Spalling is Appalling (but Fixable!)

Okay, I just had to use "appalling" since it rhymed so well with "spalling" and describes well the after effects of spalling. Haha!

And yes, spalling is fixable. Take a look at my little Sherif now.

Doesn't he look wonderful? Thanks to Sue Kern for repairing that appalling spalling.  (LOL)

I discovered Sue of Sakori's Customs after using several other other repair artists with mixed results. Sue was recommended to me, I gave her a try, and now she is the first person I call when I break a china. (That white spot at the base of Sherif's tail is glare from the light.)

Sherif's repaired tail from the top. (Photo by Sue Kern.)

I am so glad to have this piece back. Not only is he a beautiful example of Hagen Renaker's finest work, he is also a sentimental favorite. Teacher Daughter Lisa asked years ago to have her name put on his tag so that he would come live with her when the time comes.

Sue also repaired another sentimental favorite who'd tagged along with Sherif. When Craig and I got married, my mother started a tradition of annually painting a few Nativity pieces and giving them to us for Christmas. They're all signed and dated on the bottom and have been gracing my player piano for close to 50 years.

The completed Nativity is a family treasure.

The story behind this Nativity? In the 1970s ceramics were a hot hobby and my mother owned a ceramic shop where she taught people to clean greenware, paint it, and then fired it for them. (We had a kiln in our basement.) This Nativity set was something she sold in her shop as greenware.

Occasionally I run across another completed Nativity set like mine as I visit antique and thrift shops. I've found several finished sets but have left all of them behind - except for the set that this broken camel came from.

While not as nice as the set done by my mother, it was still quite well done. I bought it and gifted it to Hawkeye Sarah who was thrilled to have it as a remembrance of her Granny Slash.

Unfortunately the head recently broke off one of the camels. It wasn't spalling; it broke when it was bumped.

Reassuring Sarah that it could be fixed, I sent photos of the piece to Sue Kern along with Sherif's pictures and asked her about fixing the camel, too.

And soon that camel was standing tall and proud again, head carefully and firmly reattached. (All restored camel photos are by Sue Kern.)

Looks great, doesn't it?

Teacher Daughter Lisa went over to Iowa to visit her sister in early July and hand delivered the repaired camel. Sarah is glad to have the piece repaired and is looking forward to having a complete Nativity out on her table again this Christmas.

I know how she feels - I feel the same way about my repaired Sherif. 

Harry is Home!

I have a really nice Monrovia Hagen Renaker Harry.

A gift from my friend, Cristine Holt, 

he does well in halter and collectibility classes.

Really well.

So when this happened several years ago,

I was not happy. It was my fault; I brushed against him as he stood on my desk and over he went.

His mama, Adelaide, also toppled over but luckily only her hat broke.

Sadly I picked up the pieces of Harry and the hat and put them on a shelf in my closet. I meant to send them out for repair, but the pandemic hit and they sat on that shelf for three years.

This summer I decided the time had come to get them both fixed. I researched repair artists and decided I wanted to use Sue Kern to fix them. She was booked pretty far out, and my reserved time slot was November 1, but I'd already waited a long time so I was not concerned about waiting a little more. 

Yesterday my repaired Harry and the hat arrived home again. I was in Indianapolis and did not get home until late, so I have yet to open the box. That's today's project, and I am looking forward to seeing how they look.

Stay 'tooned!

Off for Repairs

 It has only taken two plus years, but I am finally sending my Hagen Renaker Harry out for repair.

He's got a nice clean break on his off hind leg.

And I am the one who broke him - just a bump and off the table he went.

Fortunately it was a carpeted floor - otherwise I think there would have been more breaks than just a leg.

I knocked off Adelaide's hat in the same accident and it, too, is going off for repair.

I packed everything up at the end of August but since I wanted to double box for safety, I have been waiting to find the right boxes.

That's done and off they go later this week. I'll be glad to have a professional restore them so that both pieces look as good as new.

Although I have to admit, there is a certain charm to some of my old, self-repaired chinas! 

(Brownie, my very first model, lovingly repaired by my father a zillion times.)