A restorer is partly a craftsman, partly an artist and a little bit a bohemian, too. Connected and mixed together it is a very interesting cocktail. And what do you think, what happens in the restorers workshop? Lets have a look!
Each part of an antique, it does not matter if it is a commode, sofa, painting or clock, must be documented by the restorer. Therefore he takes a picture of each article to catch all the damages. Then he sits down and he elaborates the description of a restorers intention what should be restored and what is the aim. Then the hammy phase starts. Imagine we renovate a commode from the 18th century with a rich inlay. Firstly the whole commode has to be dismantled into parts. Easily said, very carefully dismantled laths cleaned from the original lacquer, binding material and all other impurities. Eventually it can be cured against the wood-destroying fungus or wood-borers. And because our commode is older than last Friday, it is obvious, that some parts whether constructive or other will be missing or they will not be able to repair. In that case our restorer makes up and cuts out a new part of the furniture similar to the missing one. But he must choose the best type of wood very carefully it has to be approximately of the same age and of the same type as the repaired artifact, with perfect drawings and other qualities. When we have created this missing substitution, we have to gluing it on the authentic place of the commode and exactly this is the first alchemy of our renovation journey. All the bonder joints are glued on the bone glue. The bone glue is an original binding material usually used by our ancestors. These bone glues are consisted of light brown natural granules that are boiled. This hot substance that was created is then coated on the heated wooden parts. No modern chemical bindings are used and this bone glue is the only one used by our restorers. With this bone glue all the constructive bonds are fixed as well and the commode gets its former design. From the mass of unknown plates we have created a historical decoration. But we are still only at the beginning of our work. In front of us there is very fiddly job that needs not only wisdom and skills, but most of all patience of our restorer. Our next step is the restoration of wooden inlays. As we have mentioned before, our commode is pretty old. That is why the inlay made of very precious ground-wood pulps is destroyed and on some places it is completely missing. The fallen parts must be mounted or removed very carefully and then glued back. The missing parts of inlay must be newly created by our restorer firstly he has to choose the right veneer, usually from premium fruit tree wood but many times he has to use exotic precious woods as well. In rare cases a restorer may use a special technique of inlay called rooty veneer which is veneer from the rooty part of trees. Secondly the restorer has to transfer the shape of needed inlay on the veneer or veneers (because they always consist of different types of wood side by side) so that the drawing must be in the right direction. Then he has to carve all small particles without any mistake because he could deteriorate the whole plate of veneer. Every single particle has to be glued very precisely into the needed scheme and then retouched so that nobody could recognize the original part from the new one. And that is the art of this work! And what is the next step? The restorer has to finish the final parts which means edges, lines etc. and the surface has to be grindled very carefully. Only rough grindings at first and then he damps it all and grinds it again but this time finely. This method has to be repeated several times until the surface is perfectly smooth and the age-bands on the veneer are perfectly seen. The commode gets the new look in the form of linen varnish that fills the wood moisture up and underlines the drawing and color as well. We are now talking about a shellac polish one of forgotten surface methods. It is good to mention it mostly because of its natural origins as well as its way of application on the commode (furniture).
Shellac is a dried excrement of a special Indian beetle. But of course, our restorer does not follow these beetles all over India just like a king of insect. He buys already dried and modified excrement. In this modified form it looks like some scurf that is dissolved in an alcohol in a 98% of an absolute alcohol. This special alcohol is not normally available and that is why our restorer has a couple of problems how to get it. This specially prepared liquid is then embrocated into the wooden surface by polna. Polna is a scroll made of special textile. This scroll polna is soaked by the shellac and paraffinic oil and alcohol. I hope that our restorer forgives me all these secrets I am giving to you now. But I add another one with this scroll he creates from ten to fifteen layers of the shellac polish until the surface is perfect. This commode has to wait next fourteen days. During that time the polish is sinking which means that the greater pores absorbe more shellac and the surface is smooth no more. It means that the restorer has to rub in next layers of the polish again. But this time there is only a minimum of shellac polish and there is more oil and alcohol. The restorer has to repeat these phases as many times as is needed it depends on the structure of the used veneer. At the end of the process on the top of the surface there is only redundant oil that is sliced by the polish a modern replacement of a Vienna lime. And now we are at the end of our work, because polish is the final arrangement. Then we just install all the ironwork that was replaced at the beginning of the renovation. When it is needed all the ironwork is cleaned and the missing parts are moulded and then patinated. And we cannot forget about the inside of the commode because the commode has to be not only nice to see but functional, too.
And that is all, I think. Actually, not exactly. Our restorer has to describe all his work and he has to complete it with photos of different phases of his work. At the end he reminds you how to use this beautifully reconstructed commode to preserve its shine and charm as long as possible. Restaurtor je z sti emeslnk, z sti umlec a malounko tak bohm. Spojeno a promchno, velmi zajmav koktejl. A co si meme pedstavovat, e se dje v dln restaurtorov? Pojme se podvat.
