Butler/Service Bell Help

[Lizabeth1]

Hi everyone,

I have just accidently smashed the glass on the working butlers/servants bell in my parents house by throwing a dog toy too high.
It seems that just the glass is smashed but I am not a DIY expert at all. Does anyone have any tips on where I can start to sort this out? Or does anyone know of anyone/ or where I could get in touch with anyone that specialises in restoration of these things? (I live in Yorkshire) My parents are devistated!

Any help would be very much appreciated

Thank you

 

[bernardgreen]

I assume that the glass was printed with the identity of the room calling and other items.

One way to restore this would be to create an artwork of the design and thenhave it printed onto a clear acetate. This can then be fitted behind a new piece of glass. This a is a standard way of creating bespoke display panels.

You could make the artwork by re-assembling as much of the broken glass as possible and photographing it. Then use a photo editing program to clean up the art work and fill in the missing bits.

I will ask on another forums for other means. If you can post more information and a raw picture of the re-assembled glass someone may recognise it as a standard item and know where to obtain a replacement.

 

[bernardgreen]

A person who restores these confirms the use of a printed acetate behind the glass makes reasonable good repair.

For a more professional / genuine look he ( and I ) would use Oroglas perspex sheet instead of glass. Make masks by cutting squares of self adhesive plastic to the size of the windows including frames and stick these to the rear of the Oroglass where the window need to be. Spray with black celulose paint and allow to dry. Peel off the masks and replace with smaller ones and then spray with gold paint to create the window "frame" in gold.

Lettering and labels would need to be put in place in gold before the first black spray. Or the letters could be masked before the black is sprayed and then the masks removed and gold sprayed into the lettering.[/quote]