First timer French boulle restoration advive please

[Kyokushinking]

Hi i have three french boulle clocks and each have a little restoration needed to be dont to them in one form or another. I live in bishops stortford hertfordshire. And am looking for some for some one to give me advice on how to clean them and also to replace the brass inlay. Can this be done by myself? Also can i get some red tortoise shell paint to fill in the gaps on the boulle clock. As one of them looks like it has had some fire damage. Also does anyone know of clock restorers that are reasonably priced as everyone ive sooken to talk about £120 per square centimeter which is very expensive in my eyes. Soif anyone can advise me on a french boulle clock restorer who is reasonably priced it would be deeply appreciated. I also need a recommendation of a reasobaly priced clock personwho can rvice my mechansims at a resonable price in my area of bishops stortford hertfordshire.

[zedman]

Restoring a Boulle case is a tough and tricky work. One of my friends tried it, we had to replace some of the missing brass inlay, it's easy to create but since it's thermal expansion differs from wood's the glue will let it get off from the surface. We used gelatin glue to stick and to cover the inlay.
As it was finished we moved the clock up to the living room from the shop and after few days I saw some cracks on the surface.
Maybe he used too thick brass plate.
Anyway the finished clock looks fabulous.