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07 31st, 2009| 
Let the repaired piece cool down completely and then soak it in water to remove the gummed strips. There will be some spots of adhesive along the join squeezed out when the jour was made and deliberately not wiped away. Rub the spots very carefully with glass paper and break them down before removing them with a scalpel or a razor blade. This cleaning is quite a delicate operation and if done without abrasion may result in lifting little chips of china or
glaze.
If the crack was also c’., Red and Aralditc with colouring was used, tidy the filled chips with fine glass paper, and over-paint or glaze if necessary.
Moulding aped Modelling whole pieces of a pot or a
figure are missing, the gap can be filled by rebuilding the piece with epoxy resin composition filler. But it isn’t quite so simple as that! Perfectly satisfactory pieces for plates, vases, bowls, statuettes etc. can be moulded or modelled and simply stuck into place provided the piece is not going into domestic use, but such mends are not strong
g enough
to withstand hard wear for very long unless they are sup- ported by metal cores or pins. It is easy to mould or model a jug handle without a core, but unlikely that it will last very long if the jug is used. If the new handle has a core it will be very strong indeed. The making of cores and pins is described in a later section, and here I shall talk about moulding and modelling without supports. The techniques involved are almost identical when supports are incorporated. The job requires only a few cheap tools until the moment when you get involved in metal work and drilling for supports. And many people, once they reach this stage, just take the work to an expert restorer rather than buy drills and bits etc.
Before mending a piece such as a bowl or plate or vase, without using a core, scratch or file the broken edges so that the new piece of moulding will lock into the edge as it sets. The danger is that your new pieces may not adhere too well to the smooth and thin edge of a break without some kind of roughness in which to get a grip, as the problems of adhesion are not quite the same as those of sticking two edges, of porcelain or pottery together.
Next, a backing is necessary. This means a surface up against which you can press the filler to remake the piece. If the object is a flat plate, with : flat surface, the same gummed strip as is used for binding can just be stuck on the outside surface of the piece completely covering the broken area. As it dries it stretches tight and makes a good smooth surface up against which to press the filler. This gummed paper cannot be used on a curved surface because it pulls taut and flat across the curve as it dries. Therefore the mould will
wihave to be made with a flexible material which will take a curve. Plasticine does the job well, but it never sets hard and can be pushed out of shape rather easily. Wedge plasticine before use—this is a potter’s term meaning quite simply banging it until it has no air bubbles in it. A mallet or a wooden rolling pin make good bashers for plasticine.
If you use plasticine for the mould and Araldite for the filler you will have to get some cellulose acetate to use as a parting agent as the two react upon each other and must be separated by coating the surface of the plasticine which will come into contact with die filler.
There are other moulding materials. The dental impression compound Paribar is more expensive, but is quite excellent for the work, and is worth the extra money for it can be used again and again, needs no parting agent, and has other uses. Paribar is softened in hot water before use and resets fairly hard but is flexible enough to be extricated from quite deeply cut castings.
Making Moulds. Imagine that you have to replace a curved piece with a fluted surface, from the edge of a bowl. The whole of the edge of the bowl is fluted in the same way so you take an impression of a matching piece of the pattern oil a sound section of the edge. ‘Wet the surface of the bowl and press a slab of plasticine (about half an inch thick) on to a section just a little larger than the missing piece. Carry the plasticine up over the rim of the bowl so that it will be marked but don’t bend it too far round the rim if there is any ridge or it may be difficult to remove the plasticine without bending it. Press the plasticine well and truly until you are satisfied that you have made a perfect impression. Lift it carefully off and place it over the hole on the outside of the bowl in exactly the right place so that the pattern is continuous. Press it lightly so that the broken edges of the china mark the plasticine, then remove the plasticise, and paint the area inside the edge marks with cellulose acetate parting agent, then replace it over the hole. It will stick to the dry china round the edges of the break. Bend over the top sections of plasticine away from the hole, round the rim of the bowl to keep die mould in place. A few strips of Sellotape across it and on to the china will help. Don’t use gummed strip, for this will dry out and flatten the mould. The Scllotapc may give slightly but will help to avoid the disaster of the mould coming off the pot in the middle of die filling operation which follows.
Paribar can be used in exactly the same way to make a mould especially where there is a deeply indented pattern in the china. The Paribar goes hard, but it can be softened with swabs of boiling water and removed from die filler section without breaking it when the job is done. No parting agent is needed so that the Paribar can be put directly on to the break and left there.
Filler Composition and Filling. Now to mix up sonic filler (see Fillers and Cements). Araldite two-tube epoxy resin is first mixed together and then titanium dioxide (or other whitener) is added until the mixture has a nice doughy consistency. This mixture is a bit sticky and clings to tools and fingers. Keep a little dish of the powder handy, and another dish of Methylated spirits. Dip your fingers in the powder, and the tools in the Meths from time to time, and you won’t get so stuck up. When dried out this filler looks exactly like biscuit, or unglazed baked china and takes overpainting very well. It also sticks directly to the edges of the break and you should have no trouble in making a perfect join. It isn’t the easiest of jobs to make and handle this filler, but the result is so good that it is worth practicing to get the mixture of the right colour and consistency.
