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Acrylics Restoration
Antique Photo Restorations
Antique Photo Restorations
Oil painting and acrylic painting repair extend across a broad spectrum. The restorer can fix rips and tears, rebuild areas of the missing canvas, reattach the canvas or linen to stretching bars, retouch flaking, cracking, and large areas of missing paint.
The restorer must, as well, deal with many other factors that can inhibit a painting. Those works from hundreds of years ago and works completed in the last fifty years call for serious attention to the oil or acrylic fundamental structure.
The Restorer must use new paints that blend with the original medium and, in effect, marry the work. Otherwise, if the new materials cannot marry the original medium, the painting will disintegrate in time.
We take great pride in our work on oil paintings, and our head Restorer, Don Demarest, is well known for his ability to match the hand of almost all major artists, a rare gift among artists and restorers.
Antique Photo Restorations
Antique Photo Restorations
Antique Photo Restorations
The restoration of photos and original photographs has become a dying art. There are few restorers with the skill or patience to return original photographs to perfect condition. Photoshop and other digital technologies have developed far enough that many people choose to recreate their works utilizing these new technologies.
But when a client chooses to conserve an original artifact, few alternatives are left to restore the photograph.
At Restoration By Heart, we continue to restore antique and original photographs. We perform this specialty as it is part of the mastery of great restorers, and as it shares many of the same techniques used in Lithographs, our work remains current and robust.
We have restored extensive aerial photographs for the Coca-Cola Company, and photo booth photographs the size of matchbooks from the Second World War. These treasured mementos receive loving care and are returned to their original perfection. In every case, the photographic restoration is performed solely by our head restorer Don Demarest
Antique Restorations
Art Conservation Services
Art Conservation Services
Every single criterion of the restorer-- from oil painting restoration to Ceramics, Sculptures, and many other disciplines-- is called upon to restore antiques.
No other medium of restoration demands the employment of such broad criteria for restoration and repair.
We have restored music boxes, carousels, books, newspapers, magazines, merry-go-round horses, church pews, tapestries, furniture, candlesticks, animation cells, bicycle seats, baseball gloves, footballs, mirrors, picture frames, fireplace mantles, teapots, carnival glass, dolls, mirrors, sofas, tables, desks, bottles, depression glass, and all kinds of lamps.
We regularly restore Avon, Tiffany, Noritake, Pyrex, Roseville, Staffordshire, Fenton, Nippon, and Transferware.
Art Conservation Services
Art Conservation Services
Art Conservation Services
Works of art are subject to many dangers. In addition to accidents and abuse, temperature and humidity make the environment a significant factor in the survival of art. Around us, there are many causes of both simple and severe damage. As a line of defense, art conservation is designed to bring stability to artwork or artifact.
These days, art and science have intertwined and informed art conservation with materials and techniques that make it possible to preserve art and treasured objects virtually forever.
With this remarkable ability comes the responsibility to preserve as much of the original work as possible and never to transgress against the original artist's work. The main goal of conservation is to stop or drastically reduce the deterioration of a work of art or a treasured object.
All art conservation and restoration depend upon the ethics, the ideals, and the knowledge of the great restorer who will balance technical craftsmanship with an awareness informed by both history and aesthetics. Devotion to the original vision and aesthetic of the artist is the restorer's accurate guide. At the highest level of the craft, the restorer seeks to make his work invisible while stabilizing the artwork for lifetimes to come.
Art Restoration Services
Art Restoration is an art form that even the originating artists can rarely perform. The art restorer follows criteria that will allow him to return the artwork or artifact to its original state. A unique mixture of craft, science, and aesthetics empowers the restorer to reverse the damages of time and the environment.
At the same time, in performing the work properly, the restorer remains invisible in creating the final result. If the restoration has succeeded, not even trained professionals will find evidence of the detailed work. And while the restorer must preserve as much of the original as possible, he may have to recreate entire parts of the artwork that have been lost. Whether in restoring sculptures, watercolors, oil paintings, photos, antiques, or historical artifacts, the restorer must recreate and restore each work in such a way that it will need no enhancements for at least a lifetime.
