Paper books and albums with photographs or reproductions of paintings are available in any home. As soon as we bring any print to the house, it smells of printing ink and freshness. But it is worth reading the book several times - there are bends on the pages and various pollution. And if you look at the library of your parents, you will surely find that almost all copies need repair and maintenance. Without panic, the restoration of books can be done at home.
Materials and preparatory work
Where to start the revival of the book? Carefully inspect the selected instance and try to outline an approximate work plan. In fact, this is a very exciting activity - restoration of
books. With your own hands you can create real miracles without special equipment and experience.
If you need to repair or replace the binding, first go to the pages. For work, prepare in advance:
- sharp clerical knife ;
- scissors;
- PVA glue;
- paper of various density (for example, for the printer and whatman paper);
- cardboard.
Most likely, these materials will be enough for you, but it all depends on the initial state of the book, sometimes some auxiliary tools and tools may also be required.
Restoration of books: a workshop on drying after rain
From early childhood we are told that most of all books are afraid of dirt and moisture. Indeed, wet pages are deformed, and if the print was not of high quality, then ink may even be smeared. How to save a wet book at home?
Take the filtered paper and shift the wet pages with it, sprinkled with talcum powder or crumbled chalk. In this form, the book must be placed under the press (a stack of heavy books or boards) and left to dry. After some time, remove the filter paper and place the book, opening it like a fan.
In conclusion, iron the pages with an iron (heating in the “synthetics” position), also shifting them with paper. Attention: you can’t dry books near heaters or central heating batteries, but you can gently blow the pages with a hairdryer.
How to remove complex spots
If the cover of a book gets dirty during reading, it should be washed. It is very good if it is interwoven with leather, its substitute or other material that is not afraid of water. Take a damp cloth or prepare a soap solution and soak a cotton swab in it.
If you need to clean the corners of the binding or the edges of the pages, rub them with a soft eraser or a slice of white bread. If the pollution is too strong, you can try to get rid of it with fine sandpaper.
Restoration of books should be carried out with a full cleaning of the pages. Before proceeding to the removal of spots, you should understand what exactly they came from:
- gasoline, specialized solvents or regular chalk will help to cope with fatty pollution;
- stearin is easiest to remove with the help of cologne or another alcohol-containing solution;
- blood is removed with a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide, rust with citric acid;
- To remove complex stains, for example, traces of ink, cosmetics and food products that have a bright color, it is best to use special household chemicals, following the instructions exactly.
Page warping
Restoration of books, albums, notebooks may also include straightening pages. If they are dented or improperly dried, a regular iron will help correct the situation. Arrange pages with blank sheets of paper and iron on medium heat.
If the fix still failed, there is another method. Dampen filter paper with water using a cotton swab and place on a dry sheet. Put such sheets on both sides of the damaged sheet and iron them with an iron. If necessary, you can repeat the procedure several times, changing the filter paper.
Bookbinding
The greatest concern to library owners is the damage to the covers, bookends and the binding itself. But do not worry, even in this case, the restoration of books can be carried out at home:
- Carefully disassemble the book - remove the binding.
- Cut the bookends out of special paper or plain paper for the printer.
- Prepare 2 sheets to decorate the inside of the cover.
- Glue the flyleafs to their places, and you can do the binding.
- If there are dropped blocks, they must be sewn or glued into place.
- Glue the starched gauze on the spine of the book.
- Dry the finished structure under a press.
The next step is assembly. Glue the binding and cover to their rightful place. At the end, you can once again place the book under the press. But the restoration of books may include a complete replacement of all external elements - binding, cover and bookend, if necessary.