RESTORER SERVICES
Restoration and Repair
To REPAIR a broken item usually means putting it back together again using glue. For instance, a porcelain plate has fallen on the floor and broken into several pieces but it can be stuck together with glue. This is a repair but not a restoration.
To RESTORE a broken item means using the skill of experts to effect a repair that restores the item to its former glory.
Virtually any material can be restored but you must specify the type of restoration you want.
Simple. You only want the item put together to make good.
Museum repair. Usually only carried out with a valuable or rare item.
Invisible. Where pieces of an item, a plate for instance, are glued together, filled in and sanded down, so that the new parts are level with the old. The entire area is then sprayed so that there is no trace of cracks or missing parts.
Paintings can be patched if torn and even re-painted. Their frames can also be repaired. The more the client invests in the repair of a precious and valuable item, the closer the experts will come to carrying out perfect restoration.
REMEMBER
Many people do not buy a damaged piece because they are afraid of:
- It having no value
- It having no re-sale value
- It being expensive to repair or restore
This could be a lost opportunity, which is why we, at Trusted Restoration, are here to help and advise.
Restored pieces
It is not uncommon to find damaged examples that have been restored. However, it is the quality of the piece, the expertise of the restorer and the quality of restoration that really counts. Collecting restored pieces may not be detrimental to either your pocket or collection. However, remember you get what you pay for. A restorer who gives a cheap quote is unlikely to be able to spend the time required to model a piece correctly and make sure the restored part matches the original as exactly as possible. The best restorers are always looking for new ways of improving their techniques. Often, with a bad restoration, the whole piece will have a false layer of spray, but what really matters is what is acceptable to you. You may not have the best restorer but his work may be acceptable to you.
Gilding
The use of gold in gilding is a restorer's nightmare and requires very specialist treatment Virtually nothing is beyond the capability of the restorer. However, it is his experience and expertise that will determine the quality of the end result. When you want an item restored you must specify the type of restoration. You may want your item simply repaired, just put together to make good. Your restorer should clean the cracked areas and fill with an invisible glue that will stop dust from settling in. It is important to specify whether you want your piece invisibly restored. This means spraying over the entire area of damage and making it as new.
Whatever material is being restored has its own limitation even though the best restorers have their own miraculous methods.
Materials
Laurence Mitchell says:
"An Insurer asked me to restore an Eames chair. I had it restored, but the chair was made from a combination of plastic and plywood. If you applied heat to this in a restoration process you would just be left with a hot and sticky pool on the floor. However, there was a way forward – I went to a man who builds boats and yachts. He knows how to work with these materials.
On another occasion, a complicated job was turned down by several porcelain restorers, when approached by a leading insurer. Four porcelain panels encased in a copper frame surrounding a mirror had become damaged. In order to restore the panels it was necessary to take out the mirror, held in place by a copper frame. To take off the frame required the removal of two hundred copper rivets boring into the skin of the copper frame. When the copper skin was removed we found there to be both an inner and an outer skin. Once the porcelain panels had been removed and restored, it was necessary to put back every single one of the two hundred copper rivets in exactly their original position. On delivering the restored job back to the owner, they expressed their delight and amazement at our completing a restoration which no one else had been willing to take on."
