Repairs

Amber Boat Repair

This large amber sculpture was brought to me after a chance meeting with another store owner who ended up asking if I could do the repair from her. It took approximately 8 hours and several experiments with a variety of adhesives to reassemble the broken pieces made of various materials such as plastic, steel, and amber. A few small parts were missing, so carefully carved and enameled plexiglass was used to replace these pieces. The ropes were replaced in the mast at the front of the sculpture as well.

Jade Dragon Repair

The owner of this solid Jade dragon sculpture was also the owner of the amber sailboat above, and after receiving her repaired boat, she brought me this new challenge. Having been shipped from China by her husband, she had attempted to repair it herself after the courier refused to acknowledge the damage even though the piece had been insured. Her choice of adhesive was a silicone base which peeled right off, so another resin-based adhesive had to be used after the failed repairs were cleaned off, including an attempt to cover the glue with an acrylic paint, which can be seen on the above left image below the cart wheel. One of the feet supporting the base was also missing, so a replacement was carved from pressboard and hand-painted and varnished to as closely match the color and finish of the stone as possible. The replacement foot can be seen in the image above, below the dragon itself. After the above image was taken I realized the cart had been placed on backwards when the owner had tried to reassemble it so it was easily removed and reversed after these photos were taken.