Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-02-18
MENDlNe BROKEN BRlc-A-BRAc.
Specialists Who Devote Their Time es
 Patching and Restoring.


 New York abounds as thoroughly in queer corners. people and occupations as any city of its size in the world Most of these oddities, however, possess little val1e outside of the purely picturesque, and depend for even that on individual taste. A few are quite reasonable. Among the latter may be classed pecu- liar industry not yet of a size to admit of its being troubled much by the state of the labor market This calling is en- tirely ill the hands of a few wide awake Swiss, whose ateliers are scattered over the uptown business portions of the city and is dignified by the title of Gar t,stic repairing.
 One of the best known and busiest of their number was, when called upon, engaged on just such a task. ''We have" he said, every few shop secrets because our trade is entirely one of deli cacy and skill and involves such va riety of knacks that we have little fear of competition. There Is absolutely no restriction as to the nature of the article brought to us for repair, or as to the amount of damage it has sustained, to lio withnl our ability to restore 1t.
  wealthy, we are trusted daily with the rarest and most costly articles, which would never be placed in the hands of inexperienced worhnen, so that what we do is both expensive and in keeping with the elegance of the article to be mended.
 "You can judge of the extent of our operations somewhat when I tell you that 1 am a watchmaker, cabinetmaker, painter in oil and water colors, carver of wood, marble and ivory, modeler in clay, a musician and chemist, all combined. In any of these branches I should prob ably prove distinguished failure along side of men who have devoted a lifetime to the particular one, but in Geneva where I was educated, we are taught to | be careful, and l have learned enough and practiced long enough to be able to l perform successfully the essential part of my business, which is to copy faithfully and naturally whatever is set before me. This porcelain vase at which I am now at work is very ordinary job. I received | it in sixty-four pieces, each piece, cal culating by the original value of jar, having cost something above $2. This makes it slightly worth repairing.
 "The soundest and largest portion was the bottom, which was about three times | as thick as the rest and, of course. stood the fall better. In the course of an hour s search managed to find little section that fitted exactly to nick in the first. This was securely fastened in it's place 1 with cement and set away to harden. It Is impossible at this stage of proceedings to put on moro than one piece at time. Other work is disposed of and in course of time another fragment added to the originals then fourth and fifth, and SC on. The vase has gradually grown in thi7 way to it's original proportions. As nothing but the finest and wllitest cement is used, the dirty streaking that charac- terizes badly mended china is avoided However, several of the broken bits have been lost and some have crumbled so fins as to be unavailable. This leaves an ugly hole in the side, large nick in the rim and completely ruins a beautiful painted bouquet 1 heat a stick of a certain plastic substance of my own invention and carefully fill in the gaps yet left With fine steel spatula the material i pared down even on both sides, intro duced into the hicks and is carefully nodded into the delicate curl of the rim which it initiates exactly. In one hou these additions are firmly set and almos as hard as the original material. Witt palette in hand they are treated by me t, several coats of oil color of exactly tn same tint as the porcelain. The roses art restored by painting the lacking parts il on the new surface. and the lines o cement covered up in the same way. coat w two of isingiass varnish and well-there is vase that cost $125, il which the sharpest eye would fail to de tect flaw and although the outer coa of varnish might feel little funny t the fingers of a connoisseur.
 ''FrequenHy cabinets of rare and ex pensive woods are sent to us which b some fatality have been split, routed 0 stripped of certain parts of the ornamer tation. We cut away the damaged parts restore the same variety of wood or
 perfect imitation thereof, and carve it t match. 1 have now on hand Japane6 cabinet the top edges of which were ol i. namented with row of little ivor figures like chessmen, half of which wer gone. l am carving out exact duplicate of every one to replace their fellows, an expect to make very creditable job ( 1t. Marble statuary, terra cotta an other ornaments we rejoin if broken, an add well nodded replicas of missing pol tions, if there are such. We clean arm and armor for collectors, which is in i self trade, as the dirt and rust must 1 removed with acids without affecting u blackness and oxidation of the met; which guarantee the antiquity. IT slightest sign of polish or repair would an irreparable damage For armor, to
 we construct fearful and wonderful wa
 riors, stuffed with straw and with wa
 heads, on which the iron harness
 riveted as In days of old, when knigh
 were bold But somehow these see \ pretty tame.
 'Our most important work has to
 with certain class of mechanical matter
 We study out the wants of old fashiont
 clock movements which are unintelligib
 to the modern horologist. Some of the
 are entirely of wood wheels and pinio
 alike. We make wooden works for u
 old cases, and superintend the making cases for old movements. The vario
 sets of chimes and musical wonders co
 cealed in old foreign clocks are famili
 to us, where it would require weeks
 examination for most people to conp1 A bend them. The fine points of these 6 7 ticles must be feared abroad, 80 thas '
 rank as experts in this line. New To
 Star.