http://behindtheglass.cmog.

org/2011/04/12/conservation-of-a-venetian-goblet/

Corning Museum of Glass

Behind the Glass

Conservation of a Venetian Goblet

April 12, 2011 by avangiffen Astrid van Giffen, Assistant Conservator The treatments we do in the conservation lab range from simple to very complicated. This is a relatively simple treatment I recently finished.

54.3.15 before and after treatment

The foot on this Venetian goblet broke. To repair it the break edges were carefully cleaned. The fragments were then taped into position and an epoxy resin was dripped onto the joins.

epoxy going into joins through capillary action

The epoxy gets wicked into the joins through capillary action. Air trapped in the joins reflects light. Where epoxy has replaced the air, the joins disappear. The glass and the epoxy were both warmed slightly in an incubator oven (to about 50 C) to help the epoxy flow better.

goblet getting warmed in incubator oven

The end result looks great! The joins become almost invisible because the refractive index of the epoxy matches the glass closely, whhich means that the glass and the epoxy reflect, absorb, and transmit light in the same way.

detail of foot after treatment