Glass Art Repair. In Pieces & Parts Professional
Whether it's your favorite Murano glass sculpture or a prized Venetian glass figurine, what do you do when a piece is broken off? It's not like you can just run to your local Wal-Mart and pickup Venetian glass replacement parts or Murano glass replacement parts.
You might be tempted to grab that tube of 'super glue' and coat that dislodged arm from your Venetian figurine or that chunk taken out of your Murano glass sculpture. Resist that temptation! The fact is, this method of self-repair is rarely, if ever, as flawless as those infomercials would lead you to believe - and the result can be quite disastrous if the poorly reattached piece falls off again.
Such bonding agents are cyanoacrylate liquids that require a tight and steady hold for a period of time; and, even if that was accomplished, they will never approach a solid repair! On angled objects, such as a glass platter or a glass figurine, this secure time-based hold is particularly challenging. The result: an over application of the adhesive. After all, applying more glue will almost always hold it together better and more securely, right? No!
More glue just makes even more of a mess - and you still haven't addressed the need to ensure a solid, secure hold between the two pieces being glued. More glue also creates a 'slippery' effect, which causes the two objects being attached to lack direct adhesion and 'slide' apart. Additionally, more glue can create 'seepage', whereby the glue oozes out around the two adhered elements and creates a very unattractive, oozy bond that is difficult to clean up.
When you decide you do not like how that 'glued together' glass art repair looks, or your attempt in home gluing fails by falling apart creating even more damage, you may decide to seek out professional glass repair. But given your attempted home repair, your selected glass repair professional may be facing an even greater challenge to not only remove the adhesive but also repair the additional damage resulting from the failure of the glue.
You see, the problem is, with such 'super bonding agents', there are typically no known solvents that will effectively remove all traces of the adhesive from the glass surface. This means a lot of very manual rubbing and scraping is required to remove the dried glue adhered to the glass object needing repair.
But, on the bright side, experienced glass repair professionals have years of experience to return that Venetian figurine or that Murano glass sculpture to its pre-damaged state. Additionally, through a glass artisan's true talents, if some of the pieces are missing, 'glass replacement parts' may be crafted.
For that Venetian figurine with the broken or missing arm, a glass artisan might remove the good arm and craft two new ones and seamlessly adhere both. By implementing such a method utilizing Venetian glass replacement parts, both parts will perfectly match, and thus both become much less obvious from a broken or replaced one.
For that broken Murano sculpture, great patience is matched with years of experience, using repeated layering and injections of special Museum quality epoxies, which are then repeatedly smoothed and polished.
When you have a damaged Murano glass art sculpture or a broken Venetian glass figurine, before you grab that tube of super adhesive, consider professional glass repair to ensure the best possible result. In the end, even the most discriminating lover of glass art, in many cases, will be hard pressed to spot the area that was restored.