Kaolin mixed with Araldite in the same way makes a very stiff, not quite so sticky, more translucent and buff coloured filler, but it has the disadvantage of not sticking quite so well to the edges of broken china as does the first mixture.
Isopon polyester resin filler is a paste which is mixed with a hardener. It is excellent for filling big holes as it dries quickly, but this means also that you must be able to work quickly. When using Isopon make all inside mould of the break as well, and having filled the mould, put the second inside mould oil to the filler from the inside to get a smooth interior surface, pressing it down well. Isopon requires no parting agents. Although it will stick to itself so that it call be built up in layers, it will not stick to china, so when the moulds arc removed, the new Isopon piece will come away and will have to be stuck in just like an ordinary broken piece. It can be rubbed and filed to finish it off It cannot be used as an adhesive.
Bondapaste is another excellent filler which hardens quickly and does not have to be baked, nor does it require powder additions to make it opaque. It does not dry white, but this is immaterial if you are going to overpaint it any-way. It can be used as an adhesive or cement and when used as a filler it stays in place without further adhesives. It can be filed, carved and abraded within a quarter of an hour of use, so is a very time-saving material, once one is experienced enough to shape it quickly.
The exact consistency of any filler is difficult to describe and can only be discovered by trial and error. If it is too hard it will push the plasticise out of place as you press it into the mould. If it is too runny it will tend to run into the lower part of the mould in whichever place you are holding it, and will not make a piece of even thickness. If the mould is made of Paribar then a stiffer nix of filler can be used.
The mixture is worked into the aperture with a round ended tool. Boxwood potter’s modelling tools are excellent but many things make good modelling tools. Some workers like to prop the pot up as they work, others hold the pot in one hand so that the break with its mould is cupped and held in position while the filler is worked in. Great care must be taken to make sure that the filler goes into all the corners and crevices right up to the edges, with no air bubbles trapped underneath. Smooth the inside surface with the tool and with thumbs and fingers until it is as like the surrounding inside surface as your eye can judge. Setthe pot aside for an hour, if the filler is Araldite, by which time it will have set to a rubbery consistency and can be worked further if necessary. If a quicker setting filler has been used, once it has set hard it can be carved, filed and abraded until it is absolutely perfect, and it is then ready for overpainting.
To speed up the setting of a mend done with Araldite, bake the pot for half an hour at zoo deg. F. If there are any small cracks or pits in the surface fill them with a thin mixture of filler, using a water-colour brush.
Chips. The mending of chips, big and small, which do not go right through a piece, involves work which is halfway between the filling of apertures as described above, and modelling
which is described in the next section.
Quite simply, you make up a mixture of any of the above mentioned fillers into a fairly stiff mixture and press it into the previously cleaned and dried area of the chip and smooth it until it looks right. Don’t get air bubbles under the filling. Wheel chips—large chips on the edge of a piece—should first have a thin layer of adhesive, to help bind the filler in place. The art of filling chips is to get a good blend along the edges and to get the filling neither too proud nor too shallow, and in getting the composition in so that no air bubbles remain behind to raise it in due course. If you suspect that a little air is trapped, prick the filler with a pin and press it down again and fill tip the pin hole.
Allow the filler to dry out over a hot radiator and then, when it is hard, rub it down with glass paper until you are satisfied that the chip, after overpainting, will be indistinguishable. Pick up the piece and squint at it at eye level in all possible planes, and rely on the sensitive tips of your fingers run across the mend to detect any irregularities. If even at this late stage the chip is not properly filled, more composition can be added for it will stick to itself, and the process repeated until you are satisfied.
Modelling. When neither straightforward sticking, nor press moulding can be used to mend an object, try modelling. It is impossible to make a mould for a missing piece which is not a repetition of another part of the object, as described previously. The missing piece just has to be built up from scratch and the result depends on the artistic ability of the restorer. Large modelled sections will have to have metal supports—dowels, or pins, or strips—and the techniques will be described later on. I am still concerned with the techniques which do not include drilling.
When a part of a plate, or a vase, or perhaps a lid knob must be remodelled, take a piece of rather doughy filler composition and roll it either flat for a flat section, or into a ball for a knob, or into a sausage for a handle, in an approximate size and shape for the job. Then press it firmly to the edge of the broken part, and model it with Boxwood tools, fingers and any suitable home made tools that you may fancy. Whenever epoxy resin mixtures are being used, dip the tools in methylated spirit to avoid sticking.
Modelling becomes really interesting when a porcelain object such as a figure or perhaps a vase festooned with flowers and leaves has pieces chipped out or broken off and lost. To remake flowers and leaves is not at all difficult. Any woman who has ever made an apple pie with a decorated crust knows the technique. The pastry, in this case filler composition in a nice doughy mixture, is rolled out to the thickness of the petal or leaf required and then pieces are cut out of it in the flat. A small sharp knife or scalpel can be used as a cutter, shapes having been first marked out with a darning needle or a fine graver. Or, if the leaf or petal pattern is to be repetitive, a cutter can be made out of strip brass or copper foil, beret to make the appropriate shapes. Make a template or pattern out of plywood, using a fretsaw (see Fig. 8). Tack this pattern to your work bench with a central nail and then hammer a copper foil strip round it with a small hammer until it is exactly the same shape. If the template is pinned with a central nail it can be pivoted round as the cutter is being made so that all pieces can be reached.
