| Author |
Message |
Marcel Vatasescu
Member
Username: promart611
Post Number: 3
Registered: 11-2014
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 01:37 pm: |    |
Calling all wisemen,
I'm in charge of writing the specs for an interior fitout retrofit, which includes rehabilitating bespoke (custom for you Americans ;-) furnishings that may have been gilded back in 1971, the time of signing the Union Agreement that saw the birth of the United Arab Emirates.
There seems to be plenty of advice and know how on the web, but I cannot find any reference to standards for gilding wood furniture (water based). The Scots have an excellent info blurb issued by the Historical Society of Scotland but no refrence is made to either BS or EN standards. I know that MasterSpec has issued a section on Gilding but it probably deals with Oil Gilding, whist I need water based gilding references.
If anybody could refer me to any standard I will be forever grateful.
Best,
Marcel |
Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski
Post Number: 1917
Registered: 07-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 02:22 pm: | |
Marcel,
Do you have access to the MasterSpec section? I just gave it a quick look; it doesn't cite standards. It does call for attic stock and qualifications for an experienced applicator (Experience applying metallic paint is insufficient experience for gilding.) It also calls for mock-ups and that seems to be a critical issue here, since this is definitely an artistic endeavor and not something where a "how-to" list is sufficient.
You're right in that the MasterSpec section is for oil-based gilding. |
Dave Metzger
Senior Member
Username: davemetzger
Post Number: 547
Registered: 07-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 02:39 pm: | |
Consider speaking to a firm that does gilding and fine furniture restoration. Evergreen Studios does gilding and decorative painting, not sure about furniture. I suspect that there are few if any standards relating to furniture restoration and gilding. As Lynn noted, it's a decorative art, and good experienced applicators are vital to success. |
George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: geverding
Post Number: 775
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 05:00 pm: | |
I agree that an applicator with experience is the key.
Not being overly facetious: sounds like a field trip to Florence for more research to find a few good artisans, and name them in your specification. The art of gilding furniture wasn't invented in Firenze, but it certainly was perfected there.
(And dine at Trattoria Il Contadino - it will be the best 14 euros your company ever reimbursed) |
Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC
Senior Member
Username: redseca2
Post Number: 460
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 05:37 pm: | |
In the 1980's I worked for a firm who were sometimes referred to as the "3 Blind Mies".
The project designers in our office went out of the way to specify carrara marble from, well Carrara, Italy, a pleasant drive from Firenze in that rented Alfa. |
Marcel Vatasescu
Intermediate Member
Username: promart611
Post Number: 4
Registered: 11-2014
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2014 - 07:33 am: | |
Lynn and all,
Thank you for the advice... yeah, I wish I can take a trip to Florence or Scotland for that matter, there seems to be quite a few established art restorers that specialize in water-base gilding in UK. Anyone has a copy of the MF 1995 section on Furniture restoration, which has now been discontinued in MF2004? I believe it was 12900 Furnishings Repair and Restoration.
So far the common spec I wrote under the new 129000 Operation and Maintenence of furnishings to deal with all issues related to repairing/restoring or replacing the older pieces is pretty heavy on qualifications (10 yrs. min) for the restorer, mock-ups and submittals to the approval of the Client rep, testing and inspections, so I don't worry about that. The worry here is that unless we get the right person most people would take the easy way out and paint gold suspension paint over the old gilding, if any. I put a big disclaimer about that in the individual cut sheets themselves. What I was looking for is standard for the composition of the "gesso" and the "bolo" compounds that make up the preparation for laying the gold leaf on wood objects.
Another issue is that the General contract is a lump-sum one that has recently been awarded and the Provisional amounts defined in the BOQ don't really provide a good way of dealing with post-award testing and specialist pricing for restoration at this date. So I have to deal with this aspect through 012000 Allowances, so we can issue Change Orders later when the amounts will be known. Obviously this is a challenge in a lump-sum contract and my precursors seem to have forgotten that testing restoration is involved to bring back the old furnishings to museum display quality.
Any thoughts on how shall I deal with this through Allowances on a lump-sum contract?
TIA to all.
Marcel Vatasescu, B. Arch
LEEDŽ AP BD+C
|
Justatim
Senior Member
Username: justatim
Post Number: 65
Registered: 04-2010
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2014 - 10:32 am: | |
Here are 2 excellent and brief reference books on gilding. The second includes numerous formulas on how to make gessos and boles.
- Mactaggart, Peter and Ann. Practical Gilding. London, England: Archetype Publications Ltd., 1984, Reprinted 2009.
-Thompson, Jack C., ed. The Art and Science of Gilding. Rochester, New York: Ford & Mimmack, 1909 (Reprinted by The Caber Press, 2000). |
Dave Metzger
Senior Member
Username: davemetzger
Post Number: 548
Registered: 07-2001
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2014 - 11:03 am: | |
Marcel:
Several comments.
The applicable current MasterFormat number and title is 120150 Operation and Maintenance of Furniture (although I suppose a more reasonable title would be "Furniture Restoration"). And just because there is a number and title in MasterFormat for a given topic, does not mean that a section actually exists with that number and title, at least not a guide specification published by one of the master guide specification companies such as Arcom (MasterSpec) or BSD (SpecLink).
For your question about allowances, while I don't have experience with furniture restoration, we almost always have used allowances for building renovations, specifically for work such as repointing and cleaning. Two issues here--defining what is allowance work vs what is covered under the base bid lump sum, and the issue of control--you do not want the contractor to be able to proceed with the additional work without the architect's approval. So for example with masonry cleaning, we define base bid cleaning as a simple warm water/detergent and scrub operation. We then might include an allowance for x square meters of chemical cleaning. But we state that the architect will determine specifically in what locations chemical cleaning is to take place, and that the contractor cannot proceed with chemical cleaning (or whatever the allowance work is) without the architect's prior written authorization. This tries to prevent a contractor from burning through an allowance on his own recognizance. |
Marcel Vatasescu
Advanced Member
Username: promart611
Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2014
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2014 - 03:29 pm: | |
Thanks Justatim for the references, will look for them on Amazon.
Dave, the reason I left under the generic Operation and Maintenance instead of only Furniture Restoration is that the scope is larger than just restoration of furniture. It has to account for all loose and fitted (chandeliers and bespoke light fixtures) furnishings, draperies, rugs, etc. The scope is creating a brand-new antique that will look like back in 1971. And the Client's rep and us will inspect all workmanship before approval. They're tough on things like that over here.
I will write the Allowances accordingly, I'll know more the upcoming week in the coordination meetings with the project managent team in Dubai.
Marcel Vatasescu, B. Arch
LEEDŽ AP BD+C
|
Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski
Post Number: 1919
Registered: 07-2002
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2014 - 03:39 pm: | |
By the way, the MasterFormat section is Section 09 9423 Gilding. |
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