[lace-chat] Cleaning Antique Bobbins/Spangles
Recently I was lucky enough to purchase, sight unseen, a group of antique bone bobbins. There are quite a few Haskins bobbins in the group. One in particular is an amazing mother & babe made by Joseph Haskins. It is in almost mint condition! The only problem with it is it has some sort of soiling on the rim of the neck & the babe bobbin has this same soiling covering the entire head, neck, & a bit of the body. I would like to try to clean this bobbin to remove the soiling but I do not want to damage it! The babe is decorated with dots & gold foil. The mother is decorated with colored dots & what looks like gold leaf. Is there a way I can clean this bobbin without damaging it, or should I attempt to clean it at all? I would also like to ask about cleaning antique spangles ... should I clean them or just leave them alone? Some of the antique bobbins I come across have spangles that are pretty filthy or all that remains of them is the wire with one bead on the end. Is it "appropriate" to replace the wires &/or clean/replace the beads? If I want to clean the beads, can I just swish the entire spangle (still attached to the bobbin) in soapy water, rinse, & quicky dry (perhaps using a blow dryer) without causing the wire to rust? Many thanks ... Shirlee __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] Cleaning Antique Bobbins/Spangles
Like Carol, I also have no qualms about re-spangling antique bobbins because I don't believe that many 150+ years old bobbins are still with their original spangles anyway. If the spangle is still good and a size that I like I will leave it, but if it is too large for my taste or has sticky-out bits of wire , then I redo it. I want to enjoy using my old bobbins and I can't if the spangles irritate me. As far as possible I keep the right beads with the right bobbins but spares from the very large spangles are used to bead old bobbins I bought without a spangle. As for cleaning, for wood I recently bought some furniture and polish reviver which I now use for wood. It's liquid, so it could be used with a fine brush or cotton bud to clean small areas and it works extremely well. I have used it on a section of a wardrobe door which we got from an old farm where everyone were heavy smokers. It was filthy but I have been wary as to what would be the best thing to clean it with (it's an Edwardian wardrobe, with the original delivery note to the Duke of Buckinghamshire still pasted to the top). It took all the dirt off and brought out an amazing gloss and wonderful colours in the walnut veneer panel. I had tried it at the show on an old bucks thumper I had just bought from a junk stall, and it had obviously been damp and exposed for a while as it had that dull look. The polish stuff brought it up a treat and hasn't left a greasy/oily/waxy residue. Just after I bought it there was a post on arachne (lace or chat? don't remember) about a polish made with turps and vinegar and this is basically what mine is. The ingredients are pure turps, linseed oil, white vinegar and sugar (in that order), but obviously there's no proportions otherwise we'd all make our own next time! But at less than GBP4 it's probably not a lot cheaper to make it as the ingredients are mostly quite pricey. Whoever wrote about it, may like to repost. If your bobbin is bone then a damp cotton bud or a tiny bit of fabric on a tooth pick or similar and just gently rub the dirt away from the undecorated areas. If it won't come off with rubbing with damp it probably won't come off in use either. Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace-chat] Cleaning Antique Bobbins/Spangles
Hi Shirlee, I use all my bobbins, be they antique or modern, so I have no qualms about changing the spangling beads!I *do* have a stash of old beads, mainly square-cuts, which I use to re-spangle the antique bobbins - and to clean the beads I have been known to put several at a time in a tea infuser (you know, the thing that looks like two teaspoons held together, with holes in the spoon bowls) and put it in the dishwasher! I do also wrap a piece of muslin round the tea-infuser, so that the beads cannot escape and it cleans them beautifully... Carol - in Suffolk UK Subject: [lace-chat] Cleaning Antique Bobbins/Spangles To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
