Alabaster Lamp Globe Repair
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2018
- I repair a shattered alabaster lamp globe, including filling in some missing pieces.
Learn more about my restoration business, including contact information at my web site: www.tesserak.com
Here are some of the tools and materials I use in my restoration business.
A+B brand epoxy putty: www.aplusbputty.com/epoxy-put...
A+B brand epoxy paste: www.aplusbputty.com/fast-past...
Milliput epoxy putty: www.milliput.com/products.html
HXTAL-Nyl 1 liquid clear epoxy (for glass and porcelain): www.hxtal.com/
Micro Mesh sandpaper: micro-surface.com/micro-mesh-...
Sylmasta brand Cold Glaze Pro System: sylmasta.net/product-category...
Sylmasta brand Ultimate Gold/Silver (6 color set): sylmasta.net/product-category...
Iwata Airbrushes and accessories: www.iwata-airbrush.com/
Medea airbrush cleaner: www.iwata-airbrush.com/medea-...
Golden brand acrylic paints and mediums: www.goldenpaints.com/
Rub n' Buff: www.allartsupplies.com/item.p...
Novus polishing compounds: www.novuspolish.com/
Jasco brand Paint and Epoxy remover: www.jasco-help.com/product/pre...
Micro Mark tools, etc.: www.micromark.com/?ns_md=cpc&...
Easy Mold: Silicone Putty (quick mold): www.amazon.com/Silicone-Moldi...
Easy Cast: Clear casting epoxy: www.eti-usa.com/easy-cast
Quick Cast: Polyurethane casting resin: www.tapplastics.com/product/m...
Renaissance: Micro-Crystalline wax polish: www.picreator.co.uk
Great tutorial!! I have a great big alabaster chandelier and I am glad to have learned how to save this great piece! Thanks!!
Alabaster is so soft that it is surprising that any of these globes survived ! I saw a restorer the other day tie the edges of a crack with silver wire that he patinated to keep the repair as a feature. Thank you
Thank you Martin. It was “healing” to watch you bring this lamp back to life! I was apprehensive about not getting the name of the glue you used, until I saw it on screen, HTXL. See, I have a couple of Indian Mughal carved hanging lamps, beautifully pierced, but shoddily put together; some parts are glued on. I only realized this when I soaked them in water overnight to rid them of dust, only to find that the glued parts came off. Water didn’t harm the alabaster, fortunately. I made the mistake of glueing them back with Epoxy, which oxidized to an ugly red over time. I’ve repeated the soaking, disassembling part now, and want to glue them on with a transparent glue. I’m going to look for HTXL, it seems to have worked well for your beautiful lamp. Thanks
Thanks for the compliment. Good luck to you on that alabaster repair!
I was also trying to figure out HXTL. Hixtel wasn’t pulling anything up surprisingly. Lol!
I've seen several alabaster shades ruined by heat from the bulbs
Great video thank you.
So helpful👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you for this. It was very satisfying to watch. I just put back together a similar globe, however there are slight pits along some of the crack due to the edges having crumbed. When light shine through it, the pits make the crack lines very dark making them very obvious. The cracks that went back together seamlessly can barely be seen with light shining through. I feel like if I could fill in the small cracks it would help diminish the dark lines when the light shines through. I'm thinking of a non-yellowing clear epoxy glue as a filler but am worried about the final finish. Could I use wet sandpaper to polish the seam after it's been filled?
yes on the wet sanding.
My aging parents have/had a beautiful chandelier, but a (clearly incompetent) cleaning lady they hired caused it to fall, apparently smashing several of the alabaster shades. I never saw the pieces, which she (really compounding, or certainly confirming, her incompetence), thinking it the best response to her blunder, threw away (I'm still deeply upset about it, a year later). My parents put the mangled chandelier in the garage with the 2 or 3 unbroken shades.
Though it was a bit depressing to realize the shades could most likely have been repaired (the old chandelier, their most luxurious home decor item, really made the environment, gave it a unique glow and warmth it has severely lacked since!), I very much enjoyed your video! Making something look easy, that obviously really isn't, attests to great skill. Your way with alabaster is genuinely artistic!
Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. There was also a good deal of luck involved, I think, in the success of this repair.
