Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-21
MENDING MAN MENDS
BROKEN HEARTS AND
PRIZED HEIRLOOMS
When the Wedding Gift Is
Shattered His Clever Work
Stops the Brides
Tears
AN INTERESTING SHOP

When the inevitable calamity comes,
which is to say when the cherished helr-
loom, wedding present or precious disn Is
broken, the average woman sits down anu
has good cry. After this she relesates
the erstwhlle favorite to some incon-
spicuous corner and looks upon the mat
ter as closed She seldom thinks of the
possibility of having the article mended.
For she, like many another woman in the
same circumstances, is totally unaware OF
the wonderful work which has been done
In this branch Of the ceramic art
The "mending man" who performs daily
wonders in the most matter-of-fact way in
the world, will, II you are interested take
you on a personally conducted tour of his
workshop. There are marbles, bronzes,
fans, old Sevres plates, pitchers, Dresden
figures, china, cut glass, cloisonne vases,
Sheffield candlestcks and a great variety
of shattered fragments. wrapped up in
bags, each one representing a separate
miracle" for this one man to perform.
An odd figure of girl in Mexican wax
ware is very noticeable among the others,
because II is so unlike anything to be seen
in America. The figure is dark brown
wax, with streaming, furry hair, like n
dolls, and a queer cloth costume. The
ladys arms, which should be raised above
her head, are conspicuous by their alb
sence. The MendnE Man has never seen
a piece like this before, but the arms are
to be nodded and melted to the body,
colored to match.
"Oh yes, china can be mended so that it
cannot be detected" he explained. we'd
ding presents are often shattered in the
sending Now I have one article here"
indicating a Dresden figure about four feet
high which was broken into 1872 separate
pieces when It crossed the ocean from its
home in Switzerland. 1T took me three
months to put It together again. but there
it is" There was no crack, no line, not
even single irregularty of line to sug
gest n mend
MAKES HALF A BOWL.
Another very handsome and rare piece
of glassware comes from Ireland, called
Beleeliware. 1t Is n cream color, highly
finished glass, laced together in hairlike
and figures The piece i'm this case was
fruit bowl one side of the bowl was COM
pletely crushed the fragments being re-
duced to powder.
"Now the best way to treat this is to
make new side" this expert continued.
II have done it often. OF course, this
requires n great deal of time. but it is
decidedly interesting I had fan here
which was a family heirloom in one of
our old Philadelphia homes. The design
was a Vatican drawing, very beautiful
and painted on old satin, which was rapid
ly rotting. The sticks were of pearl 1
started to work on the silk, but it crumbled
in my fingers. I told the owner of the
fan that to repair it was an lmpossiblity
She said anything would do, so that the
fan could be preserved. SO l got some
new silk. tested the color of the old, and
reproduced the age tint exactly The de-
sign was easily painted on, and the old
sticks were used. The impression of
antiquity was so perfectly given that the
owner of the fan doesn't know to this
day that her original fan is in ruins"
Bronzes play an important part in his
work, too. diminishing, oe course, is COM
monty done. but such operations as re-
placing missing figures in group bring
into play both ingenuity and creative
genius. II the piece Is familiar one
however, the task is easy.
Wonderful marble and Dresden pieces
are crowded together in the Mending
Mans little workshop. He "sculps" hng-
ers, hats, arms, legs, or any part of the
statue that is missing. Shattered onyx
pedestals, too, are fitted so clevery that
the tragedy is unknown. one huge lions
head, such as are seen on rugs. brought
up the question as to what was wrong
with it--for something has 10 be wrong
with all the articles in the mender's shoD
Il built up his mouth and made him
tongue" said the man. "He had been
crushed, and the teeth, mouth and eyes
were smashed. 1 would like you TO see
this piece of old Lowestof ware-it is
hundreds of years old, maze before the
Europeans knew how to make china. This
bowl needs handle. / have to study the
period, design my handle, reproduce it in
metal and then rivet it on so that it
cannot be seen, for the bowl is the most
priced article in a famous collection"
yes, l can mend them ALL" says the
Mending Man, but just now l am busy
putting snake handle on this old Ital-
ian Jug"