Befores and After: restoration of a more modern hardback

This is how this book came to arrive in my bookbinding shop:

 

held together by duct tape

 

not even hanging together by a thread

 

with damage to the interior pages

 

The finished, restored book!

Javamom

Sir Walter Scott Novels Preserved

I've been working on this set for a very long time. I take that back...I have had this set to restore for a couple of years. When my Mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2010, all work on this ceased for more than a year. Now that Mom has been enjoying a more normal year after cancer treatments, I was able to get re-focused on things in my own home and studio. I cannot tell you all how thrilled I am with how these turned out! I was not so sure there for a while, because the leather is so brittle on the spines. My deduction is that these were stored on a shelf by a sunny window, as the spines are much more faded than the rest of the parts of each book.

It's too bad that one of the books was already missing its spine when my client bought them. Since I don't have a nice, old letter press, complete with an interesting set of letters and shapes, I just had to leave it blank.

Onward and forward! I have more books to restore, and so little time...but I sure do love the work of my hands!


Grateful,

Javamom

Famous Poems Restoration ~ before and after

Before ~

as held together by tape. Please don't do this people. It can sometimes ruin hopes of future book repairs! I was able to work with this one and get it cleaned up nicely. I won't say how, that is why I make the big bucks (haha). At least it helps bring in a little grocery money, or rainy day money.

Almost done ~

After ~

~ fini ~

Javamom

Taking a deep breath

...before plunging into more 'surgery' ~

(and a brief mention that this is my 875th post!!)

Just about three more steps and it will be finished!

Restoring a Bible

I wanted to share photos of another restoration/Bible repair that I worked on this past week.
I was able to fit it in on the days my daughter and almost son-in-law were not visiting to go through more wedding plans and prep. This is a creative diversion from everything else I am working on these weeks!

Enjoy the photo-journal ~

I forgot to get a photo after pressing, but it is stunning and I am so pleased with this restoration!!

Javamom

Book finished and delivered

New spine created and cloth color matched to the covers

The finished product! The book is all back together again, and good for another couple of generations!

Javamom