I'm sorry to hear of your damaged lamp.
there are several brands of 2 part putty mold making compounds sold at craft stores. not liquid. mix equal parts. then press it onto something u want to make a mold of or press the object into the putty. leave it to cure. doesn't take long. for your project, i would press the putty on a complete piece(not damaged) of the shade that matches the broken area. when cured, slide the mold over the holes. tape in place with masking tape. fill the holes with the filler of your choice from the inside. hope this helps.
Thanks.
Great repair! is there a way to have or make the acrylic fill in mat instead of shiny? I enjoy your work. Thank you.
I can think of 3 ways to give the acrylic fill a matte finish. 1: You could have a matte finish on the surface of the mold. 2: You could sand the glossy surface with sand paper. 3: you could coat the surface with a clear matte varnish. In the case of this repair, I did method numbers 2 and 3. Sanding didn't give me the desired look. Method 3 got me a match to the matte finish on the alabaster.
Thank you!
Hello, Martin.
What a beautiful repair you did on that globe! Thank you for sharing.
I noticed that you have responded to a lot of comments here so thought I would present you with my challenge...
I broke a beautiful alabaster lighthouse nightlight that my mother gave me. (sad sad face) I superglued it back together but there is one void and my joins are imperfect and it looks pretty bad once its light is turned on. Because it is so small, epoxy would be challenging. I was thinking of using acrylic paint in a transparent medium. Do you think this would work?
Yes, it might work, if the voids you're filling are small and/or shallow. Maybe test your color mixture on a piece of glass first to get the color density worked out. Good luck to you.
Thank you so much for your gracious replies on my earlier question! Hating to impose, wondering if you might indulge one follow-up as I’m about to order a substantial (1/2 pound, $80) HXTAL supply for my one big project.
My (parents’) chandelier has an inverted bowl similar to yours but I suspect slightly bigger and heavier: the internal diameter is 13”, about 4” deep and quite thick all around; I’m sure it weighs about 25 pounds. It never fully broke into pieces from its fall, but rather got substantial cracks much like the seams on a skull, but broken enough that the biggest crack-surrounded area will shift slightly in place when nudged. One of the cracks runs along the entire bottom center of the bowl.
Frankly I’m scared of something so heavy, suspended on a 2.5” wide plate at the bottom (but resting by the top edge within a surrounding metal rim), with glued-together cracks in it. Even HXTAL glue. It’s about 18 feet over people’s heads, 25 pounds of glued-together rock which may have invisible cracks or earlier cracks spreading under the load of the alabaster’s own weight.
So my question is: while I could use a $20 1.3 ounce bottle of HXTAL and easily fill all the discernible cracks (there aren’t very many by the way, but they are long essentially dividing the whole thing into 3 sections, one essentially bisecting the whole unit). But could it be helpful to buy the larger $80 HXTAL, 1/2 pound, and essentially laminate the entire inner surface of the globe (my math tells me it’s almost exactly 300 square inches; 6.5 x 6.5 x 3.14 for the bottom area; the 4”round side added on… 300 square inches)… if I were to layer on the entire inner surface about 1/8” or 3/16” thick HXTAL, will I have very substantially decreased any risk of failure? Does this seem like a plausible strategy to increase safety with no aesthetic compromise?
Coatings of these thicknesses would be 21 and 32 fluid ounces respectively. I really have no idea if 1/2 pound (their $80 size) would give such a thick coat.
Again hating to impose, but would really appreciate any thoughts on all this.
Oh one final thing: is any tape ok (masking; clear packing; or Seran plastic wrap)? Are all these (including their own sticky adhesive) completely non-reactive with HXTAL?
I may be paranoid, but I worry that both adhesives are complex chemicals, and would fear the HXTAL would react with the chemicals in the tape.
Thank you so, so much for any insights or suggestions!!!!
I'd like to help you on this but it's too much to go into here. Please call me before you order the HXTAL so I can go into detail on this for you. My phone # can be found on my web site contact page (tesserak.com/contact.htm). I'm in California, open from 10am to 4pm. I'm open tomorrow (12/23) but then I'll be closed for the holidays, until Jan. 3.
can you please share what kind of hxtel you used? we have an alabaster lamp to repair and have never done this before...watching your video has helped quite a bit. I need to order the hxtel but finding it difficult.
