I was approached by a friend to repair this vase, it had sentimental value as it had belong to her Grandmother.
A hand thrown pot made of a white stoneware, fired and glazed with added oxides around the rim.
I felt that this lovely green glaze would lend itself to the method and philosophy of Kintsugi.

Kintsugi ("golden joinery"), also known as Kintsukuroi ("golden repair"),is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, sliver or platinum , a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Kintsugi became closely associated with ceramic vessels used for chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony). One theory is that kintsugi may have originated when Japanese shogun Asikaga Ashikaga sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China for repairs in the late 15th century. When it was returned, repaired with ugly metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a more aesthetic means of repair. Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi.

This work was presented in its original frame with the framing label on the backing paper.
Most of my conservation work is to remove what has been added to an work in the form of backings, window matts, frames and at times framing glass that has adhered to the emulsion of photographs.
The framing in this case, although original is far from ideal but a product of its time, where the glass is pressed against the emulsion and is at risk of adhesion and damage. Also the nails used to secure the backing board have rusted and stained the primary paper support of the work.

On opening, it appears there has been some water damage and staining at the left had side of the print, causing losses of paper support and emulsion, along with surface soiling and dust from age and display in an unsealed frame.
The work has a straw board backing typical to this era of framing and once that is mechanically removed the work can be aquesously treated in reduce the water staining.

The work has a straw board backing typical to this era of framing and once that is mechanically removed the work can be aquesously treated in reduce the water staining.
After surface cleaning the work was humidified in preparation for aqueous treatment in the form of blotter washing. Washing proved successful in reducing,flushing out the staining and after six blotter and water changes the work was left to air dry.

The losses of paper support and emulsion on the left side of the work were repairs and then the work was pressed flat for a number of weeks.
We returned it to the original frame which was in keeping with the work but brought it up to archival standard. Firstly cleaned and repaired, then archival backing board and a spacer to prevent the emulsion touching the glass.

Friends brought me this wonderful Cinderella children's book for treatment.

The construction is a case binding with nine heavy pages with guards all made of board, two are the covers and have a cloth spine. Remarkably, considering its age and use it is still all together and stable enough not to need rebinding

The cover boards are decorated with paper and cloth which shows a great deal of wear and tear especially the dog-eared and abraded corners. The boards also appear bowed and uneven and may have suffered water damage at some point. The whole is designed to open out into a carousel display book, held open with a leather strap and clasp, which is now torn and lost.

Treatment consisted of surface cleaning through out with soft brush where possible, taking care with the cloth spine.

Internal repairs were undertaken with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste without dismantling the binding, this was done using clamps because of the 3D nature of the book. Whenever possible the repairs were done flat so that they could be weighted properly for adhesion and drying.

Re-alignment of the tears and paper engineering was a slow process with some repairs needing to be done in sections and was governed by access to each page.

For visual integrity toned Japanese tissue was used on the decorated areas of the work. Minor in-painting was undertaken to improved aesthetics.

Before and after treatment images.

Some wonderful friends brought me this commercial produced Lamp Shade painted by Bill Hammond. It has been in use for many years before being knocked to the ground by over vigorous vacuuming and the damage resulted in a lamp shade of two halves.

The lamp shade was constructed on two metal rings with an internal structure of thin plastic which was covered with white paper for the outer face. This was then over bound with linen tape at the top and bottom rings. The upper ring supports the shade from the bulb with three wire struts. A standard lamp shade.

The plastic inner showed light damage darkening with aging produced by light and heat, and the paper outer exhibited surface soiling and fly spots. Apart from the obvious damage from the fall the whole was of good construction with no issues and the binding and metal rings were secure.

My initial thoughts were to take apart the shade and repair it in a traditional flat way by lining the whole with Japanese tissue, but once I examined it in the studio, it was well made therefore deconstruction was considered excessive and would create more problems

Plan B – working in the way you approach 3-D objects, as in paper-mache Globes and Tapa cloth masks I started repairing a small part each day, and worked my way around the shade.

This became problematic as the shade was originally constructed under tension and I had to line up the image and repairs and re-tension as I went, so working in a liner way in one direction was not producing the best results, I thought it could look better.

Plan C – I started again with a more robust Japanese tissue and Lascaux adhesive for strength on the plastic inner and I used pressure sensitive clamps to hold areas and tears together, while I worked. This worked really well and brought the image areas and tears that had splayed apart together.

With toned Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste, in keeping with the paper surface, I placed thin repairs on the recto to improve the visual integrity and image continuity over the tears. This was then re-touched to complete the work.

Not exactly a message in a bottle but this pot came from the Clyde Quay Marina, which is considered the historic part of Wellington Harbour. It has a wonderful history of sailing vessels and Launches dating back to 1904. The creation of this Harbour by the Wellington Harbour Board, formed an ideal small boat anchorage close to the city. The iconic boat sheds were added around 1909, constructed on reclaim land in sections.  Also the Harbour was occupied by the American Navy during World War II.

The pot was found in April 2016 when a commercial diver, now my boyfriend was inspecting a mooring in the marina and always takes the opportunity to look around for objects and treasures.
Despite being full of black, smelly mud I was very happy to receive it as a gift at the time.

The pot cleaned up surprisingly well which indicates a good quality glaze as there was no damage, cracks or crazing. The design is hand painted very well.
The only indication that it has spent some time on the sea bed is the underside of the pot, where it has no glaze has a few marks from the encrustations and barnacles that were mechanically removed. The rest, along with the rust staining cleaned off with warm soapy water.

I researched the style and the red stamp on the bottom and only learned that it is a "Brush Pot" although I have no indication of age or manufacture - how it ended up at the bottom of the marina and for how long, is anyone's guess but I am happy to use it again for brushes in my studio.

A friend brought me a wonderful poster, she had seen it while in Warsaw pasted to a wall, and passing it on another day she noticed it had some new graffiti, and then again, ripped off the wall and left on the ground.
 
The short history of this protest poster’s display, with regard to protest and then support appealed to her and she removed what was left from the wall, folded it up and brought it home to New Zealand as a memento of her travels.
 
The poster was brought to me in a folded format and in four pieces, and with it the backing remnants of many previous posters that had been pasted in the same spot. Therefore the paper was thick with aged glue and many layers of paper.

After discussions on what was important to keep, the primary poster and what the owner wanted, which was to conserve but celebrate the history by not making the tears (scars) completely invisible, I began a wet treatment that helped remove the many layers of paper on the verso (back of the work).
 
Making the most of the poster being aqueously treated I lined the work onto a backing of four overlapped sheets of Japanese tissue using a mix of wheat starch paste and methyl cellulose which would aid slipping or the desired movement of the poster to align the pieces back together, like a puzzle. The work was left to tension dry on my work bench, similar to using a Kari Bari board (Japanese dying board used to line silk and paper)

Bloodymir was once again ready for display, with all his history.
Framed and photographed by owner.