[Jewelry making - Article 00742] - Re: [Orchid] Sculpture repair

[H.Durstling]

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    Hi, In repairing the turquoise sculpture it seems to me that you have
    two possible approaches. One you might call the restoration approach,
    the other, simply a repair. 

    If the piece is valuable and significant (which is a judgment call,
    perhaps to be made by an expert), it would probably call for a
    restoration, that is, a repair that is reversible, that can be undone
    later, and moreover be undone as far as possible without leaving any
    visible traces on the piece. With turquoise, I'm not sure how I would
    go about achieving this, since the stone is usually quite permeable,
    and any ahesive, particularly a low-viscosity, "watery" one would be
    likely to be absorbed into it, with two effects: it would leave a
    line of discoloration along the fractures, and two, would be
    virtually impossible to remove later. 

    On the other hand virtuallly ALL turquoise today is impregnated in
    some way (with a plastic resin, sometimes even just with wax) to
    enhance the color and make it less permeable. The hot needle test may
    be helpful here - put a hot needle against an inconspicuous part of
    the sculpture and see if it sends up a little tuft of smoke that
    smells like burning plastic or wax. If it is already impregnated, as
    it is likely to be, diffusion of an adhesive should be both less
    pronounced (since the pores will already be sealed with the
    impregnating substance) and less of a restoration issue. 

    If it is to be simply a repair, where you're going for maximum
    strength and permanence, without concern for the restoration issues,
    I'd use a strong, slow-curing, two-part epoxy such as Araldite mixed
    into a paste with turquoise dust (grind some matching turquoise to
    fine dust in a mortar). This should yield a joint which in the worst
    case is reasonably inconspicuous and if you're lucky, is nearly
    invisible. 

    Any excess adhesive after curing can be sanded away with
    progressively finer silicon carbide paper glued to a popsicle stick
    or similar. Finish with say 1,200 or 1,500 grit and then polish. 

    A final caveat is that if the turquoise is paraffin impregnated this
    could impede the expoxy bond. 

Hope that helps...

Cheers,
Hans Durstling
Moncton,
Canada



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