The cutting of different species of flowers, daisies, roses, apple blossom etc. is hard to describe exactly. It is a matter of careful observation of thepetals which are to be matched, and of measurements with calipers and dividers, if your eye is not good enough. Petals are cut out in flat shapes and bent over slightly at the edges, and rolled into concave shapes etc. Once your petals and leaves arc made they are then fixed to each other and to the main piece, and there is no great difficulty about this unless the anchorage point is very small indeed, especially if you arc using a good adhesive filler composition such as Araldite and titanium dioxide. it is often possible to add an extra leaf, or to put in
small
a smasupport of composition disguised in some way as part of the decoration, which will hold the modelled part in place. Most people have a collection of tools for modelling which they have made specially to get into different corners ; sewing needles, bent knitting needles, scalpels, spatulas, rifflers, spikes and blades of all kinds, even old hacksaw blades, conic in usefid.
When pieces of an object are missing for which no pressed mould can be made, it is still possible to make a mould out of plasticise which approximates pretty closely the missing piece, and to put this on to the whole in such a way that the aperture can be filled with composition in exactly the same way as a pressed mould is filled. Then the new piece must be rubbed and shaped to final perfection after the setting or baking process has been completed; but
this can be a slow job.
There are problems when it comes to modelling difficult things like faces; it rather depends upon how clever you are, but there is yet one more way, which involves modelling. It is a much more complex and tricky job, but it can save such a lot of time and trouble in the long run, -aid once again may enable you to get away with it without resorting to pinning and dowelling.
Make a model, in plasticine, of the missing part. Actually this is easy if you have a talent for modelling, terribly difficult if you haven’t. Say for instance that half a leg and a foot are missing from a figurine. Using calipers and dividers, measure the other leg and foot exactly, so that at any rate lie won’t have a size six left boot and a size ten right boot. Then model a plasticine leg to the right diniensions and in the kind of position in which it looks as if it ought to be, and keep trying your model in the space until it satisfies you. Plasticine doesn’t harden so take as long as you like over making the model.
Having made your plasticine model, a mould must be made from it and a cast or pressing taken from the mould. The finished cast can simply be stuck into position (or dowelled or pinned if necessary).
Take a sheet of glass, and a large lump of plasticise. Roll the plasticise out into a very thick strip and lay it on edge on the glass (see Fig. 9) in a square or a circle plenty big enough to hold the model, horizontally. Then fix the model, horizontally, halfway up one side of the container that you have just made. A peg carefully inserted into the end of the model and pushed out through the container side should hold it into position. Then prepare some plaster of Paris. Into another container which can be handled easily and has a pouring lip, put enough water to half fill the mould container, and sift plaster of Paris powder into it until the mixture is the consistency of thick cream, stirring with the hand to break up lumps. Then pour the plaster of Paris mixture into the mould until it is halfway up the model. Leave the whole thing to set. Then cut two wide grooves or shallow holes out of the plaster.
sure that it is really well drenched and that no tiny part has escaped swabbing. This acts as a parting agent between the two halves of the plaster mould. Make another mix of plaster as before and pour this nito the mould until the model is well covered. When this has set, remove the plasticine case and case the two sections of the casting apart. Take out the original plasticine model and you should have a perfect mould in two halves. This mould will have two locking pieces where you cut the grooves or shallow holes so that when the two halves are put together again they will locate exactly, and at the end where the model was attached to the side wall of the plasticine container, there will be a hole.
Now you have a mould which can be used to make a casting or pressing of your original model. Smear a film of silicone grease all over the pattern sections of the mould to prevent the filler sticking to the plaster of Paris, and then make up enough filler composition to fill the two halves of the mould. This filler should be soft enough to flow freely into the mould sections. When the two sections are filled, bring them together and bind them tightly with wire. Ram the composition well home, through the hole. Leave the mould, with the hole at the top, for two hours to set, and then, if you are using epoxy resin, bake it for half an hour at 2oo deg F.
Undo the wire binding and take off the plaster. If you have not used a parting agent, the plaster can be cut out and broken away and the last of it scrubbed off the model. Stick or dowel the finished model to the whole, having
made sure that the edges fit perfectly by filing and abrading. bradin,
Any discrepancy in fit which is too big to be put right by filing, can be filled with some filler composition.
Moulds can also be made from pieces of porcelain similar to the piece you are trying to replace, and then pressings made from these can be carved, filed, abraded, and built up to fit exactly.
Instead of plaster of Paris, rubberised solution such as Qualitex can be poured around your model. The advantage of using this material is that the mould is flexible and will come off difficult undercut models without damaging them. Rubberised solutions, therefore, are best for making moulds from models which must not be damaged in any way. The technique is much the same as that described above. A plasticine container is built up round half the part to be copied, and the solution is poured in.
The process is repeated on the other half and you then have the complete mould in two sections. Details vary with each job.
Faces on statuettes are very alike, and differ only iun detail of hair and headdress. There is no reason why, if you collect figures, you should not make a series of moulds or masks from any statuettes that come your way, and so build up a stock of faces iii reserve for the day when they may be needed.
