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.

Thanks

Deb

No clue on how to do it right... But I will offer free advice.

Unless you know it to be a dime-store piece of junk, always do it right.
You never know what you might ruin trying to restore or repair it if you do
it wrong.

....Like the guy who wire brushed off all the rust on an old metal piece of
art work I recently saw - along with all the light engraving that made it
valuable. Went from a $3000 piece to a $200 piece in half an hour...
--


Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
(800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244
Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: http://www.AutoDrill.com
Multiple Spindle Drills: http://www.Multi-Drill.com
Production Tapping: http://Production-Tapping-Equipment.com/
Flagship Site: http://www.Drill-N-Tap.com
VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/user/AutoDrill

V8013-R

On 12/30/2009 10:22 AM, 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.:-) )

We do like family trees that don't branch too much ... saves time in
figuring out who inherits the double-wide, intestate!

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

Most of the repairs are made with rubber molds of a matching part of the
frame. DAGS on "rubber molds". Here is a start:

http://www.rubbermoldcompounds.com/

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

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.

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:47:14 -0600, the infamous Swingman
scrawled the following:

On 12/30/2009 10:22 AM, 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.:-) )

We do like family trees that don't branch too much ... saves time in
figuring out who inherits the double-wide, intestate!

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

Most of the repairs are made with rubber molds of a matching part of the
frame. DAGS on "rubber molds". Here is a start:

http://www.rubbermoldcompounds.com/

And here's the opposite casting: http://www.cloneawilly.com/

--
Sex is Evil, Evil is Sin, Sin is Forgiven.
Gee, ain't religion GREAT?

This is an art to do this - people repair opera houses and movie houses
by fixing plaster.....

See if you can make a form that matches the shape with the breakout.

Once it fits tight - it is a task unless you have access to an end relief
to trace...

Make a thick batch of plaster - creamy and firm. Then with the form -
load up a glob just before the chop out and slide the form over the glob
and move it across and into the hole. It might take several passes and
the last one or two will become hard to move - it is drying out.

If you are in a big city, there might be a plaster professional that does
period rooms and such - he could do it or give instruction.
I saw this done on one of the DYI shows. Check out their website.
Might have been it on another show.

Martin

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.

Thanks

Deb

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?

Depends on the size of the chips. If large, the suggestions fo making a
mold would be apropos. If just tiny-small chips I'd use drywall mud on my
finger to overfill slightly. When dry, use a small, damp but not wet sponge
to smooth down to the same level as surrounding areas. When painted, the
repair will be invisible and as permanent as if you used plaster.
__________

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

I seriously doubt it is jappaned. Even if so, doing it is probably beyond
what you would want to do. I'd use a black acrylic artist type paint and a
small, fine brush but any black paint of the correct density and sheen would
do. If the areas to be painted are small, stippling it on with the point of
the brush will give you more control than "painting" it on.

The gold could be gold leaf but I doubt that too. There are, of course,
gilt paints...problem is getting the right color. There are also waxes -
sold by framing supply places - in many colors. They are used to hide nail
holes, imperfectly joined miters, dings, etc. The advantage of the waxes is
that they can be easily removed with naptha (lighter fluid) if not right;
multiple colors can also be blended together. Apply with finger or swab
(cloth around toothpick), use a swab to remove "over spray".

There may well be a coat of varnish over all on the original.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

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