Restoration II

I recently acquired a set of four Italian chairs from the early 20th century that needed a slight color change and minor restoration and stabilization.  The color is  a bright cobalt blue, ranging to dark teal with gold leaf gilding on the ornate details.  The designer and client wanted the color toned down and a general restoration of the original finish, hiding the white, worn areas of the chairs without compromising the integrity of the original hand painted finish.  The first step was to clean them thoroughly to remove any wax or silicone based waxing/ dusting product for proper adhesion.

The chairs obviously couldn't be sanded, so, the saving grace was an oil glaze, which doesn't change the original, (rather uneven) hand painted finish, but masks the worn areas without making them "new" or obviously repainted.   They will then be sealed with a good quality oil varnish to prevent further peeling and cracking.