Repairing

[DrewV]

I am looking to repair a vintage clock that has unfortunately experienced some excessive "cleaning" of the glass, which has resulted in the fading and removal of a large portion of the original gold-colored screen-printed design. The original design is still present, although a large portion of it is faded nearly to the point of nonexistence.

My question is: is there a way to restore the graphics on the glass? By this, I mean can it be either repainted, re-silkscreened, or otherwise refinished so that it is either exactly or very close to exactly representing the original graphics?

Thanks for any advice.

[DrewV]

I am looking to repair a vintage clock that has unfortunately experienced some excessive "cleaning" of the glass, which has resulted in the fading and removal of a large portion of the original gold-colored screen-printed design. The original design is still present, although a large portion of it is faded nearly to the point of nonexistence.

My question is: is there a way to restore the graphics on the glass? By this, I mean can it be either repainted, re-silkscreened, or otherwise refinished so that it is either exactly or very close to exactly representing the original graphics?

Thanks for any advice.

[Larry]

Drew,
The hardest part is to make everything blend and look like the old and the new came to the party together. So if you use a little paint or a paint pen with gold paint you will have to use a light touch and experiment. You can also use a close match modern decal to piece in missing parts. Again less is probably more.
But you've got nothing to lose and the paints or decal can be removed and you can try again.

Good luck,
Larry

[TomT]

There are many, many shades of gold paint and when combined with universal tints, it is usually possible to match the paint tone pretty sell.

Unfortunately, trying to hand paint the missing gold on a geometric pattern usually comes out looking too heavy handed.

There is, however, and alternative approach you can try if you want to "exactly" match the original.

If you have a digital camera, set up the glass to get the best possible photo of the remaining image.

Once you have that, print out a copy full size so you can draw in the missing sections by hand.

Even better, use one of the photo editing package such as Paint Shop Pro to "digitally" enhance the original image. With these programs, you can copy a good section (say the upper right hand section) and "mirror" it to paste on the damaged left hand side. With a little practice and patience, you will be amazed at how much you can digitally restore or recreate.

With a good (complete) image on paper, you can use it ot make a stencil that you can place on the original glass.

Finally, put a properly shaded gold paint into an air brush (under $20) and carefully apply a very light coat of paint. Don't want to go too heavy with the paint or it starts to look new.

This process works well and allows you to do a nice restoration even if you are not an artist.

Good luck with it..

Regards,

[DrewV]

Thanks for the info. I'm still deciding whether or not it's worthwhile to repaint, since the original might not be in such bad shape to warrant it.

Either way, the new paint will never match precisely, so I'd have to paint the entire design over again. The problem is that the original was a baked-on gold silkscreen print that was on the outside of the glass. If I were to repaint, I would do it on the inside and it wouldn't look as good as the original. And if I did it on the outside, I could never make it as smooth, shiny, or durable as the original. The original was REALLY shiny (like a mirror) and nicely applied to the outside of the glass.

I'm still looking for other options, so if anyone has anything further, I'd love to hear it. Thanks again.

[harold bain]

Drew, are you sure that the glass wasn't just installed backwards? Glass designs are usually on the inside so that cleaning the glass from the outside doesn't remove them. Harold

[TomT]

Drew,

If it was "really" shiny, it may be gold leaf instead of paint. That is another animal altogether. The techniques for applying gold leaf to glass are quite precise involving the use of gel caps and "very" pure water.

If the gold is leaf, then it's a pretty formidable task to execute well.

Regards,

[Doug]

Hi Drew,

Are you talking about the gold colored stenciling on the glass door of a kitchen clock?

If you are, you can by new stenciled glass replacements for these, many times in the exact pattern as the original.

Could you post a picture of the glass you have.

[DrewV]

Well, thanks for all the advice. As it turns out, I was unable to acquire the clock, so I guess I don't have to worry about the restoration.

Some good info here for future reference, at least.