Ceramic Restoration Services
508 Chebucto Street B0e 1B0 Baddeck, NS, Canada

A tough restoration... A much loved hand made family piece. This type of pottery, when dropped, smashes into dust :( Only a few shards were usable. So I used what I could, then made a mould from dental wax & filled with plaster. A lot of sanding then took place to get the reticulations to appear as close to the originals as possible & to smooth out the joins. Then I airbrushed a base coat & tried to emulate the speckled effect and the shading of the top coat. The overall effect is good & I'm pleased with the end result!

How fitting that I can share this restoration with you on Easter Sunday! A large plaster figure of Jesus on the Cross, (Inri). It was in pretty poor shape after years of dust & dirt & peeling paint. First I sanded down the chipped paint edges & put a thin layer of Polyfila over the chips. I used Polyfilla to fill in a section of the Crown of Thorns that was missing & a large chip in the wooden plinth. Then using some carefully selected 'Behr' eggshell test pots, started to p...aint over the old paint. (The wood plinth was in a semi-gloss). There had been a previous attempt at a 'paint job' some time ago which had I felt incorrectly exaggerated the blood-loss. I debated about putting the excess blood back but decided against it as the plaster figure clearly indicated where the stylized blood drops should be: in the form of tear drop shapes on the 5 wounds of Christ. The paint was applied twice, to back as well as front. The result - if I may say so myself - is astonishing! and I am very pleased with it. It now hangs in St Michael's Catholic Parish Church in Baddeck, which has recently had a magnificent interior re-plaster & paint makeover - so it is fitting that this centerpiece was also commissioned & ready in time for unveiling this Easter Weekend. If you celebrate it - Happy Easter. If you are in Baddeck please drop by the Church to take a look.

Another unusual restoration - a Mother Of Pearl (MOP) covered coin purse. The back had no MOP left on it & the front MOP was smashed. The client had purchased her own thin slice of modern compressed MOP - which is what I used to recover the back. The front I dismantled, cleaned & re-aligned the broken pieces & glued them in place. There was a small piece missing which I filled in with the modern MOP. I did add some padding under the old, domed piece of MOP, for support. Then I touched up the painted flowers. Another little piece of history preserved!

Amazing creation made from broken china!

Not a ceramic repair this week but a metal one! I'm always up for a challenge... This lovely tiger figure must have been dropped on its tail end & it broke off at the base of the spine, plus the tail tip must have been impacted too as its more of a V shape than it's mates tail! I didnt want to stress out the metal & have it break on me so I left the V shape - it just means that the tail no longer touches the thigh... the client was fortunately just happy to have him back i...n one piece. I used a really strong epoxy glue called Fynebond & whilst it was setting it was supported with some plasticine (like play dough!). I then filled the small gap with polyfilla & used Golden acrylic paint (black, shading gray & Paynes gray) mixed with Golden matt glaze, stippled to blend with the existing paint. Came out quite well. I just hope the postal service will be gentle with it on its journey home!! He is double boxed & swaddled in oodles of bubble wrap See more

This week's restoration a Moorcroft Trinket Box. I'm not keen on restoring Moorcroft as it never seems to behave! And it needs a lot of hand polishing :/ Still the end result is better than than leaving it in pieces!

A beautiful tea cup - back in 1 piece. It required a mould on the foot rim as the broken piece was missing... Came out quite well!

This weeks pottery restoration.

Two of this weeks restorations. Part of a lovely Edwardian kitchen set.

A nice little plaster restoration on the local Church's 2ft high Madonna Statue. Repaired the broken hand, filled in holes on her sleeve & other smaller nicks, with Polyfilla. Cleaned all the nooks & crannies with Q-tips & water. Then hand painted in Golden Acrylics, giving her an overall colour wash to cover previously (badly) touched up patches & chips.

I recently had 'an elephant in the room'! A large majolica one that had been dropped during a house move. It was BIG & HEAVY! So this guy needed to be moved along pretty quick as my workshop is tiny! I consolidated the porous edges with Paraloid B72/acetone, then glued the pieces together with one of the strongest glues on the market - Fynebond Epoxy Resin & left it to cure for a few days. Gaps were filled with Polyfilla. Then oodles of airbrushing with various shades of green - using Golden Airbrush Colours in Rustins Ceramic Glaze. Polished off with Greygate Plastic Polish using Micromesh polishing cloth - et voila! A good professional restoration - some light scarring was still visible in certain light.

A different restoration this week - an early 19th Century writing slope, but sadly lacking the leather writing pad which would also hold the lift up board in place. I ordered a small piece of black leather from an Etsy craft shop. Consulted with 'his Lordship' (hubby!) The Bushcrafter on how to tool a design onto the edges & borrowed his hand made stamp. After soaking the leather for a few minutes I then whacked the tool 4 times to imprint the 'S' type design around the edges... & left it to dry. Then carefully glued the square in place using an epoxy glue - this would hold the currently separate top piece of wood in place - which acts as a 'door' to the letter/document space. I added a small piece of black velvet loop as a handle. Once dried & made up some gilding using bronzing powder & glaze & hand painted each 'S' design. Its now a much more functional antique piece despite its other ancient flaws. I was pleased with the result :) Slope is now for sale in The Antiques Boutique - Baddeck! See more

Another little restoration completed this week. Sadly this had 'sprung' so the joints didn't quite go back together exactly - leaving slight 'scarring' that can be seen in certain light angles... When this happens its best to display in a Northern Light. Still, its in better shape than when it arrived with me - via a bubble envelope!! The client in Alberta is very pleased as it is part of a set that they inherited & now displays well.