candler, Back in the Win 95 era I bought a flat bed UMAX scanner. Really a good unit and came with Adobe Photo. The UMAX wouldn't work on the 98 system and I went through a couple scanners and ended up with an Epson 2480. In the meantime, I had I purchased Abobe Photo Delux Home Edition 4. It is the best of 4 or 5 software imaging packages I've tried. I finished scanning black and white family photos for the years 1916 to 1966 just before Christmas. Not really difficult, just time consuming. If you spend a little time learning your software you'll be surprized what it can do. For example, half of a B&W photo is in shade. So, with your image software you trace the shaded portion to define the working area and then begin to lighten and increase the contrast until it matches or comes close to the unshaded area. Creases in the photo can be overpainted with the clone function. Select the color or pattern at the crease and use that to paint over the crease. And the list goes on. It is astounding what can be done. Some will tell you that if the detail is not in the photo then there's nothing that can be done to enhance it. Don't believe it. I have copied eyes from one photo and pasted into another; change portions of the background that contain farm equipment or the neighbors dog. Get a decent scanner with a decent speed. Nothing is so frustrating as waiting for the thing to do what its supposed to do. Use the image software that comes with it and if it won't do what I've described, go to plan B. Hang in there. Its a wonderful project you're starting. Bob Central Arizona.

I bought 5 undercabinet Xenon light bars by WAC for my kitchen about a year and a half ago. My electrician (who is also a friend) installed them. The bars have either 4 or 6 lights. Only a couple months after being installed 3 of them started having half the lights go out. Basically two adjacent lights in the bar (or 3 for the 6 light models) will initially light but then in several seconds will fade out. My electrician thought it was a problem with the transformers so he replaced them. This seemed to help for awhile, but now they are doing it again. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Abrash is not wear. Two explanations: Is abrash good or bad? This is the real question, isn't it? Without fail, we've never met a rug dealer or rug enthusiast who ever thought abrash was a bad thing. In fact, it's something we look for to determine the authenticity of the rug and how it was made. This is because you just won't see these true variations with a machine made rug. Many machine made rugs try to mimic color striations, but unfortunately, the process is so digitized that the rug you get will always look like all the others. What we love about handmade rug products is their genuine, unique and one-of-a-kind characteristics. What is abrash and why do Oriental rugs have it? Hand knotted rugs possess certain inherent characteristics which aid in their uniqueness. Color variations in the field and or border, known as abrash, are a beautiful example of such a characteristic. The term abrash, from the Arabic word for mottled, is typically used to denote color changes or striations running horizontally across the face of a rug. These color changes will appear within the same color ie., a light blue field may have striations of darker blue. However, abrash can also refer to a more general variation of color throughout a certain field of color causing the area to have a mottled appearance. Abrash results from variations in the dyeing process. Most commonly, different dye lots may not result in a perfect match, particularly if small dye batches are used. The weaver runs out of one batch and restarts with another which may result in a shade difference. Differences within the same dye lot are also possible. Variations in the yarn density and twist, especially with hand spun yarns, allow for different absorption rates of dyes. In addition, the time spent in the dye bath may also affect absorption rates since the yarns on the outside of the skein will absorb color faster than the yarns on the inside of the skein. Occasionally abrash may appear more apparent following a professional cleaning. Sometimes the true colors are obscured by soiling, and often the rug owner will very closely inspect the rug noticing slight variations which were pre-existing, but have long been forgotten. Although some may prefer consistent and precise coloring in their rugs, abrash is often prized as a beautiful characteristic of an oriental or hand knotted rug. Many machine made rugs often incorporate abrash in their designs to enhance their appeal. It is often discussed in the rug community how much of abrash is an “accident” of the dye process or how much is intentional by the weaver. The question only adds to the mystique of oriental rugs.

I know this is a close up and I don't have enough editing programs on my phone but this is kinda what I mean. I used rotate to get a more centered appearance.