Incidentally, the principles of making casts, moulds, pressings etc. are generally similar for work in all kinds of materials, and many restorers of objects other than china, such as old guns and pistols, make their own metal castings. It is a skill which has so many applications, not only for restoration but for creation. Modem materials make exciting castings and pressings, and it is an art well worth studying for its own sake.
BEDROOM CHINA
There is still quite a lot of this about and it’s quite pretty. The most obvious use for old chamber pots, slop pails, washbasins, foot baths, ewers, etc. is for flowers, or to hold flower pots. This china has been used for soup tureens, punch bowls etc. mid provided there are no cracks or chips in the china, I suppose there is no reason why not, but personally the idea does not appeal. Like other pottery it can be mended (see China Mending), and a bit of careful re-touching with a paint brush and enamel can brighten things up a bit.
BEESWAX
Beeswax is the natural wax made by the bees when building honeycombs, mid it can be bought at chemists and sonic hardware stores. It is sold as fine grade, white beeswax, or as natural wax which has an orange brown colour. Ofcourse if you keep bees you will have your own. I once left a bowl of natural beeswax from my own bees on a larder shelf. In due course, at a moment of family crisis, a visitor tried to fry some bacon and eggs in it, mistaking it for dripping. The kitchen smelt wonderful for days, but otherwise it was a waste not only of the beeswax, but of the bacon and eggs!
Beeswax by itself is too hard to use as a polish, and various blends can be made. Beeswax melts at about 65 deg. C. and do take care when making polish as the ingredients arc inflammable. Keep an oldsaucepan for the job and have suitable containers with good lids ready for the polish. I keep my old furniture polish tins and re-use them again and again. Use real turpentine, not turpentine substitute.
3 parts white beeswax 8 parts real turpentine
Melt the wax slowly over a low flame, together with the turpentine. Use a double saucepan if possible, or suspend the container in another saucepan with water in it. Colour the polish with stain if you wish. The stain should be added immediately the concoction is removed from the heat, and mixed in well. Put the polish into a tin and close it tightly. Use it just like any other polish when cold; apply with a soft rag and rub hard.
Recipe z. J lb. beeswax real turpentine
Melt the wax in a saucepan over a low flame, adding well
turpentine and mixing until the whole is the consistency of thick custard. Paint the mixture on to the wood with a rag while it is still warm and leave it to dry. Then polish as hard and as long as youlike. This method is best for natural wood surfaces which will absorb a lot of the polish, but not for surfaces which already have a polish on them.
Recipe 3. 8 ozs. beeswax 2 ozs. resin
real turpentine
Melt the resin, beeswax and a little turpentine in a double saucepan over a low flame. When it is all blended together remove it from the meat and allow it to cool, but before it has set stir in enough turpentine to make a soft polish, about I pt. Acid colouring if required.
This is a leather dressing similar to that used by the British MUSCU111.
7 ozs. anhydrous lanolin
I fluid oz. cedarwood oil
I oz. white beeswax
ti fluid ozs. hexane
Hexane is highly inflammable so do not make this mixture up near an open flame, or use the dressing near an open flame. Dissolve the beeswax in the hexane (no heat is required), add the lanoline and blend well, and lastly add the cedarwood oil.
Recipe 5. furniture cream
3 ozs. white wax
8 ozs. real turpentine 8 ozs. warm water liquid ammonia
Melt the white wax over a low flame. Remove the saucepan from the flame and add the turpentine and the warm water and blend it all together. Add the ammonia drop by drop stirring all the time until the mixture is a thick cream. This old recipe for polish should be used with care as ammonia is a solvent for some varnishes but is excellent on wood which does not have an artificial surface of varnish or French polish.
Recipe 6.
pt. real turpentine pt. soft water
2 ozs. beeswax (natural) I oz. white wax
2 squares camphor
i oz. Castile soap
i teaspoonful ammonia
Shred the waxes and the camphor into the turpentine. Shred the soap into the water and simmer tuitil the volume is reduced by half. Cool and add the turpentine and wax mixture. Blend well together and add the ammonia and shake thoroughly. This is a good cleansing furniture polish.
Recipe 7. z ozs. white beeswax
benzene
Flake the beeswax and then add the benzene and stir until the wax has dissolved. This is a useful dressing for preserving wickerwork and canc.
Recipe 8. wax adhesive
5 parts beeswax
5 parts resin
i part real turpentine
Heat all together gently in a double saucepan until the ingredients blend.
Simple beeswax polishes as in Recipe r make an excellent protective coating for bronze, alabaster, iron, steel, marble and slate, as well as for all kinds of wooden furniture and objects.
Various other polishes which do not contain wax are described in the section oil Polishes.
BIRD-CAGES
Large Victorian bird-cages still turn tip in junk shops. I owned and used one, but unfortunately my Siamese cat discovered that the metal rods were not particularly strong, and after I came home from the cinema one night to find a pathetic heap of blue feathers on the floor, a smug cat, and a bent cage, I reverted to modem steel cages and kept the old one as a relic. Many old cages are somehow reminiscent of the Crystal Palace, and are made of dozens of metal rods, either rusted or covered in filth and old paint. The only real answer is to clean each rod separately with emery paper, or steel wool dipped in paint stripper. It’s
hard work on the fingers and is a good job for the long winter evenings, as it can be done while watching television. Solder broken rods (see Soldering). Having cleaned the cage repaint it, or lacquer it with clear metal lacquer. The application of paint or lacquer by brushing is a tedious job on such an object; spraying might be easier, but to be sure of covering all sides of the rods; dipping is the best answer. If the cage can be taken into sections each section should be dealt with separately, otherwise you are going to need a huge container and an awful lot of paint or lacquer to dip the object effectively.
