This statue of St Joseph is larger than life. The neck had been broken and reglued, and the fingers of one hand were missing. As this is an outdoor sculpture, the approach was to make the repair strong and lightfast. We drilled a separate hole for each finger and installed 3/16” bolt stock for the fingers. This is quite strong and the threads make a good bond with the epoxy putty from which the fingers were sculpted. If the finished ...
This gilt-lacquered Buddha has a striking presence. It is Japanese, and actually a Buddhist Arhat, or saint – possibly a portrait of a revered abbot. It is approximately 2-1/2 feet tall and is make of several blocks of wood glued together. The damage resulted in part from these blocks shrinking at different rates, causing large offsets at the surface – thankfully mostly on the back. There were also patches of missing lacquer. The rest of the surface had been regilded more ...
This giraffe is an unusual material for us – cement. The form is delightful, and since its repair the owner has taken it inside, so it will stay as pretty as it is in the “after” photograph. When we received it, there was extensive cracking – the ears, neck, and all the way down the body. A wire armature kept the ears, even though cement was missing from both. The first stage of our restoration was to conserve – sealing the long ...
This is a Cambodian stone Buddha that creates a serene mood in a secluded garden on Cape Cod. When the ear lobe went missing, it made a disturbing asymmetry in the harmony of the pose. Working outdoors can be a challenge because of the weather. Epoxies dry very slowly below 70 degrees, and hardly at all below fifty degrees. Sometimes a sculpture can be tented to create a higher temperature, but in this case it was sufficient to mount a hair ...