There is only one kind of HXTAL. It comes in different size 2-part kits.
I used a product called "Hxtal NYL-1" epoxy. Look that up on the internet. You'd probably want to get a 60 gram kit. That should be more than enough to bond your lamp parts. I recommend reading up on the instructions, following them carefully. Good luck to you.
Nice work.I 'm going to try to repair 2 alabaster antique lamp shades with over 100 broken pieces.Have no Idea what to charge to do this work Any advice would be gratefully appreciated thanks
That's a tough question George. Here's what I do: I made myself a calculator, based on a spreadsheet. In it I list all the steps that might be necessary to repair an item. For each item on that list I put in the time I estimate I'll need for a given item. When the time is entered for all the steps, I add up the total time (in minutes). Then I multiply by what I think my time is worth per minute.
Another way to do it is to base the cost on the number of pieces involved, and the number of missing pieces, and the degree of difficulty, and how much time I estimate the repair will take.
It's not an easy calculation to make accurately but over time one gets better at it. You'll probably make some miscalculations along the way.
I wish the best of luck to you.
Hi Martin.... first I would like to thank you 🙏 for sharing your wealth of knowledges you’ve been putting out on RUclips!😇😇😇
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I’m currently working with an “Italic Crystal Alabaster”... it’s a White and translucent piece of stone ....I’m in need of making a repair of a part that was cleanly broken at the vein with no void....
But because you have have mentioned in your video of a “Clear resin that turns Yellow over time”....so what is your suggestion on how I go about making this repair?...
After doing some researching.... should I just simply buy a clear 2 parts epoxy from Hobby Lobby....
The bonding agent I use for alabaster, and the only one I know of that doesn't turn color over time, is called HXTAL Nyl-1. The smallest you can get is a 60 gram kit (it's a 2-part epoxy, water clear, with a very long cure time). It is important that you follow the directions and be neat and tidy with its application. Do a search on line for a source near you. Good luck to you.
Thanks 🙏 Martin!...God bless 😇
I have approximately 3’ round backlit glass clock face to fix. It has 3 major broken cracks. I would like not see the cracks after it’s done. How do you suggest I fix it or have it fixed?
I have a couple of demo videos for a product called "Hxtal", great for repairing glass. Find them both in the "how to, materials and techniques" section of my RUclips channel at the link below:
ruclips.net/channel/UCSNt5PZM52Dud5lPNLp52eQ
Good luck to you!
at the moment, i don't know what to use, but a matting agent would have helped to dull the fill u used to make it more like the alabaster. i got some matting agent maybe 40 years ago. if i can find it, i can send u some to experiment with. maybe a light coat of matt acrylic medium painted on would help???
Thanks.
Hello! I have a question about alabaster. I have an old alabaster lamp but it has a yellow/beige, flaky film over almost the whole lamp? It flakes off with the scratch of a fingernail and chips like paint.. what do you think that could be?
I sounds like there is some sort of coating that's been applied to your alabaster. You might try using some acetone on an inconspicuous part of the lamp to see if it might dissolve this coating. You can use acetone or mineral spirits to clean the alabaster. It is very important to provide good ventilation when working with these chemicals! Water is not good for cleaning alabaster. It will dissolve the stone. Good luck to you.
Hello I have an antique alabaster clock and some simpletons decided to put rubber paint that is bright yellow around a bottom part and I want to cover it with some sort of paint but I don’t want to ruin it, is there a paint or solution for that
I'm hesitant to consult on something when I can't see it, however: you don't want to use a water-based paint on alabaster. Water dissolves alabaster. You'll have to do a test to see if the paint you want to use will even stick to the rubber paint. You can use acetone to clean the alabaster, and I would probably dissolve the "rubber" paint. Again testing in an inconspicuous place is advised. I'm sorry I can't be more help to you.
What colors did you use to match the alabaster? You said that you used epoxy resin, but it will yellow over time.
There are dyes available to color resin to one's liking. As for epoxy resin as a fill: there are few other options for a fill of this size. If you know of non-yellowing clear fills, please let me know.
