Reproductions

Historically, there have been many different applications for gilding on glass. These include furniture-related uses and various household items.

Over the years, clients have asked me to either repair an original item or make a replacement to match the original damaged one.

When dealing with pieces of heritage value, the decision of when to restore and when to simply conserve an original piece is made after considering many factors. This is another topic however. Making a reproduction is often a suitable choice for applications that need to look presentable or be functional.

Some of the things I have done, shown here, are the glass mats used to frame original daguerreotype photographs. These were popular in the 19th century and are also known as "passe-partout".

The glass fronts for bellboxes are another type of items I made several times. All of the ones I have done have used water-gilded gold leaf and a black background. The original ones were all hand-lettered and I have done these the same way to keep the appearance authentic.

Note also the reproduction of a glass from symphonion music box. The original had degraded with some areas just barely visible. It was a challenge to re-create the very detailed and beautiful design,

City Hatters is an iconic 100+ year old business located at Flinders St Station in Melbourne with many original period features. One panel of glass was broken and the signwriting had to match the existing work. Another window still has the bullet mark from decades ago.

Incidentally, I am very interested in the history of the art of verre églomisé and welcome discussions with antique dealers and collectors. If you have an example, I would appreciate a photo to add to my database.