Kad kousek a u se jedn o komodu, sofa, obraz, nebo hodiny restaurtor peliv vyfotografuje, tak aby zachytil veker pokozen, pak sedne a vypracuje popis a restaurtorsk zmr co by se vlastn mlo renovovat a s jakm clem. A nastv emesln fze. Pedstavme si, e renovujeme komodu z osmnctho stolet s bohatou intarzi. Nejprve je cel komoda demontovan na jednotliv sti, esky eeno opatrn rozloen na prknka, ta se oist od pvodnch lak, pojidel a prost neistot a ppadn se oet proti devokazn houb, nebo hmyzu. A protoe jsme si vymysleli komodu ji njak ten ptek starou je pravdpodobn, e nkter sti a ji konstrukn, nebo jin budou chybt, i nebudou ji repabiln. V tom ppad n restaurtor vyrob, vysek, vysoustru st novou vrn podobnou t chybjc, ale mus zvolit devo star, piblin stejn jako je renovovan artefakt stejnho druhu, kresby a podobnch vlastnost. Tak to mme vyrobenou nhradu a tu pak musme do vodnch mst naklit a jsme u prvn alchymie na cesty za renovacemi. Veker lepen spoje se kl kostnm klihem. Kostn klh je pvodn pojidlo hojn pouvan naimi pedky. Jedn se o svtle hnd granulky ist prodn, kter se va a vznikl hmota se jet hork nan na zaht devn sti msto dnes zabhlch chemickch pojiv. Vpravd jde o jedin lepidlo, kter restaurtor pouv. S nm zafixuje i konstrukn spoje na na komod tak, aby dostala zase pvodn tvar a z hromdky nic nekajcch prknek ze zase stala historick ozdoba. Jene stle jsme jen na zatku prac. Ped sebou mme piplavou st, kter vyaduje nejen um a zrunost, ale pedevm trplivost od naeho restaurtora. Budeme toti renovovat intarzie. A jak u jsme se zmnili st na komody je znan a tak i intarzie ze vzcnch devin jsou odchlpl a nkde i chyb zcela. Ta odchlpl se podlep, nebo velmi opatrn vyndaj a nakl zpt a s tmi co chyb si n restaurtor pkn vyhraje. Nejprve mus vybrat tu sprvnou dhu, vtinou se jedn o ulechtil deviny ovocnch strom, ale mnohdy i o cizokrajn a pomrn vzcn deva, potamo me bt intarzie tvoena tak zvanou koenic co je dha z koenov sti strom, dnes ji velmi vzcn. Dle na takto pipravenou dhu, respektive dhy, nebo se vdy skldaj rzn deva vedle sebe, penst tvar poadovan intarzie a to tak, aby kresba dhy byla v tom sprvnm smru. A pak se nesm v ezn jednotlivch malikch st splst, protoe by tak znehodnotil cel plt dhy. Jednotliv steky pak precizn naklit do poadovanho obrazce, zaretuovat tak, aby se od pvodnch nedala rozeznat a pak si jen pogratulovat k ikovnm rukm. Prost umn. Co dl? Dodlaj se finln sti to znamen hranky, linky a tak podobn a povrch se opatrn zbrous. Nejprve nahrubo, pak se navlh aby vystoupila vlkna a zbrous se jemnji, tento postup se jet nkolikrt zopakuje a je povrch krsn hladk a lta na dze dobe viditeln. Komoda pak dostane novou vu v podob lnn fermee, ta jednak dopln vlhkost deva a za druh podtrhne kresbu a barvu. V tuto chvli stojme ped dal alchymistickou lahdkou a to je povrchov politura. Mluvme zde o politue elakov, dvno zapomenut povrchov prav. Jej prodn pvod zcela jist stoj za zmnku a to stejn jako zpsob nanen na na komodu.
elak jsou vlastn suen vkaly brouka lakovho indickho. N restaurtor samozejm nebh po Indii a nesleduje kde jak hmyz kl, ale kupuje tento trus ji suen a upraven, take tvo jaksi upinky, kter se zase rozpout v lihu, ovem pouze v 98% bezvodnm lihu.tento speciln lh nen bn dostupn a n pan restaurtor m nemal starosti jak si ho opatit.Tmto zpsobem pipraven tekutina se polnou vtr do devnho povrchu. Na polnu co je jaksi smotek ze specieln textilie se postupn pidv k elaku i jemn parafnov olej a lh, co mon prozrazuji vce ne je naemu restaurtorovi mil. Ale snad mi to odpust, j na nj jet prozradm e takto vytvo deset a patnct vrstev elakov politury, ne je povrch dokonal. Takto pipraven komoda jde na trnct dn na odpoinek, bhem tto doby se politura tak zvan propad, to znamen, e vt pry spolykaj elaku vt mnostv a povrch nen stejnomrn hladk a leskl, je tedy teba pokat a opt vett dal vrstvy v tto fzi ji jen minimum elaku a vt podl lihu a oleje. Tento odpoinkov reim se opakuje tolikrt kolikrt je teba, zle na struktue pouit dhy, nebo vartny. Ke konci tohoto procesu vystupuje na povrch deva pebyten olej, kter se roztr poliem, co je modern nhrada za vdesk vpno. Ale to jsme vlastn ji skoro na konci prac, protoe poli je zvren prava. Pak jet namontujeme kovn, kter jsme ped renovac samozejm odmontovali, bhem prac vyistili eventueln nechali odlt chybjc sti ty zpatinovali a samozejm jsme pamatovali i na vnitky komody, aby byla nejen krsn, ale i funkn.
Tak to bychom mli vechno, tedy ne tak docela, protoe pan restaurtor te sedne ve co dlal hezky pope dopln fotografiemi z jednotlivch fz a jet nezapomene pipomenout jak te s takto krsn zrenovovanou komodou zachzet, aby si svj lesk a pvab dlouho a dlouho uchovala.
esky