We have performed conservation and restoration on works on various media by:
Picasso, Gockel, Rockwell, Warhol, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, Manet, Klimt, Escher, Dali, Vettriano, Renoir, Matisse, Chagall, Degas, Miro, Wyeth, O'Keeffe, Blaustein, Rothko, Gladding, Tissot, Adams, Klee, Homer, Hopper, Lourenco, Hiroshige, Bailey, Disney, Winston, Bierstadt, Cezanne, Harding, Rivera, Britto, Furber, Rafuse, Kimble, Li-Leger, Gauguin, Russell, Pollock, Ortenstone, Tapestry Studio Blum, Poloson, Lautrec, Romanello, Bouguereau, Cassatt, Brauer, Durer, Audubon, Venter, Gorham, Cappiello, Brent, Leyendecker, Melious, Audrey, Dalton Brown, Modigliani, Remington, Novak, Jardine, Rembrandt, Hayslette, Lichtenstein, Calkins, Coolidge, Leighton, Hokusai, Botero, Osborne, Mock, Meyers, Waterhouse, Pissarro, Herrero, Raphael, Vassilyeva, Abrams, Sowa, Kime, Maitland, Barker, Dufy, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Chun, Munch, Mucha, White, Redoute, Hassam, Mallett, Harris, Jean, Parish, Kipling, Lenn, Sargent, Seurat, Buffet, Ranson, Botticelli, Redon, Parkes, Christo, Emmerich, Etienne, Penney, Ehrmann, Hristova, Behrens, Asoma, Thoms, Gould, Laliberte, Rousseau, Meis, Burns, Hendershot, Steinlen, Currier and Ives, Nai, Rodko, Macke, Willoughby, Rowan, Marc, Hart, Guichard, Vermeer, Millet, Haring, Jones, Mitchell, Norman Wyatt Jr, Mandolf, Blakeway, Jeffrey, Duplock,Werbelow, Craig, Kruskamp, Brinley, Mondrian, Ebbets, Kahn, Larsson, Manet, Godard, Kahlo, Hanks, Baptist, Forney,Watt, Nishimura, Johns, White, Brown, Martin, Swayhoover, Moran, Alma-Tadema, Healey, Walker, Sambataro, Sewell, Donovan, Bearden, Arrowsmith, Hale, Dupin, Williams, Rauschenberg, Kim, Mackintosh, Gillette, Hoffman, Brueghel, Motivational Kowalski, Leech, Salemink-Roos, Burr, Wild Apple Studio, Mawdsley, Rodin, Corbin, Biggs, Diego, Munman, Dawson, McRostie, Tillmon, Schiele, Koons, Basquiat, Hirst, Kostabi, Kincaide, Neiman, Prince, Murakami, Kapoor. Doig, Skelton, Stingel.
The Art Restorer
A Master Art Restorer is a highly trained individual. Adapting the techniques employed in restoring painting, sculpture, ceramics, paper, and photos, the restorer must develop criteria that improve the work's original condition and integrate it with the work perfectly.
The restorer must abide by a high ethical standard in which he follows the original piece precisely while at the same time being sure not to harm the original artwork. The skills needed to work in restoration in these mediums may take longer to learn than those of a surgeon. Mixing modern paint with paints used hundreds of years ago calls for a scientific and aesthetic gift that is rare.
Magician, scientist, artist: the art restorer must balance these high attainments to enhance the life of a work of art. Don Demarest, the head restorer at Restoration By Heart, began his profession restoring 16th-century churches in Mexico. From this experience, he developed a motto,
"We can fix anything that isn't human."
Canvas Stretching Services
A canvas painting that has gone slack renders the painting subject to gravity and other forces that will weaken and damage the original surface. One stretched to the proper tensile strength, a taut canvas is the foundation of health for an oil painting.
When the canvas is slack, the paint can quickly begin to flake and chip; in general, the surface becomes far more susceptible to tears and rips. Also, slack canvas encourages such dangerous factors as humidity and micro-organisms to begin to invade the paint layer and further compromise the work.
Often the canvas can be made taut with the use of adjusters on the back of the painting. At other times the work will need to be removed from the stretching bars and reattached to bring the canvas up to the proper tensile strength.
When the canvas has been stretched properly, it will help keep the painting stable for twenty to fifty years before the procedure needs to be done again.
Ceramic Restoration Services
Ceramic repair and restoration is a specialty of Restoration By Heart. We have restored ceramic works from which over half of the original piece was missing. Using pictures of the originals, we can restore the most depleted works to good-as-new conditions.
The repair of ceramics uses many other restoration processes, such as oil painting restoration, Frames, and even Sculptures.
After it has been restored, repainting the original work recalls many of the techniques used in restoring an oil painting. Recreating large missing areas of the ceramic may be accomplished by using a technique from Frames, that of creating a reverse mold from one side that is intact to recreate the missing side.
Restoration By Heart is the preferred restorer for the Ardmore Studios of South Africa. Ardmore is a collective of native African potters whose pieces are world-renowned, and many of their more elaborate works sell for five-fifteen thousand dollars or more.
In restoring Ardmore's remarkable works, we have gained the reputation for performing restorations that are often invisible to trained appraisers.
We seek to accomplish two criteria on every Ceramics: The first one is to make the restored area more robust than the original so that the piece never breaks again. The second one is that our work should be invisible so that no one in the future can detect that the piece was ever restored.
