Featured Vellum

Now i have time to check my boxed collection of everything. I always wanted an illuminated book, but are too expensive, this is the less-expensive vesion i found. It's exciting to touch it and imagine that era. My most favorite part is the use of an older vellum strip in the binder. Spain 1592 . Needs cleaning, any advice?

 

That's very interesting and attractive. I don't think there's any quick fix for the condition. You would have to take it to a qualified restorer, and that would probably cost more than it's worth.

 

I thing just a light cleaning.

 

Hi,
I would use a few slices of cheap soft bread like Wonder. Take off the crust wad it and gently rub over the dirty spots be sure to dust it so the fragments do not stick to the pages. I always clean books and paper items with it.
greg

 

Interesting, it truly is a Wonder Bread.
So by wad it, does that mean tight wad or just enough to keep it from falling apart? Do you want it to be like and eraser and fray off?

 

Thanks GregGlass, i'll try, so this technique works to paper too! Interesting.

 

You could bring it to a restorer for a cleaning without doing a total restoration. Store it in an archival storage box to help prevent further damage. You can buy those from places like Talas.

http://www.talasonline.com/Archival-Storage

 

Hi,
Just wad it enough to keep it together. As you rub it over the pages just enough to keep making crumbs it will remove the dust and dirt without harming the pages. It is a trick learned by the Met in New York for cleaning books, papers and prints. There something you can buy that does the same thing but with a price tag to match. A loaf of Wonder bread does the same thing but at a real money saver. A friend had her living room papered and 3 months later a fire in a nearby apartment caused a lot of smoke damage. A company wanted 4 days and 13 thousand to clean her new wall paper. We did it in two days with 12 dollars of Wonder bread.
greg

 

Will work on vellum too??

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

Hi,
I would use it on vellum ON THE CONDITION that the ink is not flaking off. Sometimes the ink is fine but the pigments used in some of the colored sections
begin to flake off.
greg

 

Those sponges are amazing but expensive. I always halved them in my bandsaw.