How to save a life - I forgot a book inside a bag with a wet towel

There are two things with what books don't mix: Fire and Water. In my case, it was water.I was coming from work and forgot  Furies' Bog inside my bag. No biggie, right? Except if you work as a swimming teacher and your bag is full of wet towels and other equipment.

So if you're wondering why there was no Friday Ramble ON Friday, the reason is that I wanted to wait until Furies' Bog had a chance to recover so I could get the 'After' picture. And since it has been recovering the whole weekend, I obviously could not have read it. Fret not! There's still going to be a review on Wednesday!



Here is an tutorial of how to save the life of the book that, one way or another, got wet.

1. Pick it up.

Sounds obvious right, but quick reaction is everything. The less time it soaks the easier it is to save.

2. Get lots and lots of paper towels or toilet paper.

Place one or to arks of paper between the cover and the front leaf (do the same thing with the back cover). Then keep adding more paper towels every 10-15 pages approximately. The more the merrier.

 
3. Press, press, press, and don't let go.

You need to find a place where in between you can put your paper towel filled book to compression. The ideal place is where the pressure divides evenly on both covers. A huge pile of books or other heavy items do the job perfectly.

4. .....wait

No, saving your baby's life does not take a couple of hours. You have to wait at least for 24 hours before taking the paper towels out. If the book feels bended then you can keep it in the press for a couple of hours.

Now your books should be as good as new! The result of saving Furies' Bog is down below. The entire book was wet and the  pages were curled. Now only a slight curl can be detected and it will possibly straighten up more, since I'm putting it back inside the press.


Bonus.
Definite NOs when saving your loved ones life.

Do not use a hair dryer. It will only wrinkle the pages and heat may cause other damage too.
Wiping with the paper towels. If you want to keep the ink in a readable shape, I advise against wiping.

I do hope these helped! Share your results in the comments below. And if you have other tips and tricks, let me know!