The Framers Forum

Good morning -

I have a gessoed and gilded frame in with a couple of pieces of ornament missing - any recommendations for suitable substance to secure them in place? It's not a valuable piece and just needs tidying up.

Many thanks
Jonathan

PVA glue is as good as anything.

But you must make sure the surfaces are stable. Scrape off any loose crumbly stuff on both the ornament and the frame.
When the glue is set you can make good any gaps with fine surface filler.

I am not completely sure what you are saying. Are the missing pieces available to stick back on, or do you need to remould replacement pieces to glue those back on. There are times when I need to remart replacement pieces by tace a mould from the same feature from somewhere else of the frame. I take the mould with plasticine and freeze the plasticine mould in the freezer and then press two part wood filler in to the mould. The release agent which I use for the mould is just plain ordinary washing up liquid and I apply this to the mould before putting the mould in to the freezer.

If you have the original missing pieces, you can just glue them back in to the places where they came from. I do this with "Hard as nails", but the water based version of "No more nails" will do it as well. When I have cast new pieces using two part wood filler it is necessary to cut the broken edges where the replacement piece is to be fitted and then to cut the replacement piece to be a perfect fit. This will also include cutting the back of the moulded replacement piece to fit in flush with the existing pieces of gesso. This is quite easy when you've had a bit of practice, or previous experience, but perhaps not quite so easy first time around.

Then you will need to remove any surplus adhesive and then fill any gaps which are left, before hand finishing to hide the repair. Not all of us will find the hand finishing bit as easy as others. To those who are old hands at hand finishing, this will be easy. Unfortunately for those who have no experience of hand finishing this may be more difficult. Repairing frames with damaged gesso is normally a job for experts and not particularly likely to be something recommended for those who have no experience to just decide to have a go at.

While I was typing, Peter (Prospero) has suggested PVA. I have used this on ocassions, but I like to use the thinker woodworking varieties of PVA, in preference to the thinner universal varieties as the bond is likely to be stronger.

Agree with both of the above posts. Use a wood-working PVA.
As you say it's not an expensive frame so I would use some gilt cream to rub around the repair lines.

Thank you all for your advice. I do have the missing bits but just couldn’t remember the right stuff to use. It’s just a favour for a very good customer who just wants me to do my best to put the missing bits back. There’s no great expectation on his part, but the advice on the gilt cream will certainly help.