19th Century Venetian Mirror

Conservation treatment

As a group project, we worked on the restoration of a 19th-century Venetian mirror. Together with one of my peers, I primarily focused on replacing one of the missing florets.

We carried out various tests to determine the best method for this replacement. A one-sided mould of an existing floret was made using Siliconen Culinair, a special type of silicone that can be heated to approximately 200°C. We first tested different epoxies (Araldite 2020 and Hxtal NYL-1) to see which best resembled the mirror’s glass. We then tested thermocast clear Paraloid B-72, which gave a very similar result to Hxtal NYL-1 — the best-performing epoxy. Given the superior long-term stability of Paraloid B-72, it was selected for the final cast.

In addition to tests to determine how the glass layer could best be recreated, there were also tests performed to determine how the mirroring layer could be best recreated. To do this ZD Trading Window Mirror Film, MTN Glass to Mirror Converter Spray and Culture Hustle Mirror Paint were tested and compared, as can be seen in figure 2. The best match with the original mirror layer was achieved using ZD Trading Window Mirror Film with its reverse retouched with two layers of Golden Fluid Acrylics, the first layer in Burnt Sienna and the second layer in Carbon Black.

The final floret that was attached to the mirror was made with a Paraloid B-72 transparent layer and a mirroring layer of ZD Trading Window Mirror Film of which the back was retouched with Golden Fluid Acrylics in the colours Burnt Sienna and Carbon Black.