Custom Glass Repair
Broken glass can be repaired. Oftentimes to a state more beautiful than before. A state that embraces the cracks of life as a beautiful part of the journey.
The Dilemma
My friend, Myriam Loyo, returned from a trip to Hong Kong with a prized possession: a figure painted on the backside of a mirror. The art piece did not fare well on the trip home as can be seen by the image. Myriam asked me if anything could be done about the impact damage to her piece. This took some thinking and then planning.
I started by placing a clear piece of glass cut to size over the top of the image and secured it with artist’s putty.
Template creation
On the cut out glass, a cartoon image from around the perimeter of the art was created.
Transfer to new mirror
Once the template was cut from its surrounding glass, it was placed and centered on the new mirror that Myriam had chosen. The template was then traced around to leave the shape of the figure right where it needed to be in the center.
Glass removal
Each shard of glass had to be carefully removed from the broken art and its fragile frame. The mirror elements needed to be removed and discarded. The image shows using the hand cutter to remove extraneous pieces of glass close to the painter’s edge.
Grinding to the edge
With a high speed grinding wheel, one can take the unneeded glass right down to the painter’s edge. Magnifying glasses that both protect the eyes and improve visibility are worn at all times when working with glass.
Inside the perimeter
The broken painted pieces are then reassembled carefully edge to edge within the confines of the drawn and centered cartoon. Note how the image now lies flat on the mirror and not depressed and irregular as it was when it originally presented.
Time for gluing
Each piece has to then be lifted from the mirror and clear glue applied to the back side. The concern here was that this part of the original art piece was a painting on the back side of the glass. There was no guarantee that the chemical aspect of the glue wouldn’t remove the paint. There was no test panel on which to try it. Fingers crossed . . . and it worked! All the pieces put together yielded the final product.
Final product
Well, this art piece had quite a journey to get to America. The next journey was to visit me to get it back to a more normal environment on a new mirror. Note that I also created a head adornment of similar cut glass and jewels from where in the original painting it had worn off.
Epilogue
I was honored when Myriam asked me to take a look at her fractured piece of art. In our facial plastic surgery practices we have handled many fractures. Repair of this art figure was an unusual extension of the work we have performed for many years.
In Myriam’s words
Highly recommend for glass art and restoration (particularly for hard cases!)
I had a special glass art piece shatter and I thought it was beyond repair. Jeff restored and reinvented it to a new beautiful shape and saved a family memory. My sister gifted me this vintage Chinese portrait which was hand painted on the back of glass . It had a beautiful lady in the center and painted mirror surrounding the figure. My sister purchased it during a trip we took together to Hong Kong. During transport, this broke into dozens of pieces. The impact was on the center of the main figure and the pieces in the figure were quite small. I took the piece to a couple of local glass repair shops and was told that there was nothing that they could do. I showed Jeff the piece, just in case, but already expected him to say it was beyond repair. He looked at it carefully and came up with a creative solution. He suggested we try to cut out the central figure and place it in a different mirror. He was careful not to over promise and explained the risks and possible outcomes. He helped me select a beautiful oval mirror and sent me updates of the process. He camouflaged some of the larger fractures and missing pieces with new jewels added to the dress and crown. He has an artist’s eye and a surgeon’s precision with his repairs. I love the restored piece. The new and larger mirror reflects light beautifully. The piece looks amazing in my living room and receives many compliments from guests! The restored piece still has the fracture lines but you can only see them on close inspection. I think this was totally worth it. I am thankful Jeff took my case and trust his advice on glass work and art.
— 2020 Myriam Loyo Li, MD Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery, OHSU