{"id":7421,"date":"2026-04-08T14:11:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/?p=7421"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:12:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:12:47","slug":"creating-a-cradle-for-frankenstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/2026\/04\/creating-a-cradle-for-frankenstein","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Cradle for Frankenstein"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When a copy of Frankenstein: the Man and the Monster came into the lab from CHPL, Catarina asked me to make an enclosure for it \u2013 easy enough. What I didn\u2019t imagine was how tricky a book this little can be. This book measured around 6 inches tall by 4 inches wide and maybe a quarter of an inch thick \u2013 small, thin, and not very heavy at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem wasn\u2019t the box, but the integrated cradle, which is essentially a few pieces of corrugated board adhered together to create a rest so the book can open with less stress on the spine. With a book as small and lightweight as this one, the pages and cover weren\u2019t heavy enough to weigh down the arms of the cradle, therefore I needed to figure out a way to keep the arms of the cradle down so the book could open fully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this, I used linen tapes to hold the two halves of the arms together so they stayed firmly down without needing the book to weigh them. The tape on the outer part of the arm is tied into a bow with another piece of tape that is attached to the base of the cradle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Corrugated<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Aerial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, to keep the cradle from opening too far, I used more linen tapes on the interior of the arms to hold the arms at the exact width I wanted them from the spine of the book. This helped the cradle keep it\u2019s shape, and created tension for the ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nicole Browning – Conservation Specialist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a copy of Frankenstein: the Man and the Monster came into the lab from CHPL, Catarina asked me to make an enclosure for it \u2013 easy enough. What I didn\u2019t imagine was how tricky a book this little can be. This book measured around 6 inches tall by 4 inches wide and maybe a quarter of an inch thick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,500,1],"tags":[449,59,771,862,121,864,863,715],"class_list":["post-7421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book","category-collection_care","category-exhibits","category-uncategorized","tag-chpl","tag-cincinnati-and-hamilton-county-public-library","tag-collapsible-cradle","tag-corrugated-clamshell-with-integrated-cradle","tag-exhibition","tag-frankenstein","tag-freestanding-cradle","tag-nicole-browning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7427,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7421\/revisions\/7427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libapps.libraries.uc.edu\/thepreservationlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}