Re: OT - Hanging a rug
Clay Craig in Miami
>If this is not a museum piece, here is a very simple solution (I have lots of hanging rugs - the floors got full too fast!).
Cut a length of the 'tack strip' used to hold/stretch wall-to-wall carpet, to the width of the 'top' end of the rug. Attach that to the wall however it suits you, with the tacks pointing out and up. Then, just press the top inch or so of the 'pile' part of the rug onto these tacks gently (if the rug has a woven-but-unpiled webbing at the end, do not put the strips through this). These tacks are spaced closely enough that no one part of the rug gets much stress put on it. For you, this has the added benefit that you can solidly attach the strip to the wall, and it doesn't weigh much anyway.
One other tip - All handmade rugs have a 'grain.' The tufts do not point up perpendicular to the warp and weft, they point to one end - the end that was at the bottom when the rug was woven. So, if the rug is handmade and is end-to-end symmetrical (or if you don't care which end is hung 'up'), then always hang it with the grain of the rug running 'down' - i.e., so that it feels smooth when running your hand down the rug, rough when running you hand up it.
This helps a LOT in keeping dust from settling down between the tufts - dirt down there is what abrades the knots and structure, and makes a rug wear out before its 4 centuries are up.
(I learn so much here, and am such a wood rookie that I can rarely help anyone out - nice to hit a question I can address!)
Clay