Re-constructing History

For those who have been following, one of my projects lately has been working on a photobook for a mother's 80th birthday. Relatives have been sending in photos for me to scan, edit and prepare for placing in a book to re-create the mother's life.  This photo was brought to me last night.  It was taken in Italy before the family immigrated to Canada and I was asked, "Is there any way you could restore this photo so that prints can be made?"

The original can be seen in the extras.  It is barely holding together as it has worn thin in so many places that it has started to rip, as well as being water damaged (or because of?)

I learned many new things last night as I worked on this.  1) How to 'heal' a photo, 2) How to replace parts of a photo that are missing, 3) How to insert photos and blend, 4) That photoshop has huge benefits.  It is far from perfect but the test will be to see how well it prints out!

Rainy old day here...

D