Crystal Restoration Project Repair Gallery

Antique Glass Repair broken dish

I was sent an antique pressed glass butter dish that was missing a corner. The note with the broken glass dish read “Please do something.” I was able to do more than “something,” the dish is now completely restored. Here’s what I did, I made a casting of one of the thee remaining corners and created a mold. I then cast glass in to the mold, and came up this a rough glass corner. The grinding and polishing came next, and then I glued the piece in place. One final grind and polish, and now the dish can be used to hold butter, and a lot of memories.

make casting of good corner

mold of good corner

pressed glass lid missing corner

That glob of glass I hope to make in to a glass corner to fit on this lid.

start grinding corner shape

grind / lap with 400 grit

glue glass on corner

Pressed Glass Butter Dish (with new glass corner)

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Broken Glass Dish, Broken Glass Glued, Chip Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glassware Repair, Glueing Glass, Pressed Glass Repair

Painted glass globe

painted glass globe

broken glass globe

Repaired Globe

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Antique Lamp Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Chandelier Repair, Chandelier Restoration, Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Custom Made Chandelier Parts

Swavorski train wreck gets repaired

What a train wreck! This swavorski crystal train came to me in about 25 pieces. It needed to be completely reassembled and glued into place, but I had not been given a picture of the original. Reassembling this train was a like a jigsaw puzzle. The fun part was creating a something beautiful from the pieces. I consider that crystal repair at its finest.

Swarvoski Crystal Train

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Crystal Figurine Repair, Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glassware Repair, Swarvorski Glass Repair

Antique Glass Repair- broken stopper

An antique glass decanter with a broken stopper was brought in for repair. The stopper broke off many years ago and was lost. The owners still had the silver top to the stopper, but a new glass bottom had to be made. I started with a glass rod a little larger than the neck of the decanter. I ground the end of the glass rod to fit the neck of the decanter. I made a stem on top of the stopper through heat and manipulation. This was fitted in to the silver top. The other chips on the bottle were left alone because they all had a story to go with them.

antique crystal decanter missing stopper

Starting with a solid glass rod I shape the end .

glass rod use for glass stopper

Heat and pull to create a stem to fit in to the silver top.

heat and pull ( stopper neck)

Keep it hot and on center

Decanter with new stopper (fill with rum )

Tags: Antique Bottle Repair, Antique Crystal repair, Antique Cut Glass Repair, Antique Glass Repair, Antique Glassware Repair, Broken Glassware Repair, Chip Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Cut Glass Repair, Glass Parts, Glass Stopper Repair, Glassware Repair, New Stopper, Stuck Stopper, Swarvorski Glass Repair, Waterford Crystal Repair

Glass Dome for clock with crack

An antique, glass, clock dome was brought to me because of a large crack. The crack will still be visible once it’s repaired, but the dome will be stable. I learned a long time ago from my old scientific glass blowing teacher how to control a crack. Now I can easily make cracks go wherever I choose.  In this case, I was able to make the crack turn to the bottom of the dome. If left alone, the crack would have continued going up, and around, and eventually it would have ruined the dome. Now the crack is no longer a threat, and it can be easily hidden behind the clock. I am currently developing a new way of making glass domes like this one. In the future, I plan to offer replacement domes for customers with this type of damage.

clock dome with crack

Crack going upcrack going downtwo piecesGlued and stable

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glass Dome, Glueing Glass

Consolidated Glass Bowl Repair

This green Consolidated Glass bowl came to me with eight chips on inside edge of the rim. A simple repair, I thought, but the easy ones are often harder than you think. This inside chip was tricky to smooth without hitting the inside of the bowl. Polishing required dressing that shade in a wheel, and then redressing the wheel. Finally, the bowl is restored back to it’s original beauty.

Inside lip smooth no chipsConsolidated Bowl

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Chip Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glassware Repair

LaLique Crystal Repair

Completed repairs on LaLique Horse Head. I was also able to remove scratches from the bottom.

Lalique Sculpture

Large crystal horse head

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glassware Repair

Broken cut glass bowl

antique cut glass bowl

repaired bowl

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glueing Glass

Cut crystal repair

cut glass bowl

cut glass bowl repaired

A clean break makes this repair very hard to spot. This cut glass bowl broke without chipping, so the repair was not very involved.

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Cut Glass Repair, Antique Glass Repair, Antique Glassware Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Broken Glassware Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glassware Repair, Glueing Glass

Broken chandelier arm

Broken Arm

Repaired Arm

This antique crystal chandelier suffered a broken arm. These kinds of injuries happen all the time. Be careful when you move the dinnig room table so that someone doesn’t walk into the chandlier. Fortunately, broken glass arms from chandeliers are easily repaired, and they hold up very well. This is a small arm, and it is not very old. The older arms are made of solid glass without any space to run the wire, because they were originally made as candelabras.

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Glass Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Custom Made Chandelier Parts, Glueing Glass

Crystal Repair broken decanter

This crystal decanter came to me with a cracked neck and a stuck stopper. The neck of this decanter was broken in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the stopper. After I was able to remove the stopper, I had to run the crack so I could remove the piece and reattach it with glue. Running a crack can be tricky. The heat must be applied in a very controlled way so that the crack can be redirected to prevent further damage.

Cracked Neck After running the crackBroken Pieces off decanterRepaired decanter

If you look very closely you can still see were it was repaired, but the decanter is now stable and there is no worry that the crack will run through the body of the decanter. Fill with Rum and enjoy life.

Tags: Antique Crystal repair, Antique Cut Glass Repair, Antique Glass Repair, Bottle Repair, Broken Glass Glued, Broken Glassware Repair, Chipped Crystal Repair, Crystal Restoration, Glueing Glass, Perfume Bottle Repair, Stuck Stopper

Waterford Crystal Repair

This beautiful, large, Waterford glass vase has been damaged at the base. My first step was to rough grind the chip out. After a grinding and thorough polish, the chip repair is complete. All that’s needed now is a bouquet of roses. Bruening Glass Works is recommended by Waterford Crystal to restore damaged crystal to it’s original beauty.

Waterford Vase Large Chipwaterford vase