In article ,
Dr. Deb wrote:
My wife's cousin's husband (I am living in the South where everybody is
related to everybody - give them time they will figure out how.:-) )
presented me with an oval frame that contained a plaster bas-relief of
Christ being taken down from the Cross. From the looks of it, I would
say it dated from the early 1900's

The good news is, he gave it to me. The bad news is, it needs a bit of
repair and he wants to see it when the repairs are completed.

The frame is black, with maybe a light coat of plaster over the wood and
a gold cove on the opening side of the frame. Good news is, it is in
pretty good condition. The bad news is, there are a few places where the
plaster has chipped off. How is the best way to go about doing a repair
on this?

I had originally thought the finish was "jappaned" but it may just be
black paint over the plaster. The same for the gold.

Bottom line, it is not an expensive frame, but I would like to do it
right.


FIRST, get a quickie appraisal -- e.g., Antiques Roadshow type. If it's
not worth significant money go ahead w/ the repair attempt. But, if it
_is_ worth money, either have a professional restorer do the work, or don't
do anything to it -- odds are high that casual repair attempts will greatily
diminish the value.


That said, 'it depends' on what the places are that are chipped off.

repair material is going to be patching plaster, or plaster of paris,
depending on which is closer to whats already there.

For simple areas, just carefully fill to match the surrounding area.

For more complex areas, one takes mold of a 'similar' area, and uses that
to form the cavity fill, in place.

Existing surface treatment is almost sure to be simple enamel paint, see
the scale models section of any decent hobby store for a wide selection
of possibilities.