A ceramic object, such is a pot, plate, vase, figurine,is an object made of made of clay, hardened into a permanent form by baking (firing) at high temperatures in a kiln is considered ceramic. Clay is one of the oldest materials known to humanity and has been used for practical purposes and creative expression since prehistoric times.  As civilizations evolved, ceramic materials, techniques, purposes, and design all became more sophisticated and expressive. “Ceramics may be built by hand, cast in a mold, arranged using a slab method, or thrown onto a pottery wheel” (“History of Porcelain”, 2004). Read more...

Below are the hyperlinks to all of the articles on Ezinearticles.com

Museum Quality China Repair:
http://ezinearticles.com/?China-Repair:-The-Museum-Quality-Method&id=6127835

Porcelain Plate Restoration:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Art-of-Porcelain-Restoration&id=1721132

Meissen Figurine Repair:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Meissen-Porcelain-Repair&id=2257030

Doll Collection and Repair:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Collecting-and-Repairing-Dolls&id=3058895

Restoration of Chinese Porcelain:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Chinese-Porcelain-Across-Cultures&id=2466151

China Set Repair:
http://ezinearticles.com/?China-Repair-For-Grandmothers-China-Set&id=1578066

We get a lot of emails regarding home restoration of china and ceramic. Although we don’t recommend that you attempt to glue the broken pieces yourself — it never looks as good as you would expect it to and it creates more work for a professional restorer (and more money for you). However, the times are hard. So if you want to try glue the broken pieces yourself, below are a few pointers.

1. Organize the pieces. See how they fit together. If it’s a simple, clean break you’re okay. But what if you got five, ten or more pieces. If you glue them out of order, the last piece or two will not fit.

2. Do not apply glue with a cotton swab or a piece of paper towel. Use a small brush or a thin wooden applicator. A toothpick will do the trick too.

3. Quickly connect the pieces of the plate or figurine, and hold it in place for a few seconds. Repeat the steps until the entire item is cleanly assembled.

4. Place the glued item in a box or large bowl filled with uncooked rice. That will hold the item balanced until it dries fully.

5. The glued item should be drying for at least sixty to ninety minutes. When you remove it from the positioning bowl, none of the pieces should move. If they do, place the item back in the bowl.

6. The final step is to wipe away excess glue. Use a very sharp knife or razor blade and move along the connection edge. Then take a piece of lightly moist paper towl and slide it along the connection/groove. That will get rid of excess glue.

Professional invisible restoration precludes practical use because aside from gluing and bonding, there are many other steps involved, such as matching and replicating the color and design, airbrushing and glazing. If you only glue an item — a plate or vase — and want to use it for practical purposes, you can. But keep in mind that the glue is toxic, so we strongly recommend using the glued dish or vase for dry food only.

Luel Restoration Studio specializes in professional, invisible repair of china, ceramic, terra cotta, majolica, plaster and glass.
Visit us at www.luelstudio.com

“The birth of Chinese porcelain took place during Shang Dynasty. Later on, during the Eastern Han period, porcelain technique had greatly improved and the wares were given a distinct name in order to differentiate them from a porous, softer earthenware. The new name was “tz’u”, which, later, during the T’ang dynasty, came to mean “true porcelain”. The most important characteristics of true porcelain are its hardness, ringing sound when struck, as well as its translucence. These qualities are achieved by firing clay (ceramic) ingredients in a kiln. But it took centuries for kiln technology to develop. Robert Finlay (1998) writes that fine-grained soil and the early predominance of ceramics in metallurgy impelled Chinese craftsmen toward a highly effective kiln making. Ceramic variety also stemmed from kiln technology…”

The above passage is from the paper titled Ceramic Art: The influence of Chinese Porcelain on the history and culture of the world by Lance Muchnik, who apprenticed at Luel Restoration Studio in the summer of 2010, and who is currently a student at FIT, in NYC.  Read the attached PDF file.

ceramic-paper2

Contact Luel Restoration Studio for all your repair and restoration needs. Bring your ceramic and porcelain back to life!

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email: luba at luelstudio.com

Because Luel Restoration Studio appears in the top three spots on Google for most of our key phrases — ceramic restoration, porcelain repair, china repair, porcelain doll repair, etc.  – we get daily link exchange requests from various online establishments. Tire rim warehouses, dog food testers, rectal thermometer  designers, bad painters,  restorers wannabes, and link-farm managers somewhere in India and Siberia.

So when a talented ceramic artist asks us to put a link on our Useful Websites page to promote his business, we jump at the opportunity. Check out Matthew S. Kennedy’s vases, bowls and tribal cremation urns for sale. http://www.intlnat.com/2010/10/learn-more-about-tattoo-and-pottery.html

Enjoy.

Luel Restoration Studio

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In general, conservation is usually the work antiquities of museums and archaeological digs. Conservators do work on repairs, but they primarily focus on documentation, research, and repair methodology that does not obviously alter the item’s appearance.

Ceramic restoration can employ all of the above, but the emphasis is on making invisible repairs. Luel Restoration Studio offers the highest quality invisible and museum-style ceramic repair, restoration and conservation.

Restoration involves sculpting missing parts and retouching. However, an experienced and ethical ceramic restorer always uses the conservation method to strengthen objects, remove accumulations of old repairs that may injure the object, and works with only those materials that won’t damage the object’s substance, thus preserving and protecting it for future generations.

Luel Restoration Studio — Home 

Putting aside the very real sentimental value of a special family Hummel figurine, we will focus here on the monetary value of a Hummel piece.

Of course, if you’re not sure what you have, you will need to determine if your Hummel figurine is authentic. The best is to take your piece to an expert, but for a quick primer in what to look for, we offer suggestions …

There are definite marks for identification to determine if your figurine, bell or plate is a genuine Hummel. Many years ago, Sister Hummel requested that her stamp of approval appear on every piece. Under the board of her convent, approvals are made to this day with her mark incised on every piece.

There is also a mold number incised on the bottom of each Hummel figurine at the factory.

Although the Goebel trademark has evolved over the years, there is the official Goebel trademark stamp on the bottom of every figurine.

Hummel figurines are highly sought after by collectors. Several pieces are valued in the hundreds or thousands of dollars each. Figurines such as “For Father,” “Little Goat Herder,” and “Going to Grandmas” are examples of the value of Hummel collectibles.

As with all collectibles and ceramic art, condition and rarity are important factors in the value. If you have a genuine piece that may be showing some age or may need a repair for a crack or chip, the ceramic repair will be a definite investment in the current or future value of the piece.

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