly available?

Any information about this rug is greatly appreciated. The orange dye definitely washed out onto the fringe.

I've broken a heart breaking number of precious teapots over the decades and decided to find a forever pot. The stainless steel teapots have are too industrial for my taste so I was thrilled when I found something aesthetically more pleasing. These Boundless Voyage titanium pots are crystallized which gives them more corrosion resistance, not just more pretty sparkle. They have been dropped on stone/tile floors multiple times. And if I forget to clean it out and the tea leaves mold, I throw the teapot body in the dishwasher. I've had them for more than a year and I'm happy to know I can brew gongfu even after an earthquake. They are light enough to that I pack them traveling.

Mechanically, there are 2 flaws for the teapot on the right. The lid fit is snug enough and spout flow control is respectable but you can still drip from the lid rim if you pour at a steep angle. The teapot on the right is hard to drain all the way unless you put the teapot spout down in a tea pitcher the way you do with yixing teapots. But still for those looking for an every day pot that can't be chipped, this one is currently on top of my list.

But there are other subtle compromises to durability. The brewed tea chemistry is untouched like brewing in glass which isn't always a desired thing. It cannot truly replace yixing clay pots which absorb the tea oils that soften the harsh edges of certain teas and retain a memory. But some drinkers like the clarity of taste brewing in silver or glass teapots as you get a truer brew. Puerhs definitely benefit from transformation in yixing.

While titanium is okay for brewing, it just doesn't feel as good to drink from a titanium gaiwan. While titanium is the most biocompatible metal, it doesn't quite feel that good to have your lips touch titanium so I'll keep porcelain for the tea cups.