BLEACHING
Colour or stains can be removed by bleaching. Sunlight will bleach, but it is chemical bleaching which is described in this section. Because the action of bleach is irrevocable take care. It is all too easy to remove not only the stain and the colour but the underlying material; and it is a cardinal rule to use bleach well diluted and to strengthen it gradually if necessary. Always try out bleach on a part of the material where it can do least damage, before making any general applications.
Hydrogen peroxide, and Milton are good bleaches. To bleach very fragile articles which cannot be rubbed, soak a Plaster of Paris slab with hydrogen peroxide and then place the object to be bleached just above the slab, within a quarter of an inch. Do this in an empty drawer or a small cupboard to confine and concentrate the vapours.
Household bleaches such as Doinestos, Brobat, and Parazone are fine for bleaching certain articles, but are strong and may need dilution and they should not be mixed with any other type of cleaner lest you succeed in making chlorine gas which is highly toxic.
Ch bromine T, which is white powder to mix with distilled water, makes a bleach for prints.
Raw wood is bleached, either after stripping down or to remove stains, by swabbing with ordinary domestic bleach. Adjust the strength of the solution according to the degree of lightness required.
gen in water, freeing the oxygen, and this means that it has strong bleaching properties. It is possible to make an apparatus for bleaching prints etc., but I must point out that chlorine gas is dangerous stuff and the greatest care should be taken when using it as a bleach, and all children and animals should be miles away.
The first necessity is a flat box large enough to take the biggest prints you intend to bleach (see Fig. 5). It must be well made with airtight joints. A sheet of thick glass should be used as a lid, for it enables you to see what is going on, and it must fit tile top of the box snugly. If you are doing a proper job, make a frame top and hinge it for the box to drop in on to a narrow ledge, and putty the glass into the frame. Fix a handle to tile lid so that it can be lifted lip easily. Bore a hole in the side of the box and cement a piece of glass tubing to take the gas pipe. Having made your box, test it with a puff or two of cigarette smoke to make sure it is gas tight.
Get a gallon cider jar with a well fitting rubber cork with a hole in it to take a short length of glass tube. Join the tube in the cork to the tube in the side of the box with a rubber tube. Place another sheet of glass in the bottom of the box, damp the print which is to be bleached and lay it in the box. Close the lid. Put two ounces of bleaching powder (chloride of lime) into the jar, pour in a cupful of accumulator acid, and close the jar at once. If this job can be done in the open air, all the better. If there is any leakage of gas, keep away until it has dispersed. When the print is sufficiently bleached, just open the lid and let the air blow away the gas, always being careful not to inhale.
The amount of gas which will be made by the quantities given here is not enough to give a dangerous concentration, but nevertheless it is not to be fooled with. Don’t do this job in a room with birds, fish, cats, dogs or children in it. Or even white mice.
BONE AND IVORY
Small bone and ivory objects—card cases, chessmen, statuettes, fans, needles, inlays and small carvings turn up from time to time in bad condition and in need of cleaning. Impregnate really badly broken or chipped or cracked pieces with melted paraffin wax, which will hold the piece together and preserve it. Warm the object first over a radiator or in an airing cupboard, and put it right into the runny wax. Lift it out after a few minutes and wipe off the surplus.
Ivory goes yellow with age especially if it is not exposed to light. Sometimes this colour is pleasant and is best left alone, but things like knife handles, piano keys or fan sticks do look better white. Make up a bleaching paste of whiting and 20 volume hydrogen peroxide and coat the piece with it. The paste must be stiff or the ivory will absorb too much liquid and swell. Stand the object out in the air and sunshine until the paste has dried, then wash it off and dry the piece thoroughly with a soft cloth. A little almond oil applied with a soft rag will leave a nice protective coating.
To clean bone and ivory which just needs dirt and dust removing from crevices, use methylated spirit on a duster, or on a soft brush. Never use water. If there are spots which won’t come off, try rubbing the spot with a little whiting and methylated spirit on a cotton wool swab on a cocktail stick.
Bone and ivory can be polished with tripoli, or rotten-stone or carborundum products, or with silica preparations and modern metal polishes.
Stick broken pieces of ivory together with Durofix or Araldite. Make sure the surfaces to be joined are clean, and bleach out any staining left by old glue as above.
BOOKS
The top edges of books get filthy and although loose dust can be removed with a soft brush or an old fashioned feather-duster, real dirt is hard to clear. Holding the book very tightly shut it so that only the top edges show, rub gently with fine sandpaper folded to the correct size. This could be rather too fierce for a valuable book, so try soft breadcrumbs, or all art eraser (see Fig. 6).
The edges of many old books are either gilded or painted, and it is quite easy to give these a new lease of life. Ordinary water colour paint mixed with size instead of water is brushed on. The book must be well cramped with the covers folded out of the way, and the exposed pages protected, or the paint may colour more than it is meant to.
To re-gild, kestoration Wax or Treasure Wax Gilt should be rubbed on the tightly closed edges with your finger, and then polished with a soft cloth to remove the surplus and make it shine.
