Problem Repair of plaster portraits

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kdvaldes

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New Hampshire
A good cutomer of mine just brought in portraits painted on plaster. They are molded plaster with paint and what looks like gold leaf applied. Unfortunately one fell off of the wall and has breaks, cracks and pieces missing. Anyone know how to repair or anyone in the NH/ NE area that I can contact? Thanks
 
Joseph, Attached are jpegs of frount, side and back. The entire thing is made of plaster. When you look at the side, you will see a grey area. That is a metal rod that forms the rise in the frame and is covered with plaster. The side and one corner are broken. Thanks
 

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  • plaster painting back.jpg
    plaster painting back.jpg
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  • plaster painting side 2.jpg
    plaster painting side 2.jpg
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  • plaster painting frount.jpg
    plaster painting frount.jpg
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Lucky that only the "frame" part is damaged, and not the portrait.
My take on these is that they are a decorative/souvenir type of work, and I would proceed as follows if they were mine.
1. The fall probably broke some of the bond with the armature underneath. and I would want some adhesive material to make a sound base for the filling.
2. Fill missing areas. I would probably use a hydrocal/glue mixture as a fill, as it will be soft enough to carve/shape easily when dry in order to match the profile.
3. If corner was broken and gone, make a mold and a casting to replace.
4. Inpaint/leaf/distress/tone as needed to blend.

Joseph
 
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