Last week, my antiquing buddy, Cheri, took me out to my favorite local breakfast place to celebrate the launch of Feels Like Home as well as her home being featured in the book. It’s been an exciting journey for both of us and I’m glad she invited me to spend a morning together acknowledging that. Afterward, she had to go home to do stuff with the grandkids and I decided to hit a few local antique stores. There were a couple I hadn’t been to in a while and I felt like I needed a morning away from screens and work. I ended up finding a few lovely little things and one bigger thing I thought about overnight and went back for the next day! But today, I’ll share about the little finds and how I went about cleaning an antique book cover.
This was the antique book cover in need of cleaning…
It caught my eye immediately and I was pleased to see it was only $4.00 when I opened it up. It is empty because it’s meant to be a sheet music holder. I’m guessing it would’ve been used for concerts and choirs. I thought it would make an amazing refillable sketchbook or a drawing board.
But, the cover of this antique book needed a good cleaning first. I learned that there had been a fire in a portion of the antique store earlier this year. Thankfully, no one was hurt and none of the inventory was damaged, but the retardant sprayed on the fire left a film on everything and the vendors and owners hadn’t thoroughly cleaned everything, yet.
So, I took the simple and straightforward approach and wiped down the cloth part of the cover with a damp paper towel with just a tiny bit of milk soap on it. Soap and water do a pretty good job and cleaning most things and they did a good job cleaning this antique book cover, too.
Oh man, the gunk that came off this book was impressive.
I also wiped down the leather parts of the book to make sure those were clean and, since they were a little dry, I also rubbed in some Hemp Oil. It is my go-to when I need to hydrate old wood, leather, or polish up metal. You can read more about the wonders of Hemp Oil HERE.
And, cleaning did this antique book cover a lot of good. I felt like it looked cleaner, but I didn’t realize how much cleaner until I compared the before pictures with the after.
The little clamp on the spine is perfect for holding pages to use as a sketchbook, portfolio, or to clamp in a piece of paper and use it as a drawing board.
And that font on the front! Oh, it’s just beautiful. I mean, why write MUSIC in a sans-serif font when you can write it in gold calligraphy with flourishes and a black shadow?
And the hemp oil put the luster back into this old leather.
I had never seen one of these before, so I thought it was a pretty clever find!
I didn’t have the perfect piece of paper to tuck in to show it as a drawing board, but you get the idea.
I also found a couple of antique crochet hooks made out of bone. I have a few already, but I couldn’t resist these at $2 each. They are so pretty and there is something very tactile about tools made out of bone.
I got a vintage 6″ ruler for $4.00…
…and an antique fly swatter for $6.00. I’ve wanted one for a while, which I know sounds a little odd. But, again, why have some plastic fly swatter when you can have an antique one made of wire, blue trim, and a wood handle? I added a bit of woven ribbon to the end, so I could hang it up. And, it’ll actually get used! Sometimes I open my studio door on a nice day and flies will get in. Of course, we’re heading into winter here in Minnesota, so it won’t get used for a while!
Have you found any fun antiques lately?
I love antique books too but some beautiful ones smell musty and I worry about mold spores or mildew. Any advice for books like that?
I haven’t bought any books that have mildew in them. I think it’s very normal for books to smell musty/dusty, but I would avoid ones that look like they’ve been exposed to water or moisture or there is evidence of recent bug activity. If you need to air out a book, just set it out in the sun on a nice day (don’t forget about it.) You can fan the pages open, too. It’s amazing what sun and fresh air can do!
After my husband’s father passed away we inherited several sets of antique books, such as a complete set of Charles Dickens work printed in 1893!
After doing some research on book restoration I came across a library website that recommended placing a book in a freezer…this works. We have a large upright freezer that I have put books, standing upright with pages fanned, in for several days and the musty odor is gone. They make several other recommendations here:
https://parkslibrarypreservation.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/stinky-books/
I discovered a box of small antique tin and glass oil lamps, chimneys, and pleated shades. I can’t imagine why anyone would use such small ones. Maybe midnight snacking in the kitchen? I’m working on the best way to display them.
MMS Hemp Oil is a great product – I’m using it now to refresh a vintage bedframe and the wood looks so much better.
Marti, I use a small glass lamp shade to display a little girl/doll ornament. It sits on a butter pat to give you an idea of the size.
Beautiful job cleaning up your find! You are SO resourceful! Never cease to amaze us with your thinking out of the box! Thank you do much for sharing yourself with your fans. I’ll bet each of us would want you as a friend. Of all the things you highlighted in this post, my eyes immediately zeroed in on the fountain pen in one of the pics! I recently unearthed a fountain pen I’ve had forever and just bought some run of the mill turquoise ink to refresh my childhood memories of always writing with a fountain pen! I LOVED the fountain pen you showed- the ivory/cream/brown/black sort of leopard spotted design! Is this an oldie or a new find? Can you share where you found it? I’m sure it comes with a story even if it was a new find! Thanks again for sharing who you are with all of us…
Until now, I have always believed that I was the only person on the planet who wanted to find a vintage fly swatter. I don’t feel so alone in the world now! I love using items made with natural products preferably vintage. It’s been my mission for many years.
That place had several! I bet you could find one on Etsy or eBay. I agree that they are so cool and still useable!
Oh, I know! It’s a beautiful fountain pen and it’s my current favorite. It is a new pen – the 3776 celluloid fountain pen by Platinum Pen. You can find this specific one in various pen shops online. It comes in several other colors, but this one was my favorite. I love how it looks like a vintage pen.
If you don’t mind one being vintage STYLE, garrett wade sells fly swatters that are like that with wooden handles and everything.
I had forgotten about those fly swatters. My parents and grandparents had them. I will have to find some!
I was excited to see how you recommended cleaning the book cover.I had used slices of white bread in the past to clean old wallpaper and had planned to use it on my books. Have you ever used white bread to clean books? My mom had an old swatted like yours. I can remember her buying new bias binding and sewing it onto the screen with her sewing machine.
What lovely treasures you found!
Such a beautiful book. Your step-by-step instructions on cleaning an antique book are much appreciated. I’m drawn to antique or even vintage books because of the cover and binding. It’s great to have the info on cleaning them for us.
Karen