Glass, Paint, Metal - It's always an exciting day when an unusual mixed media object arrives at The Center for treatment. One hundred sixty-two painted glass panes set in a series of metal channels come together in this early 20th-century terrestrial globe light fixture. Measuring nearly 3 feet in diameter, this light fixture needed several issues addressed before it was ready to take back its place of prominence at the center of the room.
Before Treatment
First, the paint layer was carefully cleaned and consolidated, meaning that the conservators secured the paint at the areas of flaking to prevent any further loss. Painted glass is incredibly delicate, and it was critical to ensure that the paint layer was secure from additional loss during treatment.
Before Treatment: note the paint losses, and missing glass pane.
Before Treatment: detail of the delicate paint layer, and corroded metalwork.
Once the paint layer was secure, Senior Conservator of Frames and Gilded Objects, Josh McCauley, treated the fractures and minor losses in the glass. Using a conservation grade glass epoxy mixed with pigments, Josh secured fractures in a secure and visually sympathetic manner, mimicking the glass.
During Treatment: areas of glass loss are filled with conservation-grade glass epoxy.
To address the missing glass panels, a mold of an existing panel was made. The mold was then cast in plaster, creating a plaster replica of the glass pane.
During Treatment: An impression is taken to recreate a missing pane.
During Treatment: The impression is then used to create a mold.
The plaster form was then used to shape a piece of acrylic that had been cut to size. By using the form, the acrylic could be manipulated to the correct curvature using the application of heat.
During Treatment: Here, you see the plaster form (bottom) cast from the mold (top).
During Treatment: The plaster cast (top) was then used to heat-form the acrylic (bottom).
It was essential to mimic the original opaque glass appearance as closely as possible when creating replacements. Samples of acrylic sheets in different opacity were tested to find similar transparency. Once the chosen acrylic was cut and shaped, the replacement was then fit into place.
The replacement pane is set into the metalwork.
Due to the age of the light fixture, the metalwork had corroded, and there was evidence of previous work. Corrosion on the chain was treated with a rust converter. The metalwork at the top of the globe had been overpainted with bronze paint in the past. Testing showed that the bronze paint could not be safely removed without causing damage to the original layer, so it was left in place. Instead, the bronze paint was cleaned and overpainted with acrylic to better integrate with the original color of the metalwork. The decorative metal fastener at the bottom had not been overpainted, so it served as a color sample after it was cleaned of corrosion.
Before Treatment: notice the bronze overpaint.
Before Treatment: the chain exhibits corrosion.
After Treatment: The metal elements were cleaned of grime and corrosion, and the bronze overpaint was toned with acrylics to match the original elements.
The metal components were then waxed and the light reassembled. Areas of paint loss were inpainted with appropriate conservation paint.
Before inpainting
After inpainting
Once reinstalled, this fixture will be ready to light up the world once again!
After treatment
After treatment
