Silk Bookmark Fraying Help

Dip in the melted wax of a candle or scented soy melt: preferably colourless or one matching the colour of the ribbon-marker.

After that, leave the book open on a table, and have the dipped portion as far away as possible. Have a few paper towels under the part you dipped to catch/collect any excess wax. Give it a solid 10 minutes to cool, dry and harden.

This happened recently to me with one of my History of Middle-earth books (the tip started to fray), and it’s going well since I’ve done it 🙂 No chemicals, soot, colour transfer (thats why you let it dry and harden) etc…..if it starts to undo itself, merely repeat the process.

For the record, I’ve done this back in Nov and it’s still holding well.

Scarlet_Sorcerer wrote:

Dip in the melted wax of a candle or scented soy melt: preferably colourless or one matching the colour of the ribbon-marker.

While I think this will hold well, I expect you will get a greasy spot on the paper over time from the wax.

I don't know of an archival method that will hold the ends and not damage the paper. I haven't seen a publisher figure out how either.

So far no marks 🙂

Clear nail polish is another method I’ve seen often: but am unsure of any side effects beyond making sure that the ribbon marker itself is fine

I am going to lock this thread as we do not advise anyone uses any of these methods on their books. I would suggest speaking to a book restorer for advice on this.

andyt563 wrote:

Hello! First post here on the forums, long-time lurker. Began my collection of the slip-cased deluxe editions a few months ago, and I’ve loved reading them immensely.

One question I’ve had, though, as I’ve read them: does anyone have a preferred method for preventing fraying at the end of the silk bookmark? When I’ve finished reading the book, I put the ribbon at the first page of the introduction, then tuck the end of the ribbon between pages twenty or thirty pages back, so it will fit nicely back into the slipcase. I’m worried any chemical or glue I apply to the end of the ribbon will cause staining in between the pages it lives between. And I know burning the end of the silk won’t work like it does for synthetic material. And I don’t want to tie a knot in it and cause an impression of the knot to be pressed in between the pages.

Any recommendations for something that has worked? Thank you in advance!

(as admin I can reply to locked threads 😉)

Hi Andy and others that might find your question,

Welcome to the site! It is a good question I don't think there are any "great" answers to.

I'll note that you're reading the books, so preserving the "collector value" isn't your primary concern. You're likely going to get small marks, page edge dings/folds, and rubbing on the boards and corners just through normal use so a bit of denting, staining or other issues caused by the bookmark itself isn't going to add significantly to everything else happening to your copy. You should enjoy reading it! And a frayed bookend takes away from the enjoyment of using it, and eventually would make it not usable.

If you add something to the end of the ribbon, I would suggest just letting the end hang loose in the air gap below the page block - the boards leave enough space either on the shelf or in the slipcase, there's no real need to tuck the end back in the book. This would at least prevent a dent or potential transfer of oils/chemicals to the paper as much as possible.

Scarlet_Sorcerer - I don't think a few weeks (November til now) is grounds for concluding there will never be any transfer to the paper.

I've sent out some feelers to archivists and conservators that might have some suggestions.