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See also; .Ceramics Restoration Supplies
or Ceramics Restorers
Ceramic Restorations
The repair or restoration of ceramics is generally divided in glazed and
unglazed repairs, with a further division between restorations in which the
old parts are all put into location but the missing parts remain missing or
remain visible.
While a total repair is generally a restoration of the
excising parts blended with the newly added parts aiming at a total
invisible repair.
Generally the broken parts are bonded together using an epoxy, such as,
T-88,
the mixture
and coloration of which depends upon the required result, e. i. for parisian-ware
the epoxy is mixed with powdered porcelain to the required color and transparency so
that there is no visual difference between the hardened epoxy mixture and the
original parisian ware, that way any holes or chips filled during the bonding
will be invisible after fixing.
On the other hand for the bonding of opaque glazed pieces it is unimportant
which color the bonding agent is, as it will later be covered with an layer of
epoxy matching the color of the glaze.
During storage and transport wrap all the pieces individually as the rubbing
together generally damages the edges which in turn means more filling and blending.
Sometimes the broken pieces fit together perfectly other times little slivers of
the material are twisted and prevent a perfect fit,
sometimes the material was under stress which, released upon separation
causing the shape to differ slightly from the original shape.
Those pieces won't fit together perfectly, but should still be pretty close to the
original shape.
When this happens to larger pieces then they may need to be broken in order to
spread the difference over more pieces thus negating the size of the difference.
Those which fit together but for minor slivers the solution lies in removal of the
offensive parts by way of grinding either with a grindstone or a diamond cutting wheel,
the trick is to remove the offending pieces without removing any part of the visible
edge so that it all will fit together without showing holes or missing pieces.
Parts which have altered shape may often still fit and be used provided that the
surface can be smoothed off using a diamond file or such, glazed pieces may than
be coated to regain the original luster.
Missing pieces may be made by placing the bonding mixture on a piece of tape
that is shaped so that the material upon drying resembles the form and shape of the
missing piece.
There where the dried mixture exceeds the wanted shape it may be filed down to
the required shape, and build up where there is not enough, until the shape is perfect.
Where necessary the painting can be filled in using epoxy paint. Marine epoxy
paints are very suitable for this and could be purchased in many
colors which in turn maybe mixed to the exact shade.
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