Neck's Please...repairing Nativity figures
Updated: Oct 10
Heads up
At this time of year our most frequent patients are Crib kings and Nativity shepherds with damaged and fractured necks.
Their heads are so near to the size and shape of a rounded door knob, (designed to fit snugly in the hand)
That the FIRST temptation is to grasp the figure by the head for easy transport from store room to church.
This method proves irresistible... until the neck breaks!
Odd repair
The SECOND temptation is of course to repair said breaks without knowing how to go about it.
We have seen some interesting repair methods which unless viewed at first hand, cannot be aptly described...
Such as the odd repair method used below, involving a dish cloth soaked with glue to attach a plaster head to its body. I recall that as I extracted it from the torso, it reminded me of a genii escaping its bottle. The romantic old song, "I dream of Genie with the light brown hair..." came to mind, amongst less pleasant things...like why is this dishcloth so 'icky?'
That hairline fracture...
Shown left is a shepherd with a hairline crack to the neck. The glossy paint on the collar which didn't match the garments was the first clue that the neck had been repaired before.
The old repair looked quite innocent at this stage, until I began to remove the loose detritus. The hairline fracture produced a web of breaks, which wound around to the front neckline.
All of this had to be removed until an area of sound plaster was reached.
The damage which seemed quite small at first, was nearer to three times the size which needed our attention.
Doctor Putty Popper
We always join plaster with plaster, as it makes for a good repair, the density being equal to the original material. A mistake many make is to try and repair plaster with glue - or as in this case a plastic putty. Glue comes in so many forms and causes so many different problems that I will concentrate here on the evils of the putty. Putties are generally used to repair breaks in porcelain, which gets its strength from being fired at 900 - 1,300 degrees centigrade - and is water -resistant when glazed; Plaster is generally soft in comparison and more easily damaged; and not water - resistant.
As I worked on removing the putty from the neck, I heard a dull rattle inside the figure. A large unused lump of plastic putty had been attached to the old repairs, and was now rolling around inside.
I decided it was best removed as it could possibly cause further damage to the statue. As it knocked against the insides, it could cause further fractures. The repair area had to be enlarged further just to remove the miscreant.
Whilst the old novice repair required more work to correct than first appeared, I did spare a thought for Dr. Pimple Popper, appreciating the satisfaction she must have of removing unwanted foreign objects from her patients!
Pristine Plaster
My final photo is of the neck repair before I colour matched the tunic and flesh tones to the rest of the figure. It is clear that the extent of the new repair doubled - due to the old repair having been carried out with incompatible materials. With the work done, I can sleep happy knowing that I have made a sympathetic restoration, free of any nasty surprises should the statue need any future repairs.
And know that at Christmas time, dishcloths can happily do what they were made for; washing up dishes after Christmas lunch, without fear of being randomly glued to plaster heads...
