After

After

Many years ago I had purchased a 1992 Lenox Victorian Rose from eBay that was damaged. I had not had time to fix it so I had boxed it up for later, then it got put in the basement for whatever reason and was forgotten. I found it like 10-15 years later and finally got to work on it. 

The broken leg was not a clean break, prior poor repair job was problematic, she had broken off the base, and the base was in pretty rough shape as well.  I had to clean up leaked crazy glue from all over, patch gaps with milliput, and mix custom paint to match the natural porcelain color.  It was quite a production, but I'm super happy with the results. I just need to somehow fashion a missing rose for her head and she'll be fully restored.  Though, I might also redo the base stain a few shades lighter as the color is a bit off from her companion pieces.

That all said, lets walk through her repair process.

Here is the break all cleaned up and ready for glue. I used a size 1 craft knife and a toothpick, dental pick, or sharp pointed weeding tool (like from a Cricuit cutting machine) to carefully work the super glue loose. Heating the glue up often helps, but there is a risk that your paint and/or finish can't handle the heat so be careful.

Here is the crazy glue all cleaned up. It was nerve-wracking to pick it all off without damaging the paint. I also VERY, VERY carefully employed a flat razor. (~!! Pic of it here !!~) I got lucky that it did not damage the paint to be honest. It might almost have been worth leaving the glue for such an intricate painting as on this figurine...

Here's a few shots of how the glue up of the leg turned out, as you can see it was not a clean break and there were quite a few gaps with chipping on the edges of the break as well.  The tiny pieces are long gone of course, but hope is not lost!

Enter Miliput!
Milliput is a non-shrinking epoxy putty that comes in a few colors. It is specifically designed for repair work such as this, though also works on metal, plastic, masonry, wood, and glass. It is a two part epoxy that you mix together until it is a uniform color and has a soft clay consistency. The best part about Milliput is that it has a fairly long working time and you can shape it with water up until it cures. The down side is perhaps that it does take quite a while to cure in situations like this - I typically let it dry a day or two before moving onto painting.

Once I had a consistent color through-out I rolled out a Milliput snake and wrapped it around the leg, squishing it into the gaps until they were all filled in and there was a slight Milliput "hump" over the break. Then I got my finger damp, (not wet, just damp,) and wiped the surface of the Milliput until I was left with a smooth wide band over the entire break.  Then I let it that dry for a couple days.

Once I was sure the Milliput was fully cured I carefully scraped off the excess.

Note: It is very important that the Milliput is fully dried before this step or it will get pulled out of the gaps when you attempt to remove the excess.

Once I finished cleaning up the excess Milliput it was time for a bath and to polish up the base. Unfortunately, I was not quite happy with the color match of the Milliput, nor with the state of the base so I decided to restain the base.

(Left: I find Minwax Bombay Mahogany is a pretty close match to Lenox bases.)

The Milliput Super Fine White to be pretty close to the natural color of porcelain, but Lenox's porcelain mix has a bit of a blue hue to it so I decided to mix up some custom paint to better match it.

To match the Lenox porcelain I used FolkArt acrylic paint, mixing white, cream, & a very pale blue (a color that is no longer available unfortunately) until I got the closest match to the porcelain I could.


Next up was mounting her back on her base. I again used Milliput to attach her feet to the base and the pole to her body. I filled the "mounting holes" on her very full of Milliput, then put her on the stand - making sure I had a decent amount of Milliput squeeze out so I could smooth it out for a clean finish.

All I need to do now is figure out how to fashion a replacement rose for the top of her head as seen in this picture.  I've tried hand crafting one with Milliput, but it did not go well (lol) At some point in the future I have plans to make a silicone mold of one of the other roses and use plaster of Paris to remake it. Regardless, she's happily finished and on display with the rest of my collection for now.

Finished Results: