Revealed....top secrets on cleaning collectibles!

I'm nuts for collectibles. I scour flea markets, thrift stores and yard sale almost every week of my life. I find it almost impossible to pass up a yard sale if I see tables with small items on them because a treasure might be waiting for me to discover it!

My personal favorites are vintage Strawberry Shortcake Collectibles though I also love porcelain dolls, collectible kitchenware and movie memorabilia (particularly Star Trek!).

If you are like me, and love finding a wonderful collectible treasure you also know the heartbreak of finding a treasure that is damaged in a way you are not sure you can fix.

I bought an entire lot of vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls before knowing what VDS meant. If you are also unfamiliar with the term, it's a fungus that likes to attack soft vinyl dolls. It leaves little brown marks on the arms and legs and if you wash that off, it leaves white spots.

There's no known remedy for getting rid of VDS after it is there but one of my secrets can help it from spreading and can prevent it to some degree.

But before you read my tips be sure you read this: Just because I've had great results with these tips, I am not saying they will work for every doll or every figurine. And I'm not saying they can't cause damage with some surfaces, so do a test area first if in question.

Tip #1: Colloidal Silver When I find VDS on my dolls, I wash them in a solution of water and colloidal silver. I'll wet a cloth and then drop about 10 drops of silver (that may vary according to potency - what I use is 10ppm) on the cloth and then wash my dolls with that. Colloidal silver seems to stop further damage and also, none of my unaffected dolls have caught the VDS.

Tip #2: Oregano Oil This one I learned about in a holistic health seminar on essential oils, which I love and use a lot. The speaker demonstrated how oregano oil would dissolve black magic marker ink. The point was that oregano oil can clear our receptors when they've been clogged by toxicity such as that in the typical marker ink.

However, when I recently bought a Winsor Bear figurine and saw that someone had written their name on the bottom of it in black magic marker, I decided to see if oregano oil would take it off.

It was amazing. I had to go over it a couple of times and I also had to be careful not to get any oil on the marks or other writing that I wanted to keep in tact, because it would have removed that as well, but the oregano oil completely removed the name.

Tip #3: Orange Goop. Wow, is this stuff amazing. I bought it at Walmart and was a little afraid to try it on my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I was afraid that it, like the oregano oil with marker stains, might take color along with dirt. It didn't though. I was amazed at how well it took off the dirt and stains. I tried it on my Palm Pals and it worked on them too. Also on porcelain. Still, warning remains that different porcelain or vinyl dolls might not have the same chemical components so test in an inconspicuous area first.

Tip #4: Q-Tips. Love this one. I was having a lot of trouble getting into tight areas that were dirty or stained, and cleaning them. Then, I tried a q-tip and it works like a charm. Also great for cleaning off marker stains where there is other ink nearby which you need to leave in tact. I use q-tips to clean palms of hands, mouths, ears and other tight areas that need cleaning.

Tip #5: Zeolite. I first learned about zeolite when researching ways to detoxify my basement of mold and chemicals. Zeolite has a unique quality of absorbing odors and toxic chemicals. I use it whenever there is a mold issue. Takes several days to a week though, to clear it out. You can order zeolite in mesh bags on the internet. Just do a search.

So, there you have it, my top 5 secrets on cleaning collectibles. I hope it helps you. See ya at the next yard sale!

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