Current photo of studio...

Hello all. This is the current state of affairs with my studio space. The space itself is 6ft x 6ft. It's full.
There is also more repairs coming in as of today and thankfully they are of small bronzes from Indo-China. As they say, when it rains, it pours but this is decidedly monsoonal....

left to right: Chinese vase from 16th century, John Bell sculpture, William Ricketts sculpture, Various Moore pieces, 2 Oil paintings from the late 1890s,  Moorecroft bowl, Japanese lacqureware piece, Victorian crystal vase, 2 French Deco chalware vases and a pair of 1910 scrimshaw pieces. Oh, then there are the bronzes which I forgot to mention.

Now then, I may or may not be able to continue with blog updates due to being hellishly busy but I will try to add photos and snippets over the next weeks or so.

Thanks for dropping by, now go and smash something and support your local business.

Recent restorations

Hello all, Happy New Year and such (19 days late, but that's the way us restorers work). Christmas is never really a busy time for restorations so I actually had a bit of a holiday, a kind of working holiday. I ended up being approached by a few people to work on a few projects, but this time at my own leisure.
In the break I also revisited studying about conservation for oil paintings and bronze works. It's good to refine the old brain for such matters.

Enjoy the photos, you'll find the descriptions either attached to the photo or just near it, scroll down. Any questions? just ask....


This is a Moorish piece from about the 1920's. A lot of the detailed gold filigree work was coming away from the plaster base so thus I had to stabilise the substructure by injecting glues under the skin of the plaster. The rest was just a cosmetic overhaul.

Detail of filigree.

Next piece is one of my favourites that I have recently worked upon, yes, a Raku whale fighting a giant squid!! at last! Another piece from the early 20th century. Amazing details, humour and expression throughout. The tentacles, fins and tail had been smashed off. Had to re-glue the piece and fill, then paint. I was pretty happy with the results, so was the fish and chips shop owner that it went to. Ah, restorations, weird times...

Raku whale and giant squid!

Here is another photo showing the disgruntled look of the whale. In hindsight I should have offered to buy the piece.

Squid goes "WAHOOOO"

Next photos are of the usual repairs that I do, chips and cracks, chips and cracks....

Chips and cracks.

As much as I dislike working on chips and cracks, I find that it hones my skills and settles the mind. Sometimes the act of repetition steadies the soul keeps the eyes attuned to the details that other people don't bother to look at. Some of the most "basic" vases are the ones that will blow your mind when you look closely at them. See the one in the middle (above)? 200 years old, 4 different glazes and two firings at different temperatures. It's survived all of that and I helped it along for hopefully another 200 years worth of appreciation. 

Just remember folks, "The devils in the detail".

Thanks for dropping by.

Makers Marks, references. FOR FREE!

Hello one and all again. I've discovered through internet research that a lot of makers marks sights are restricted, you want the makers marks? well, pay a subscription fee. I am not really on board with this idea, sure, it's a good way to earn a little but in the long run it just makes people angry in not being able to access once free information. In the next couple of weeks I will be compiling links to websites and a lot of my own personal references.

Enjoy.

Here's the first lot from Italy. Book reference, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain by Warren E Cox. first published, 1944. great book.