| Show MENDING BROKEN BRIC A BRAM BRAC who devote their TI time 0 to patching anil and histories new yolk abounds as thoroughly in queer corners people and occupations as aa any city of its size in inthe alie world most of these od oddities diCes however possess little value outside of 01 the purely picturesque and depend for even that on indi individual taste A few aru are quite reasonable among the latter may be classed a peculiar industry riot not yet of a size to admit of its being troubled much bytho by tho state of the labor market this calling is entirely in the hands of a few wido wide awake swiss iwic i whose lost ati ate ateliers hers liers are scattered over the uptown business busine s portions of ille iha city and is dignified diani fied by the title of artistic one olio of the best known and busiest of their number was when nhen called upon engaged on oil jut jua such a ta talc taa lc we VL live have it lia said very few shop secrets because our trade ii H entirely one of delicacy and skill and involves such a variety of knacks that we have little fear of tiler e is absolutely to no restriction as to tile llie of the article brought to us for repair or as to the mount amount of damage it lias has sustained to lie he within our tibi ability lity to restore it most of our patrons being extremely wealthy we are trusted daily with tile rarest and most costly articles artees which would nei ne er bo be placed in the hands of inexperienced workmen so that what we do is bolli expensive and in keeping wit with the elegance of vie article to be meli mended ded 6 YO co J can call judge of the extent of our operations somewhat bome sonie what when I 1 tell you that I 1 ara am a watchmaker cabinetmaker painter in oil akk and water colors carver of woud mar maialo alq arid and ivory modeler in clay 3 1 musician musician I 1 and chemist clie mist all combined in any ally of these brandies branches I 1 should ably prove a distinguished failure along tide of men who have devoted a lifetime to the lie particular one but in geneva where I 1 was educated we are tau tit to te careful and I 1 have learned enough ind practiced long enough to be able to perform successfully the essential part of my business which is to copy faithfully md ind naturally whatever is sot set before me inc this porcelain vase at which I 1 am now at work is a very ordinary job I 1 received it in sixty four pieces each piece cal z su clatin ul lating atin ky by the original value of jar j ar having cost something above 2 this makes it slightly worth repairing the soundest and largest portion was the bottom which was about a IQ three times as thick as the rest and of course stood the ithe fall better in ill the course of an air hours search i 1 managed to find a little section that fitted exactly to a anick nick in the first rha was securely fastened in its place with cement and set away to harden it is impossible ible at this stage of proceedings to put on more than one piece pi eco at a time other work is disposed of and in course of tinte time another fragment added to the originals then a fourth and fifth and so BO on 0 the vase has gradually grown in this way to its original proportions As nothing but the finest and whitest cement is 6 used the dirty streaking that characterizes badly mended china is avoided however several of the broken bits have been lost and some have crumbled so fine as to bo be unavailable this leaves an ugly hole in the side a large nick in the rim stad and completely ruins a beautiful painted bouquet I 1 heat a stick of a certain substance of my own invention lind and carefully nil fill in the gaps yet left with a fine steel spatula the material is pared down even on both sides intro alced into the nicks and is carefully molded into the delicate curl of the rim which it imitates exactly in ono one hour these additions are aie firmly set and almost as liard hard as the original material with palette in land hand they are treated by me to several coats of oil color of exactly the same tint as tile porcelain the roses are restored by painting the lacking parts in on tile the new surface and the lines of cement coveted up in the same way A coat or two of isinglass varnish and well there is a vase that cost 12 i in which the sharpest eye eve would fail to detect a flaw and although the outer coat of varnish might feel a little tunny funny to vie the fingers of a connoisseur frequently cabinets of rare and expensive woods are sent to us which by some fatality have been split rotted or iti 4 aped of certain parts parta odthe of alie ornamentation a tion we cut away the damaged parts restore the same variety or of wood or a perfect imitation thereof and carvo carve it to match I 1 have now on hand a japanese cabinet tho the top edges of which ornamented namen ted with a row of little ivory figures like chessmen half of which were gone I 1 am carving out exact duplicates df at every one to replace their fellows and expect aspect to make a vei y v creditable job of it marble maible statuary terra cotta colta and other ornaments wo we rejoin if broken and idd well mulled molded replicas of misi ug por pia aiom it if there are such we cloan arna amis and armor for collectors which is in itself a trade as the dill and rust must bo be re removed movel NN all acids without affecting tile blach blackness riess and oxidation of tile hie metal ivsich guarantee tho the antiquity the slightest sign of poll polish h or repair would bo iiii damage for armor too we construct fearful and condei wonderful tit war briois stuffed with straw and with wax heads on which the iron harness is is riveted as in days of old when knights were bold but somehow these bicell pretty tamo tame our most important work has to do with a certain class of mechanical matters s we study out the m ants wants of old I 1 fashioned iasi leoned clock movements which ate aie unintelligible ible to the modern horologist some of these are entirely of wood wheels wheela and pinions ahl alike c wo we make wooden works lor for the old cases and superintend the alie making of cases for old movements tile various sots sets of chimes and musical wonders concealed in old foreign clocks are familiar famili ir to us where it would require weeks of examination for most people to comprehend them tile the fine points of these articles must be leared abroad so that we rank as experts in this line new y york star |
