1880's Kitchen Clock Restored

This beautiful 'Gilbert & Co.' Kitchen Clock once belonged to my grandparents.   I remember seeing it at the top of their stairs when I went to visit.  Sometimes when I had 'overnights'  they would wind it up for me so that I could hear it chime.  I loved that sound.   I remember hearing my Grandfather talk about listening to that chime.  He had fond memories of it chiming in the background, while he was on the phone courting my Grandmother.  I was so happy to inherit the clock and all the memories and history that go along with it.  

The clock is very old though and was looking dull.  The beautiful wood grain was almost hidden beneath aged shellac.  As Shellac grows older ind becomes darker and looses it's shine.   If left long enough it can actually become black, especially if it is exposed to smoke or was a dark shellac to begin with.

To restore the finish on this clock we first removed all the clock mechanisms, doors, glass, etc. We then dipped all of the wooden parts into an Alkaline bath.  If dipped long enough the shellac could have come off completely.  But we just wanted the outer layer removed so it was a quick dip for this clock.  

We then were able to apply new layers of Orange Shellac over the original shellac to restore the clock to it's original appearance.   We are actually the only shop in California that is licensed to use Shellac.  It is part of a special historical finishes permit that we have.  This permit allows us to restore pieces such as this clock, and use the original type of finish.  Pretty neat right?

Unfortunately in the life of this clock the glass did break.  That happens to glass sometimes.  To complicate the issue, this glass had a very unusual gold art print on it.  The good thing is, there are still glassmakers out there who make reproduction prints specifically for clocks such as this.  I was able to find a re-production gold print from the very same clockmaker as the original!  

This Kitchen Clock is once again in beautiful condition.  The finish gleams and it now sits proudly at the top of my stairs, right where it should be.

A Resurrected Parlor Organ

We have been going through some of our old film photos and scanning them into our computer.  This beauty came up in the stack and boy did it bring back memories.

This Parlor Organ was in pretty decent condition when it came into our shop.  It didn't really have any missing pieces or significant structural damage.  The key reason it's owner brought it to us, was because it was black in color.  He thought it was painted and wanted it stripped and refinished.   We would have happily performed this service for him... but instead we suggested to him an even better rout to go.

You see, once we raised the music stand, we could see a beautiful walnut veneer underneath which gradually faded to black as it got closer to the edge of the stand.  We realized that this Organ was actually coated in an original shellac finish.  Shellac will oxidize and darken with age,  and on this piece, it had oxidized so much that it looked like black paint.

So we used our special chemical blend to clean the shellac. This cleaning/revitalizing process is extremely labor intensive and requires a significant amount of elbow grease.    But all that work produces a beautiful reward.  Once we had rubbed and rubbed and rubbed, the shellac came back to life and began to glow again.  We love being able to preserve a historical finish such as this.  It isn't always feasible but when it is, we sure like to take advantage.  This Parlor Organ is one example of a restoration job done very right!

Seth Thomas Clock Restoration

 This beautiful old Seth Thomas clock came to us needing a number of different things worked on.  The case was loose and easily came apart into multiple pieces,  the lower part of the door needed to be re-veneered, and the back panel was raw wood.
To finish the back panel, we used shellac which really let the burl shine through, and gave a beautiful contrast with the rest of the clock case.

Gluing the case together was fairly simple as we do that kind of work every day.

The tricky aspect of this job was really the re-veneer work on the door face.  What made it so tricky was the corner details.  There was an recessed area that needed to remain without veneer, but the leaflets needed to have the same grain pattern as the rest of the door.

So what we ended up doing making a tracing of the exact shape of each corner and then mask off (very very carefully!) the recessed area.  We could then glue a sheet of veneer over the door face.  Then, once the glue was set and dry our craftsman used the tracings to cut the veneer away and expose the masked off areas.  It was a tricky process, but did produce the results we were looking for.   Then the leaflets had to be carved to create depth and texture.  Finally, once the newly veneered door panel looked just how we wanted it, we stained and finished it to match the rest of the clock.

As I said, it was a tricky job.  But the end result was a beautiful clock with great detail and wonderful textural and color contrasts.

Final Look at a Repaired Marquetry Table

 This table came to us some time ago in desperate need of some veneer expertise.  It is a 'home made' table, which makes the original work quite remarkable!  Unfortunately the glue just didn't stand the test of time, and there were pieces of veneer peeling up and breaking off all over the place.  We began our work by stripping the table, which revealed the true nature of how much work was needed.  You can see the work needed, in the top photo.  We were able  to salvage many of the pieces that had peeled or broken off, and re-glue them into place.  But for the rest of the damage, we had to try and find a matching veneer and make patches.  This turned out to be a true challenge.  Much of  the veneer on this table is rare or obscure, so that made it hard to find replacements.  In addition, when we did find the correct replacement veneer,  the older pieces had often darkened with age, so the patches were still visible.  The wood grain matched, but the depth of color did not.  This meant we had to use subtle dye techniques to bring the new wood to the same tone as the old.  We also had to employ some expert touchup techniques where the old veneer had tiny little chips, or the seams between veneers were no longer as crisp as they once were.

Once the tricky veneer work was completed, and all the necessary touchup and dye was done, we moved on to replacing the finish.  We applied a shellac as that was the original finish. To replicate the color we used 4 coats,  2 of orange shellac and 2 of super blonde shellac.  The table looks fantastic. The colors of the veneers are vibrant and have depth.  It is once again a masterpiece that can proudly grace the living room of the original maker's family and descendants.