Leather covers on books must be cleaned occasionally with a little leather polish such as Sheerwax, but remember that on most books the leather is almost paper thin, and cannot take too much rough handling. Very often old books are quite spoiled by r pieces of the leather being torn away to show the cardboard cover, or else the leather on the spine is split or perished. To mend these tears, cut out the bad parts, clean off the old glue and muck, gently lift and stick the new piece of leather into position, being careful to tuck the new edges under the old. The leather for this job should be as thin as possible, and do pare die tucked in edges carefully, so that the joins do not make a nasty bulge. For any decoration that has to be done, see the section on Leather.
Print on book titles and authors’ names with Indian Ink or Reeves Transfer Foil, which is used rather like carbon paper. You will probably find that it needs a little practice to make a neat job of the lettering, especially on the curved spine.
If a book has the side cover torn away from the spine, Sellotape X will make a strong lengdiwiscjoin, with a small gap left between the two edges, so that there is enough play left, when the book is closed. Sheets of coloured paper cut to size and pasted over the end page and the cardboard cover look neat. Scccotine or paperhanger’s paste are useful adhesives for binding and paper work.
Stained and damp pages are dealt with in the same way as prints (see section on cleaning prints), but this can be rather difficult without taking the book to pieces. When the odd page is dirty or stained, particularly at the begin- ning or end, a little gentle dabbing with carbon tetrachloride, petrol or benzine should remove most greasy marks and fingerprints. Wax is best dealt with by placing a piece of blotting paper under the spot, and ironing lightly with a hot iron.
If a book should happen to be dropped in the bath, dry it by putting tissue paper or sheets of blotting paper between the leaves, through half the book. Then put an even weight on the book and leave it in a dry place, perhaps in the draught of a fan heater or a hair dryer, but do not put it too near a radiator or fire. The current of air is necessary to carry away moisture. Treat the second half of the book the same way when the first has dried.
Mend torn pages with white paste (see recipe under Adhesives), as other glues will show either too grey or brown. On frayed or ragged overlapping edges, put a little paste on one surface, and place the torn sheet exactly over it. If a comer or edge of a sheet is missing, cut another piece of paper, similar in texture and colour, slightly larger than the missing portion, and stick it on to the torn piece. A tidier job is made by trimming the torn piece first. When a page is torn across the print, mend it by sticking the thinnest possible Japanese paper over the top. If the print is large and the lines well spaced, cut little strips of matching paper, and stick them in between the print, although this is horribly fiddly. The edge of a torn page should always be reinforced so that it will not tear again in the same place. Whole pages tom out of books are best repaired with long strips of matching paper pasted down the length of the tears. ScIlotape X can be used, but if there are quite a lot of pages out, it will make clumsy joins, and ordinary sellotape is not good as the edges of it stay sticky and pick up bits of dirt and dust, making a grey mark.
Insect infestation in books is dealt with under Inscas.
Presenting the Plan d3sf4wr6gk
Joe had created a business plan for a new gourmet mustard venture. He had spent a great deal of time developing the business initially and very little time putting together a business plan itself. It took Joe a good long while to learn the importance of the look of the plan. It almost cost him everything.
Joe’s plan was a visual mess. The margins were only half an inch wide. Joe had learned in school that wide margins on term papers meant you didn’t have anything to say. In the world of academia, the narrower the margins, the more words per page. More words per page meant more content, which to his professors meant that more work had gone into the effort. And by this measure (instead of an actual reading in some cases) a better grade was received. And so, consequently, Joe felt that with narrow margins and a cramped style the brilliance of his plan would be revealed.
Instead, the opposite was true. The first venture capitalist to receive the plan took one look at the tightly spaced and crowded first page and set the whole thing aside. All Joe received was a letter saying the investment didn’t fit their profile. He never learned it was the presentation of the plan itself that didn’t fit their standards.
The second venture capitalist to receive the plan was a stickler for consistency, neatness, and grammar. Joe’s plan was inconsistent in the formatting of tables, charts, and section headings. It was stapled together in a fairly sloppy fashion. Joe had not bothered to spell-check. By the time the second venture capitalist saw his second spelling error, he had had enough. The whole plan was set aside, and Joe again received a letter saying the investment did not fit their profile.
Joe was perplexed. He had done a great deal of work putting everything in place. He was ready to start shipping cases and cases of the product. He felt like he wasn’t getting a straight answer. He needed to know why the venture guys didn’t relish his gourmet mustard.
One of Joe’s friends offered to hook him up with a venture capitalist who would give him a straight and honest appraisal of the plan. Joe jumped at the offer and overnighted the plan that afternoon,
In three days, Joe met with Jessica, a well-dressed, no-nonsense professional investor. Jessica got right to the point. Joe’s plan was a disaster. It was difficult to read because it was too cramped, without any relieving white space. It was a jumble of type styles and inconsistent formats. The binding with off-centered staples was not neat or professional. Jessica said the entire product reflected poorly on Joe and his business. And in a game where first impressions are crucial, Joe’s current first impression would never lead to a second one.