Comic Book Restoration
Comic book repair and restoration comprise a relatively new field that uses many of the old art restoration techniques, blending different forms of fine art restoration such as paper and lithograph conservation.
As well, techniques from Watercolor and silkscreen restoration have become essential parts of the criteria used to restore a comic book. Airbrushing can return a faded comic book to looking very close to new.
Besides, the ability to remove paper discoloration and foxing will likely be necessary to elevate the work to a satisfactory condition. In using all of these techniques, the restorer's work must remain invisible.
Comic books that have noticeable restoration are valued far less than pieces adjudged to be original artifacts. Few sites specializing in Comic Books can receive the attention and perfection of a restorer whose discipline extends to techniques that treat fine art.
At Restoration By Heart, we take great pride in our work on comic books; simultaneously, this endeavor reinforces our memories of a beloved and vital art form.
Etchings Restoration
Restoring etchings and engravings is a delicate process.
Abrasive chemicals can easily remove the fine lines in engravings and etchings, but these agents can also do more damage than help.
At Restoration By Heart, our head Restorer, Don Demarest, uses proprietary methods and chemicals that treat etching and engravings most delicately:
The original work endures, but in the conservation process, the original materials are not in any way depleted.
Fine Art Restoration & Conservation
Fine art restoration is a necessary discipline that falls into two major categories. In one area, the work is stabilized: The restorer takes the painting or artifact and commits to criteria that will not allow the artwork to degenerate any further.
For such a project, the conditions depleting the piece are made neutral by the Restorer and the criteria that he employs.
The second category is complete restoration. The Restorer employs techniques that will remove nearly all original depletion signs and make the artwork as close to new as possible.
Both approaches are available to clients when they choose to rejuvenate their treasures.
The essential requirement for these approaches is that the Restorer must follow a high ethical standard.
He must not commit to any criteria that harm the work. He must also perform the restoration so that the modern materials used in the restoration blend seamlessly with the original.
Oil Painting Repair
Oil painting and acrylic painting repair extend across a broad spectrum. The Restorer can fix rips and tears, rebuild areas of the missing canvas, reattach the canvas or linen to stretching bars, retouch flaking, cracking, and large areas of missing paint.
The Restorer must, as well, deal with many other factors that can inhibit a painting.
Those works from hundreds of years ago and works completed in the last fifty years call for serious attention to the oil or acrylic fundamental structure.
The Restorer must also use new paints that blend with the original medium and marry the work. Otherwise, if the new materials cannot marry the original medium, the painting will disintegrate in time.
We take great pride in our work on oil paintings. And our head Restorer, Don Demarest, is well known for his ability to match almost all significant artists' hands, a rare gift among artists and restorers.
Paper Conservation Services
The conservation and restoration of paper is considered the most challenging regimen in art restoration. Rebuilding paper is a delicate art that requires patience and outstanding insight. We are experts at preserving the original paper and at recreating missing areas of paper to restore the document to its original integrity.
Paper Conservation has become a growing art as restorers have learned how to integrate archival methods into the conservation of paper documents in the past sixty years. Discoloration, fading, foxing, mold, and acid are all inhibitors of paper. In an environment of smoke damage, pollution damage, sunlight, humidity, water damage, rust chemicals, paper is prey to many factors that can compromise its integrity. Paper restoration and conservation is an area of expertise at Restoration By Heart. Although other restorers often immerse paper in chemicals and then place the paper under heavyweight, we take a much more gentle approach. No paper is ever immersed in chemicals or put under heavyweight.
We block out unaffected areas and protect the images carefully, and then we brush the treatment chemicals on with artist brushes and airbrushes.
The organic nature of all papers is respected. Our purpose is not only to restore the work to its original appearance but also to ensure the document's integrity for the future. We guarantee all our work on paper.
Paper Discoloration & Acid
Paper Discoloration & Acid
Paper Discoloration & Acid
Many factors can cause paper discoloration. The most common problems come from water or humidity. With the exposure of paper to water, the chance occurs for acid and mold to form. Smoke, sunlight, and other environmental factors can also engender the elements that bring about discoloration.
When acid and mold form on an artwork, these conditions usually begin to migrate across the work. The damage does not always move in a straight line but will essentially "hop" from one area to another and inhabit the work randomly until it has taken over the entire piece.
At Restoration By Heart, we are experts in treating this condition. We are one of the very few restoration sites in the world to guarantee that it will never return when we remove discoloration and acid.
Unlike other restoration sites, we do not use caustic chemicals or extreme techniques to remove discoloration and acid.
Instead, we treat gently all of the works we restore, preserving each piece's original integrity and ensuring its longevity.
Paper Restoration
Paper Discoloration & Acid
Paper Discoloration & Acid
Most restoration professionals consider paper to be the most challenging medium to restore. In fact, many who call themselves restorers cannot perform conservation or restoration of paper.