At the beginning of your video you said that you will make the filling from acrylic resin because epoxy tends to yellow. But later you mentioned the epoxy resin that you used for these areas. That’s why I didn’t understand.
Svetlana: I understand your confusion. In this video, the difference is:
Clear epoxy as a bonding agent (epoxy "glue", which is sometimes used as a partial filling material) would probably yellow over time, even with a color added to it. It can be used this way with darker colors mixed into it, you'd never notice any fading, and may even prevent discoloration. Even so, you wouldn't want to use this as colored "glue" to fill large voids.
Acrylic epoxy resin (a casting medium) is a different kind of formula, made to be a long lasting clear, and it sticks to most things as strong as epoxy glue would. This acrylic may over a very long period of time, become less clear, maybe yellow, but on this alabaster, with the addition of the white pigmentation, any color shift will look like a natural variation in the stone. There actually IS a permanent crystal clear epoxy bonding agent I could have used as a colored fill, it's called HXTAL, but would have been too hard to work with on this job. Also not good for voids of the size on this project.
I know it seems like I keep contradicting myself. Sorry about that.
Outstanding! Is Alabaster like soapstone?
It's about the same in softness, but it's a different chemical composition. close but not the same.
Remarkable repair!!
(Thanks so much for your reply in my other question!) If I have slightly off-white, creamy colored (somewhere between straight milk and vanilla ice cream color), and just need to bond hairline cracks, can I get away with a regular clear epoxy as opposed to hxtal? I’m assuming that if the “clear” began to “yellow”, if were the attaching two completely flush edges with no gap, and the surrounding material is off-white (in “cream” direction), even “yellowed” epoxy would be just about invisible, or pretty close. Would it likely blend in inconspicuously in such a scenario?
**Can you recommend a clear epoxy good for alabaster I’m likely to find in regular hardware store? Or some other cement? **
I was actually wondering if any dental cement products might work to fill in chips. The alabaster color is remarkably close in color to teeth actually!! Could you imagine using some kind of dental material to fill in gaps (saving me the trouble and complexity and expense of buying and mixing pigments). I’m certain any material designed to look like tooth would blend in perfectly on the alabaster I have.
Thanks so, so much for any tips you may be able to provide, so deeply appreciated!!
This is a tricky question to answer. Yes, I think a hardware store epoxy would be strong enough, and hold the repair together. How much it might "yellow" as it ages is hard to say. National name brand epoxies are all about the same as far as holding power and discoloring with age.
As far as dental fills and adhesives, I have no experience with these but they sound like very interesting, and potentially good ideas.
Just remember not to use water when cleaning alabaster, or cleaning up glue squeeze-out. It dissolves alabaster. Remember that rubbing alcohol has a lot of water in it. The best thing to use is acetone . . . well ventilated!.
So, a clear hardware store epoxy (JB Weld, Loctite, etc.), with a long curing time, should work OK.
The best of luck to you!
@@marsgitar thanks thanks thanks!!! Also thanks for water warning, though I’m OCD (you couldn’t have known this😉) enough to have read 20 discussions (and watched a few videos) emphasizing mineral spirits/acetone for cleaning alabaster and avoiding water contact at all costs b/c alabaster dissolves. That’s rule #1 dealing with alabaster! 😀😀 thanks so much again!!
Gonna go buy (clear, long curing) either JB or loctite; also excited to try RENAISSANCE WAX to give it a nice shine (unless you tell me it’s a bad idea). Wonder if that will beautify the stone, bring out its inner details and make it more luxurious.
So far, so good! (JB). Thanks so much again for the guidance! The crack seems pretty well fixed, I have a couple more, then I’ll address the chips (some tiny, some quite large. I’m thinking to stick with the JB clear for the big chunks missing, mixed with marble powder. (On parts of the chandelier that don’t need to be translucent).
Why not UV resin so you could cure it as you go? Just curious
It's not as clear, nor non-yellowing, and not easily tinted.
I have a figurine that's made with alabaster; has a chip on it; can you fix it? if so please pm me
Send photo and description to: mscherer@tesserak.net
Are you taking new work?
yes. contact me: mscherer@tesserak.net