I just finished spending some time with a beautiful grape motif, pink flashed glass vase by Steuben Glass. After installing a new window for a client, a pair of these beauties caught my eye. One of the pair had been damaged years prior. After contacting Steuben and several others who said they could not repair it, she thought I might be able to help.
Always glad to spend some time with a beautiful piece of glass, I was happy to help out. The foot was broken but the client had wisely saved the missing pieces.
Repaired Steuben Vase
Here is the patient on my operating table getting prepped. After a careful cleaning, the fun begins. Aligning the glass pieces is critical to minimize the interruption of light transmission, which is what makes the break visible. Choosing the best optically clear adhesive with the closest index of refraction helps too!
Cleaning the broken edges, prep for glass bonding.
Repaired vase detail of foot.
The final result was pretty much what I expected. Nearly invisible, there were a very small chips along the fracture and the glass had "sprung" slightly, which means the glass had some stress in if from the manufacturing process. When glass is not annealed properly it has tension in it and when something causes the tension to be released such as setting this piece down too hard or in other cases adding hot or cold liquids, can cause a stress break which has different characteristics than an impact break.
It was fun to examine this up close and spend time admiring the craftsmanship! And now it's stable and proudly back on display next to it's sister, above the mantle.