Joe was crestfallen but thanked Jessica for her candor. He muttered he would probably lose his orders for 100,000 cases. Jessica immediately picked up on the comment. What 100,000-case order? Joe elaborated that he had received several purchase orders from the likes of Safeway and Wal-Mart. The buyers loved this gourmet mustard and were awaiting shipment.
Jessica asked Joe why the purchase orders weren’t included in the supporting materials. Joe didn’t realize the documents themselves were important. He had mentioned the orders at the bottom of page 27. Jessica scoldingly told Joe he was hiding his light under a bushel. Orders of that magnitude should be mentioned on page 1 and attached as supporting material exhibits.
Joe smiled. Did she think he had something? Jessica was now tearing through the financials, the management section, and all her other favorite parts of a business plan. She was starting to appreciate the opportunity in front of her.
As it turned out, Jessica’s firm invested in Joe’s business. And in the process, and very fortunately, Joe came to fully appreciate the importance of plan presentation and the inclusion of important supporting materials.
Your First Impression
The first impression many people will get of your business is your plan’s appearance. Do you think a potential investor or lender will look differently at a business plan that is neatly bound and formatted for ease of understanding compared to one that is written margin-to-margin in purple crayon? What impression do you want to give? Here are a few hints for a good-looking plan:
• Use white (or very light-colored) paper.
• Margins should be at least one inch (but less than two inches) all the way around.
• Font styles should be kept to a minimum (no more than three).
• Colors should be used conservatively (photos and complicated graphics are exceptions). Black print and one or two accent colors are best.
• Pages should be printed on one side only.
• The entire document should be single-spaced with double spaces between paragraphs.
• Don’t be afraid of white space.
• Use bulleted points whenever you can.
• Be consistent with formatting of tables, graphs, charts, titles, and section headings.
• Use neat, professional binding—no staples.
• Use a spell-checker.
• Get someone you trust to look through and read the plan.
• Include a table of contents at the beginning and an index at the end.
Your cover sheet should include all the information a reader will need to get ahold of you (company name, address, and phone number; names, titles, addresses, and phone numbers of owners) as well as the company logo, the date the plan was prepared, and the name of the person who prepared it.
Length
It’s ironic that it takes a 200-page book to explain how to write a succinct business plan. Typical business plans average between twenty to forty pages, including support materials. (Others, of course, maybe longer.) On the surface, it may seem unnecessary to do all the research and planning and organization we suggest, but think of your business plan as a crucible. The research, planning, and organization are the components you focus on in order to create a successful business. A winning business plan not only maps out the keys to a successful business but, more important, addresses the unique aspects of your business in a way that will serve your unique temperament, goals, and experience while simultaneously meeting the needs of investors and financiers.
So how long should your business plan be? The answer is simple: as long as it needs to be. How do you know how long it needs to be? You do the preliminary footwork. This book is an excellent first step. Then start writing. As you write it all out, you’ll get a sense of how long feels right. And again, have trusted friends review your work. They’ll help you determine which areas need to be fleshed out and which ones need to be pared down.
Presentation
Business plans are meant to be seen. Whether you wrote your plan to attract funding or to help with management, you will need to show the plan to someone.
• The plan’s appearance reflects your commitment to creating a winning business plan.
• The plan’s content is far more important than its appearance, but it won’t be read if it lacks a professional look.
If you wrote your business plan in order to attract funding and/or investment, you will need to get the plan into the hands of the people who can decide whether or not to give you money Most of us are uncomfortable when it comes to talking about money. Many of us were taught that it is rude to talk about something so crass. But if you want someone to give you a loan or invest in your company, you will have to get over your upbringing because you can’t just mail out your plan and hope for the best.
If you want loan or investment approval, you will need to schedule meetings to present your plan. Don’t think that just having the meeting and leaving the plan for the decision makers to read will cut it. Don’t leave something as important as your business’s future to chance. Decision makers may promise to read your plan and give it consideration, but you can’t be sure they actually will. The only way to be sure that your potential investors or funders get your message is to present it.
The presentation of your business plan should be a business meeting, a formal presentation. Even if the potential investors are your parents and your little brother, you want to present your plan in a serious and professional manner. (Remember, you can’t advertise for people to come to this meeting.) But for your preexisting audience—your friends and family and any professionals you’ve been in touch with—you might want to use a conference room. This room can be at the potential investor’s or lender’s office. If not and you lack the facilities, try borrowing space from a friend or renting a conference room. You might want to use presentation equipment, such as a computer/projector for your PowerPoint presentation. You should give your audience hard copies of your plan as well. When is up to you.
You can have the plan delivered before the meeting so that your audience will have time to formulate questions, though you run the risk of them making a negative decision before you have a chance to highlight all your positive points. Try having the plan delivered just the day before the meeting so your audience can become familiar with it without enough time to make a decision. Or you can hand out the plan at the beginning of the meeting, though here you run the risk of your audience reading while you are trying to present. Either way, have copies of your presentation slides to hand out so your audience can follow along.
Your slides and their corresponding handouts should contain short, bulleted points and be in the same visual style as your plan. Your presentation should be less formal than your plan in that you don’t want to sound like you are reading. Try to make it as much like a story as you can. Practice your presentation and get feedback from people you trust to give You honest opinions before you go before people who can make or break your business. Keep in mind that your audience can read—your slides and your handouts—so you don’t have to. Let your slides be reminders for your talk. Let them remind you what points you want to make and then expand from there.