To see more photos of the work on this table check out our Flickr Page here...   Dodecagon Marquetry Table

Fancy Marquetry Table gets a Touchup

 This home made marquetry table came to us because the veneer  on the top was damaged and peeling. We stripped the table and then went to work re-gluing the raised areas and cutting new pieces where the veneer had to be replaced all together.

All the veneer repairs have been completed, but there were still flaws in the marquetry all over the place and these had to be corrected with touchup.  Some of the flaws were simply because the wood was not the same age, and so hadn't darkened with time,  and some of them were from the original veneer that had tiny little breaks and nicks.
Our color wizard chose 3 different pigment powders from his collection to create this mustardy yellow.  He used White, Green, Canary Yellow and Pine.  This is the mixture for just one of the colors he had to use, each different wood type he touched up on this piece needed it's own special custom blend.

This table top uses many different kinds of woods including Birds Eye Maple, Rosewood, Lacewood, Elm and Ebony.  The colors he chose, along with his expert fine gran strokes, blended perfectly with each wood he was working on.  The table top looks beautiful and is ready for it's final step,  a coat of orange Shellac over the entire table.  

An Old Clock Gleams Again

This beautiful old clock's finish had a dark brown tone when it came in to the shop, but that was not how the finish looked originally.  The finish is made out of shellac which will darken over time.  It also will bead up, sink into the recesses and loose it's glossy sheen.  To restore this clock, we didn't strip the old original shellac finish off, instead we put it in our cleaning tanks which got all the years of grime off.  There were a few minor repairs to the decorative leaves on the top which had to be done.  Then the entire wooden face was coated with 3 layers of an Orange Shellac which is as close as we could come to the original color of shellac on the clock.    The new coatings have smoothed the old to some degree but the texture of the old shellac is still visible underneath, which keeps some of the character of age.

The clock of course needs to have the door put back on,  but before that happens,  the inner workings of the clock will be repaired by a local clock company.  Once that is done, this clock will not just look beautiful but it will function properly and sound good as well.

The label on the back of the clock.

The owner of this clock is fortunate in that the original label is still in place.  Gilbert Clock Company used a number of different labels on the back of their clocks throughout the life of their business, which can help to identify what year the clock was made.   The style of this label tells us that the clock was made between 1885 and 1895.

From Antique Clock Price Guide's Site

AntiqueClocksPriceGuide   has a helpful page with photos of many of these labels.  If you have an old clock who's age you would like help identifying, you might check them out. 

Progress On Our Latest Faux Finish Project

Our latest Faux Finish project is coming along very well.  As with all of these projects, there is a point where I look at the piece and go, 'Um.....really? How is that going to look not weird?'  But then the work progresses and I start seeing the vision of our Faux Finish Visionaire start to come come alive.

We began by mixing our own custom creamy yellow base color, which we applied to the side panels on this cabinet, and to the frame sections on it's doors.  We also applied this color to 4 sections of a coffee table that is going to co-ordinate.  After applying the base,  The doors and the coffee table also received a coating in select areas of a Bayberry green color which you can see very well in the doors above.   The side panels have had a Red Pepper color rubbed into the cracks and crevices, followed by a Van Dyke glaze.  It looks very cool.  The coffee table and doors also have had a Van Dyke glaze overall, which give them such a neat aged look.

I have gotten past the 'that looks weird' stage, to the 'wow, that looks cool' stage and am looking forward to seeing these completed!  What do you think of these color effects?

Masterful Veneer Work & Painting Skills

 I recently spent some time learning  how to cut and apply veneer for a small table I have been restoring as a personal project.  I thought by doing the work myself, I would gain a better grasp of what the craftsmen actually do, here at the shop.  And boy have I been surprised,  each skill I have learned for the sake of my table has been much more challenging then I expected, and given me a much greater appreciation of the skills the craftsmen here have.  So when I saw the work one of them did on the edges of this small table, I was amazed.

All four sides to the table have these very small pieces of veneer, cut at alternating angles, and fit closely together.  There were multiple pieces that had chipped or come off all together.  We recently brought on a new Craftsman and he certainly proved himself with this project.  Can you see in the above picture the little pieces he cut and glued in place?  Those cuts are perfect and the pieces could not fit into their places any better.

After the veneer was attached he evened out the original Shellac coating, so that it spread over the entire side, including the new pieces of veneer.  Shellac and Nitrocellulose Laquer are the only two kinds of finish that you can re-liquify and spread out in this manner.  Had this table had any other kind of finish, we would have had to apply an all new coat.

The table base was then glued back together.  Because wood naturally shrinks with time and a dry climate, there was some gapping in the seams where the sides joined with the legs.  These seams were filled with a very hard epoxy putty.  Of course, epoxy putty is lighter then the wood on this table, and has no grain lines.  So our Master Craftsman stepped in at this point to complete the job.

Our Master Craftsman is a touchup wizard.  He can create a wood grain on just about anything.  Using 7 different colors of shellac (Pine, Cherry, Medium Maple, Universal Walnut, Burnt Sienna, Extra Dark Walnut and Canary Yellow) he is painting on wood grain over the putty areas, making cracks where the wood was broken and glued disappear, and adding highlighting to the new veneer where the grain was not as dramatic as the old.  With skills like this, maybe he should hang his work in a gallery!