Do you repair glass?

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Maryann

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 28, 1999
Posts
1,674
Loc
Shippensburg, PA 17257 USA
We had a call today...frame fell off the wall, frame broke. The 'artwork' was a piece of glass that a psalm was painted on. It broke in three large pieces, several smaller ones.

Her husband would fix the frame, no problem. She needed us to fix the glass. I explained that this is something we just don't do. I wasn't even sure who to tell her to call. Is this something a conservator would handle? I didn't think so....but maybe. No matter, I had the impression that she wanted it fixed for pennies.

Her implication was that if we knew what we were doing, we would be able to help her.

Oh well, we can't win them all.
 
Maryann,

Not that it will help you now, but there's a consumer, superglue product that is made especially for gluing glass back together as long as the seams fit well (not gap filling). Once glued, it takes bright sunlight or strong UV lamp to activate. I wouldn't want to repair a customer's job with it, but it would be worth the customer's while to try.

I've used it to repair a couple of long stemmed liqueur glasses that couldn't be replaced. The seam is almost invisible in the stem and it's been 3 years plus since I made the repair.
 
If it was painted glass then it can't be repaired.
You can't put a whole piece of glass that has been broken back into one whole piece.
It just ain't possible.
 
I had something like that come in and the woman had already glued and taped the pieces together on the back. Of course, it looked like h***. I told her I could scan it and clean up the crack lines and then print it for her to put into the frame. She loved that idea as she still liked the image. She kept the pieced together glas in an envelope as it had a family history.

Try that idea on her.
 
One can only begin to imagine what's going on in her mind. That's not the sort of thing that could ever look pristine. She sounds seriously delusional about the limits of repair.
 
Ah, Rick, mentioned uv activated glue.
That might work...not sure where you would find it but you would still be able to see where the piece was broken.

The brand I buy is called Kemexert. There are two types one is for edge to edge bonding and the other is surface to surface.

Good luck!
 
When they start that "You could if you knew what you were doing" stuff with me, I just walk away. You KNOW however you do it isn't going to be good enough. And then she will be BACK complaining more than ever! I just agree that this is above my level of expertise and I don't know who could help her, but she might try______.
 
You can't win them all, but you can't be expected to do the impossible either. I couldn't imagine trying to glue broken shards of sheet glass back together.

She at least needs instructed on how to properly hang a picture so it wouldn't have fallen in the first place or the next one may end up on the same nail!
 
Maryann this isn't the same thing you mentioned but it sure reminded me of the same mentality from the client.

I once had a customer ask if I could sell her oval frames ,to which I answered yes and showed her some of the ones available. Then she looked at the selection of corner samples on the wall and decided on a very nice formica moulding and selected some cordinating mats. All went well until she came to pick up her work and was disappointed when she didn't have Oval formica frames . She just couldn't understand why I couldn't bend any and all the mouldings into ovals of the size she needed.After all I did say I sold Oval frames .Obviously I just didn't understand,and I must not be a full service framer.
BUDDY
 
Originally posted by Maryann:
The 'artwork' was a piece of glass that a psalm was painted on. It broke in three large pieces, several smaller ones.

Her implication was that if we knew what we were doing, we would be able to help her.
Click to expand...
If she knew truly knew how to successfully pray, then it would have been healed and she wouldn't have needed to consult with a framer who didn't know what they were doing... :D

Don't let the Dolts get you down.
thumbsup.gif
 
Maryann,
We use UV all the time with glass display case manufacture.
Take it from me, UV glue won't work in this case.
Ok on a wine glass stem (with the thicker type of UV glue), but you'd be a miracle worker if you could get a broken join in a pane of glass to align perfectly (join MUST be airtight), and in a perfectly flat 'plane'.
Then you've either got to have a $150 UV curing light, or get it to the sunlight somehow without moving it, to cure it !
Try Ellens advice, refer them the M_______s
:D

edit typo
 
Maybe you could "lift" the paint from the broken pieces and place it on a new sheet... I'm thinking like a customer tonight sorry.

At first, before I read about the paint work I thought "why not just take the largest piece and put it in the glass stretcher".

Or get a little funky and frame the three pieces into one frame with a carved timber "thingy" between the pieces...? I can see a few options with this one.
 
Wasn't it Vivian Kistler who once said ;"we are FRAMERS not Magicians"? I think these request prove her point.
BUDDY
 
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