If you wrote your business plan to aid in management, who sees the plan will depend on your business, your style, and your goals. Obviously, if the whole business is comprised of you and your spouse, there don’t need to be a lot of secrets. But if yours is a business with a rigid hierarchy with decisions made only at the top level, you might want to limit access. You might choose to share your plan with management only or show employees on a need-to-know basis. You might distribute a version of the plan (say, a version without financial detail, but with graphs and percentages instead), or you could include sections of the plan in your employee manual. It is entirely up to you. Odds are you will want to consider the twin needs of protecting sensitive information and building a sense of ownership, and only you know how to do so.
While people involved with money will have a pretty good idea why you are showing them your business plan, employees might not. You might include your business plan presentation as part of a company retreat or have a special meeting just for the plan. Maybe you want to introduce the plan to everyone at once or department by department. Wherever you choose to have your plan unveiled, be sure you are present. You may choose to deliver the entire message yourself, or you might be better served using a team approach, with appropriate managers discussing different sections. Again, it comes down to your particular approach and your particular business. Regardless, be sure to explain what a business plan is and how it should be used, why you are showing it, and what you expect listeners to do with it. Similarly, if you use the plan as part of your training program for new employees, be sure that they are not just handed the plan cold but are given the same message you gave the others.
As your business and your business knowledge grow, take some time to check back in with employees to see how the plan is being used and how employees feel it is working. Get suggestions and comments from employ ees and then use that input to improve the plan. Let the plan work as a road map, a checkpoint, and a management tool.
Your Plan Is a Living Document
A business plan is an ever-changing, never-completed document. It is always in a state of revision. With the passage of time, expertise grows, markets change, customer bases alter, and technology continues ever onward. Anyone who reads your plan should get the most up-to-date and complete information you are capable of providing. This means that even after you write the last section of your plan, you need to continue to study the markets and stay abreast of industry, market, and economic trends. Just as your business will be in a constant state of flux, so, too, should your plan be.
Anticipating Problems
Ideally, any business plan, whether written for management purposes or to attract funding, will help anticipate problems that could strike your company. Are costs of supplies going up? Is technology getting cheaper? Is competition increasing or decreasing? What is the motion (if any) of your labor pool? What advertising trends seem to be coming around again? Where is the economy in its current cycle? Are your best-selling products peaking, or are they on their downward slide? Which products are showing new strength? Use your plan to draft alternate budgets so you will have some sort of road map if good times get bad or bad times get better. Use your plan to assess whether or not your current circumstances (good or bad) are short-term or long-term.
Supporting Materials
Supporting materials are all the documents that can help convince readers of your business plan that your business is worth their time and/or money.
The documents should be introduced or referenced in the text of the previous sections so that they can stand alone in this section. These documents should need no introductory or explanatory text in this section and therefore can be simply arranged and attached to the final plan or offered as a separate document to serious investors or appropriate personnel.
As you go through the process of writing your business plan, you will think of a host of materials that can help you make the argument (to yourself, your management team, or potential lenders and investors) that your business is a good risk. These documents give credence to your arguments, and they back up your numbers. They help show how you came to your decisions and how you will make your plan work. As you prepare the plan, you should keep a notebook close by to jot down the supporting documents you reference in other sections or that you think you might want to include. Be sure you include every document that you mention in your plan. Don’t make your readers search for the information they need in order to make an informed decision (ideally, the positive decision you want them to make). Some of the support materials you should consider are these:
• Resumes. Ideally, resumes are one page and include work history, education, professional affiliations and honors, and special skills. Include resumes for all owners/partners and corporate officers (whatever applies to your corporate entity).
• Letters of reference. Your letters of reference can come from past investors, lenders, or business acquaintances (people you’ve worked for or with, suppliers, distributors, etc.) or from nonbusiness acquaintances (but avoid letters from friends or relatives) and should be assessments of your business skills.
• Personal finances. While some practitioners suggest including a balance sheet of your personal financial history as well as that of other owners/partners, I am not keen on it. Keep your personal information as private as possible.
• Leases. Include any lease agreements you have for your business (such as those for buildings, vehicles, equipment).
• Contracts. Include any contracts for your business (such as loans, purchase agreements, service contracts, even maintenance agreements).
Remember Joe’s 100,000-case gourmet mustard order? That type pe of business validation is well placed in this section.
• Other legal documents. Include any other pertinent legal documents, such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, insurance policies, and articles of incorporation.
• Other attachments. Include any other documents or information that you have referenced in the body of your plan but that do not fall into any of the above categories. These would include demographic information, maps, and the like.
Depending on your business and the information available, you might also consider attaching:
• Glossary of industry terms
• Product information
• Additional or more specific marketing data
• Marketing materials (brochures, catalogs, etc.)
• Financial analyst reports
• Newspaper or magazine articles
• Company history
• Press releases
• Web pages
Not all plans will need the same information. Those written for management purposes will not need the resumes, letters of reference, or credit reports. Even plans written to attract funding will differ as different lenders or investors will want to see different information. It is best to prepare as much information as you can so that you can easily tailor copies of your plan for various readers and institutions. And please note that the plan found in the appendix is a somewhat abbreviated version for reasons of space. Your plan may have much greater detail.
