Best collectibles care & restoration books according to redditors
We found 7 Reddit comments discussing the best collectibles care & restoration books. We ranked the 4 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
The Smithsonian's Saving Stuff is a pretty decent resource for people looking to preserve family treasures like these.
This is a great collection your grandma passed down OP!
Thanks! I actually have a BS and MS in MatSci. I wanted to pull up a quote from my Fundamentals of Polymer Science text by Painter and Coleman, but I'm not at home.
EDIT: I just wanted to mention that Painter and Coleman is one of the most accessible materials science books out there. It requires at most a Calc 1 level of math to understand and is very entertaining and readable (for a science text, at least). It's worth picking up a used copy if you're interested in materials science and how different polymers get different properties. It's also leather-bound so it looks good on the shelf.
The AIC website provides this aggregation of online resources. I find the wiki to be particularly useful and reference it often.
The Conservation of Easel Paintings is a fairly recent publication that gives a comprehensively broad, but not overly deep overview of the field of paintings conservation and was written by a worldwide group of experts.
The Science for Conservators 3 Volume Series is a great introduction to the scientific concepts involved in the field if that's something you feel you need. If the Science for Conservators Series seems overly basic for you, I recommend The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects; this book is out dated in some of it's details, but is still a seminal book that is largely unmatched in content.
It might be repairable, maybe with an added piece of mesh a little larger than the hole added behind and carefully hand stitched into place.
However I feel compelled to say this: an almost 90 year old dress is, at this point, a collectible piece and not a wearable one. From a historical standpoint, it's probably best to keep it in good shape and that doesn't include wearing it (body oils, smells, moisture/humidity, stains, general wear and tear, sunlight, things happen...). On the restoration/conservation debate, I tend to lean toward conservation (stabilize, don't alter original materials) and trying to preserve items as much as possible. (Can't help it, I've spent my whole life with my Dad the art conservator, so I know too much about old things.) The further away from this time period we get, the fewer things we have left from it, thus the need for care now.
If it is in good condition, you may be able to display the dress. You might consider contacting a local museum or the AIC for more information. Here's a link from the AIC on textiles: link, and there is this book Saving Stuff that covers care and storage of household things and includes a chapter on vintage textiles.
I hope I've provided you with some useful information.
Another resource I have found helpful is "Saving Stuff" by Don Williams.
https://www.amazon.com/ Saving-Stuff-Collectibles-Heirlooms-Possessions/dp/0743264169
It assumes no conservatorial knowledge and covers a wide range of materials.
Sorry, I'm a guitarmaker, not a knifemaker. What I will say is that you can find a ton of info in Fine Woodworking, which might also be available at your library, and for some reason I always see this book for dollar at Borders, but you can get it in that link for $0.02. It's not the most in-depth book, but it's got great information in it and you can't beat the price.
Other than that, though, I can't help you too much. I will say this though-- when I was learning the craft, there was no greater resource than hanging out on the guitar building forums and soaking up all the knowledge there. I got 17,000 ideas from seeing what everyone else was doing, and most of them are very helpful if you need advice, instructions or criticism. I suggest you find one or two of them for knife making.
Have fun and keep it fun!
In general, for this and similar questions that might lead to more, I recommend people take a look at Don William's book Saving Stuff: How to Care for and Preserve Your Collectibles, Heirlooms, and Other Prized Possessions. It covers material culture as well as paper, so if you end up with medals, uniform parts, knives, photos, etc. the answers for everything can be found within.