Thursday, February 1, 2018

Up on the wall


A milestone passed yesterday when I framed and hung the Dux Britanniarum map up on the wall. Featuring the beautiful artwork by Coral Sealey, it now has pride of place over my desk. Picturing doing this was one of the things that kept me going through the stressful times involved in the house move.

Alongside it is my wife's framed collection of Doctor Who photos autographed by the dapper Peter Davison, the lovely Colin Baker, and the late Anthony Ainley, and another by Ray 'Diamond Geezer' Winstone from his Robin of Sherwood days.


Sadly another casualty of the move was revealed yesterday when my wife unpacked a box of ornaments. This little teapot-shaped salt shaker, a family heirloom and an antique over a hundred years old, had broken apart. Its mate survived, and shows what the other looked like.


Obviously the best way would be to have it professionally repaired, but that's beyond the reach of our pockets. If anyone can suggest a good adhesive I'll attempt a repair myself. All these modelling and sculpting skills learned over the years should count for something...


4 comments:

Jiminho said...

AJ, that is sad news about the family heirloom. A museum curator's practice on this kind of thing is to use a water-soluble glue so that you can always remove the glue and replace it with something better if needed. Reversibility. PVA qualifies. You would probably have to glue a piece at a time and support with some kind of tape, masking tape might be best. A small sandbox can be used to give that kind of support as well if you cup the sculpture in a hollow in the sand, but you will have to work hard to keep the sand from the glue. More tape? Blue-tac might work...

If you are more interested in a permanent and solid repair, I'd suggest supporting the sculpture by using an epoxy putty in the interior (don't fill it up, leave a space for the salt/pepper) and re-assembling the sherds a piece at a time as you build up the putty on the inside. You would need to glue the sherds and I'd use the best glue suitable for non-organic surfaces as I could find but the glue won't be quite so critical as the inside surface of the sherds will be bound to, and supported by, the putty. Go very sparingly on the glue and wipe away any surface from the exterior. With your collection of paints and varnishes you can probably fill and hide any surface imperfections related to the cracks.

Of course, one has to attempt to refit sherds "dry" prior to applying glue and fixing in place permanently.

Good luck with your on-going moving. Have fun!

Fitz-Badger said...

Nice map!

That's a shame about the family heirloom. I don't have any better advice that Jiminho, but if you use PVA glue you might try Aileen's Tacky Glue - it is like a thick PVA and holds the pieces together better while the glue is setting. There is a version called "Fast Grab" that holds on practically right off the bat, but doesn't set right away so you have time for adjustments as needed.

A J said...

Thanks for your comments and advice, gentlemen. I have Aileen's tacky glue and some masking tape and I will give it a try.

caveadsum1471 said...

Nice map, glad the move is done (not half as glad as you I'm sure! ) unfortunate breakage, every move it happens, good luck with your repairs!
Best Iain

 

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