A client called a few weeks ago asking about repairing a glass plate. She had purchased a plate during her travels and had it shipped to her home. It was delivered broken. I'm not sure why she didn't just call and have another one delivered, perhaps this one was special to her, or a one of a kind. Our conversation was over the phone and I had not seen the piece. I suggested she bring the plate to the studio and I would see if I could use my wonderful UV glue*, and glue the pieces (it was broken in 3 places) back in place. I explained that the uv glue would reduce the crack showing through, but that most likely she would still be able to see the crack. My recommendation was to first glue the piece and see how it looked. That might be all that was required. If she didn't like the gluing repair, we could decide to fuse glass over the cracks or use the broken pieces and a make a mosaic of some type.
When the client arrived at my studio with the plate, I was happy to see that the plate was a mixture of colored glass leaves and was a very busy pattern. My first thought was that the cracks would not be very noticeable - especially if the plate was set upon a high shelf and not looked at closely. It was an overcast day and I tried to make the repairs while she waited. UV glue requires sunlight (or a UV light bulb) to bond. However, it was just too dark outside. I asked her to leave the plate and I would call in a few days after it was repaired.
I left the plate on my studio table for another day. That evening, my 8 year-old daughter and her friend were playing and roughhousing in my studio. I had requested that they settle down numerous times. As I was just getting up to move them out of my studio and settle them down elsewhere, my daughter used a string to reach out and catch her friend's hand. The string missed the hand, but caught a porcelain bird statue I had as a centerpiece on the table. The bird statue was yanked over on top of my customer's plate - breaking the bird statue and shattering the glass plate. No glue in the world could fix that mess!!!!
After yelling and crying and generally feeling sorry for myself overnight, I decided it was time to take a deep breath and figure out what to do. The dilemma - do I tell my client what happened? I called the client and told her that the glue was not working and I needed to refuse the plate. I would call when it was finished.
I would have to make a new plate. Fortunately, I had the exact same colors of glass in stock in my studio. I took a pattern of the leaves from the broken pieces and started cutting. After I cut enough pieces - 26 leaves - in three different colors -- my mother and I worked to lay them out like the original. The next step was to fuse and then slump the plate.
The finished piece came out beautiful! The client was thrilled and couldn't wait to get her plate home and on display. Another happy ending!
*Super glue makes a glass glue that is activated with UV light. Available at most do it yourself stores in the glue aisle.
I left the plate on my studio table for another day. That evening, my 8 year-old daughter and her friend were playing and roughhousing in my studio. I had requested that they settle down numerous times. As I was just getting up to move them out of my studio and settle them down elsewhere, my daughter used a string to reach out and catch her friend's hand. The string missed the hand, but caught a porcelain bird statue I had as a centerpiece on the table. The bird statue was yanked over on top of my customer's plate - breaking the bird statue and shattering the glass plate. No glue in the world could fix that mess!!!!
After yelling and crying and generally feeling sorry for myself overnight, I decided it was time to take a deep breath and figure out what to do. The dilemma - do I tell my client what happened? I called the client and told her that the glue was not working and I needed to refuse the plate. I would call when it was finished.
I would have to make a new plate. Fortunately, I had the exact same colors of glass in stock in my studio. I took a pattern of the leaves from the broken pieces and started cutting. After I cut enough pieces - 26 leaves - in three different colors -- my mother and I worked to lay them out like the original. The next step was to fuse and then slump the plate.
The finished piece came out beautiful! The client was thrilled and couldn't wait to get her plate home and on display. Another happy ending!
*Super glue makes a glass glue that is activated with UV light. Available at most do it yourself stores in the glue aisle.
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