Wheathills Restore Antique Furniture
For Dealing With Dickinson - Page 1
The chairs purchased at auction certainly have
seen better days. They are in a distressed condition,
unstable and are clearly in need of re-upholstering.
Only a limited budget is available for restoration
work, so what can be done?
The team discuss with
Nigel the options for restoring the Regency Chairs.Here
there is little room for restoration fees and difficult
decisions have to be made. This situation occurs
quite often in day-to-day work at Wheathills. We
discuss with our clients the relationship between
restoration cost and the value of the piece.
Should we be conserving
or restoring for the greater benefit of the piece,
and what sentimental value is held in the character
and age of it. For instance, an area of damage which
appears to be ripe for restoration may have in fact
been produced by Aunty Flo in 1885 on her wedding
day and must be conserved at all costs.
The team decide that
the chairs can be restored and still leave room
for a small profit. Lee and Marcus begin the restoration
process by dismantling and re-gluing with reversible
animal glue.
All of our work is based on the sound priciple of
conservation reversability, ie we only use natural
, traditional material. This will allow future generations
of restorers to reverse our work , or repair any
unfortunate accidents more easily
Lee is replacing
some missing brackets, carving them to the
correct shape, and gluing the bracket to secure
the leg and side rail.
Conservation and restoration often cross over and both
elements are invaluable in the correct treatment of
an antique. Whilst the chair required re-gluing because
parts were loose (restoration), the finish is in excellent
condition and has good patination, therefore it is essential
to conserve all of the original colours and textures
of the finish (conservation).