Before fifty years ago, the process of acidification was not widely understood, and archival materials were often overlooked for the preservation of valuable documents.
At Restoration By Heart, we are well recognized for our expertise with paper. Don Demarest has developed many proprietary techniques in working with acid, tears, rips, creases, and paper depletion.
We have restored paper in cases in which over half of the surface was missing.
The Los Angeles Times has published a significant article on Don Demarest and Restoration By Heart's rare ability to perform miracles in bringing damaged paper back to life.
Photo Restoration Services
Photo Restoration Services
Photo Restoration Services
The restoration of photos and original photographs has become a dying art. There are few restorers with the skill or patience to return original photographs to perfect condition.
Photoshop and other digital technologies have developed far enough that many people choose to recreate their works utilizing these new technologies. But for the client who chooses to conserve an original artifact, there are few alternatives left.
At Restoration By Heart, we continue to restore antique and original photographs.
We perform this specialty because it is part of the mastery of great restorers, and since it shares many of the same techniques used in Lithographs, our work remains current and robust.
We have restored extensive aerial photographs for the Coca-Cola Company and photo-booth photographs the size of matchbooks from the Second World War. These treasured mementos receive loving care and are returned to their original perfection. In every case, the photographic restoration is performed solely by our head restorer Don Demarest.
Sculpture Restoration
Photo Restoration Services
Photo Restoration Services
Sculptures and Conservation are some of the essential skills in all art restoration. In most cases, the sculpture can be made perfect again. At Restoration By Heart, we have restored many pieces by Winchester, Graham, and Degas, among others.
The extensive mediums of sculpture-- bronze, marble, plaster, chrome, porcelain, zinc, automobile-- commit Sculptures most rigorous. Ceramic and oil painting restoration are disciplines that contribute techniques for the reconstruction of a sculpture.
In many cases matching color ideally is a complex and challenging practice. Still, the Master Restorer's attainments in other mediums contribute to perfecting his colors and tones on sculptures.
Most importantly, in restoring limbs and other extensions on works of sculpture, the Restorer must reinforce the broken work so that the piece is now more vital where the restoration has been performed.
Serigraph Restoration
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
The serigraph is created through a silkscreen process, and serigraphs are often called "silkscreens". Using a different screen for each color applied in the process, silkscreening is known for creating richly, deeply colored artwork.
The ability to restore serigraphs/silkscreens calls on a number of the restorer's disciplines, from paper r
The serigraph is created through a silkscreen process, and serigraphs are often called "silkscreens". Using a different screen for each color applied in the process, silkscreening is known for creating richly, deeply colored artwork.
The ability to restore serigraphs/silkscreens calls on a number of the restorer's disciplines, from paper restoration to perfect color matching to the ability to use an airbrush to recreate tone and color perfectly. Most serigraphs are limited edition artworks, and so their value needs to be conserved. At Restoration By Heart, we perform the restoration and conservation of intricate serigraphs with great pride, and we guarantee the outcome of our work.
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
The serigraph is created through a silkscreen process, and serigraphs are often called "silkscreens." Using a different screen for each color applied in the process, silk screening is known for creating a richly, deeply colored artwork.
The ability to restore serigraphs/silkscreens calls on a number of the restorer's disciplines, from pape
The serigraph is created through a silkscreen process, and serigraphs are often called "silkscreens." Using a different screen for each color applied in the process, silk screening is known for creating a richly, deeply colored artwork.
The ability to restore serigraphs/silkscreens calls on a number of the restorer's disciplines, from paper restoration to perfect color matching to the ability to use an airbrush to recreate tone and color perfectly. Most serigraphs are limited edition artworks, and so their value needs to be conserved.
At Restoration By Heart, we perform the restoration and conservation of intricate serigraphs with great pride, and we guarantee the outcome of our work.
Smoke Damage Restorations
Silk-Screen Restoration Services
Smoke Damage Restorations
Smoke is one of the great mitigating factors in the health of a piece of art. Even when a painting, serigraph, lithograph, or giclee is framed, the great danger remains from the destructive powers of smoke.
The initial contact with smoke may be limited; but with time, the artwork can become a casualty, damaged by the after-effects that smo
Smoke is one of the great mitigating factors in the health of a piece of art. Even when a painting, serigraph, lithograph, or giclee is framed, the great danger remains from the destructive powers of smoke.
The initial contact with smoke may be limited; but with time, the artwork can become a casualty, damaged by the after-effects that smoke can cause:
The work will often dry out, and flaking and cracking will begin to occur with oil painting. With works on paper, the process of foxing and discoloration can begin and accelerate. Works exposed to smoke must be cleaned carefully by a restorer, and where needed, the paper or canvas or other surfaces must be renewed to ensure the artwork's future life.