Matt Newborg writes:
Hi Groop,
I've recently acquired a mirror frame from a client and have sent
in a couple of pictures to the Groop.
The frame, as far as I can tell, was originally carved out of a soft
wood (some type of fir), then a coat of plaster of paris, painted
with a gold primer, then a gold paint (it could be gilded, hard to
tell). Since then has been painted two or three times with an
enamel paint.
From looking at the pictures it seems the carved parts are pretty
defined but really aren't because of all the paint and plaster of
paris. It has been broken in several places and glued back
together which you can see when looking at it.
When I first received the piece, I thought I could strip and
refinish but when I picked at a few pieces to make sure that it
was truly all carved out of wood (which it is) I found the plaster
of paris or something on that order in a thin layer over the piece
and thicker in the crevices. Which brings me to the questions:
What would be the proper thing to do to the piece? Can anyone
tell me about the history of it? The placard on the back is
LaBarge Mirror Co. Newzeeland Mich.
At this point my first instinct would be to reglue the pieces back
on and fill the voids from the cracked paint and paint it again. The
problem is, it's just at the point of losing too much character.
The pictures are deceiving. The carved parts are not as defined
as they look and the gold paint on the back of the birds looks
different on the front where there's paint missing which kind of
suggests to me it may be gilded.
Thank you,
Matt Newborg,
Cheddar Land
