Here is the report I received from Kathleen ....
Art Glass Chicago, Inc.
Serving the Greater Chicagoland Area
Fine Custom Glass * Design * Restoration
Michael Dschida
Antioch, IL
Re: Collectible Spinner Face Explanation of Process
March 19, 2012
Dear Mick,
It was so nice to meet you Friday. Thank you for trusting us with your collectible art. After arriving at the Studio, my artist and I examined the piece from the exterior, and it was ultimately necessary to open the assembly. As I’d suspected, much of the paint has adhered to side three (see photo 1).
After we’d fully examined all sides, made our discoveries and recorded the information, we were able to reassemble the pieces with little indication of our intrusion.
The damage is cumulative, and due to several processes.
1. Some of the paints were chemically incompatible with each other. This produced harmful localized reactions that impacted their stability and durability.
2. The overall deterioration is greatly attributable to the original design, specifically the space between the two pieces of glass, and the repeated cycles of subtle moisture and gas entrapment that occurred over the years. We believe the slight space, the presence of the paints, and the small amount of heat from the nearby mechanism all worked together to produce subtle condensation, only because it was trapped between the 2 layers of glass. The areas that appear etched on side three (see picture 2)
are actually a gaseous residue from that process. You can see in the next picture, #3,
where the residue was scratched off by a fingernail.
3. The original art glass was not etched as part of the production process, which is another reason the paints are flaking off. Ours will be etched, so the paints will have better adhesion for a longer period of time.
-Page Two-​​Dschida, Spinner Process, March 19, 2012 (cont’d.)
Paint analysis
1. The colors showing on the face are red, yellow, ivory, mirroring, green, black, and a gold translucent tint. The translucent gold plus the ivory paints yielded the yellow color, as well as the hazy gold effect in the four center areas.
2. Originally there was a black backpaint intended as a protective layer. That paint seems to have been chemically incompatible with almost all the other paints, especially the yellow, the mirroring, and the black paint on the face. It is almost completely gone, and attacked some areas of the others.
3. Today we must use non-lead-based paints. We will mix the colors to match as closely as possible. There will be slight color variations due to the use of the different chemistry. The translucent color will be the most challenging; the differences in the rest could be considered analogous to different dye lots in paint hues or fabric runs.
Revised process to replicate your spinner face
Use one piece of ¼” thick glass, cut into a 17 5/16” circle, with edges seamed. We recommend annealed (untempered) glass. Professionally silver the entire back, except the small rectangles around the circumference and the four center circle areas. Mask, etch and paint with an air brush, beginning with the darkest color, black; and progressing to the lightest, the ivory. The final layer will be the translucent paint, which will be a custom color that we will create. Unlike the original, the gold translucent color will be on the same side of the same piece of glass as the inner concentric stripes. The proper effect will instead be achieved with the order of the paint layers.
Art form discussion
Please note that your piece was originally silkscreened (a time-honored process invented in ancient Egypt). This is a wonderful approach if one has dozens or hundreds of a design to create. However, it is exceedingly expensive and impractical for a single piece. Our work will be handmade and a close reproduction, but it is a different art form and should be viewed as such.
Lettering
Related to the difference between these art forms, but from a chronological perspective, is the way the letters were shaped. When this piece was made, nobody had the ability of replicating fonts perfectly, as with today’s methods. They were instead traced by hand and transferred. The second spinner face picture you sent us has perfect imported letters, which we feel contribute to its flat appearance. The letters we create will have a hand-drawn quality to them that will better reflect the original letters and words.
Future potential
Once we create your art, if you (or, through you, an associate) wishes to order another in the same design, and in the same or even a different size format, the art will already be vectorized. Therefore, the overall cost will be somewhat reduced. This may be useful to
your business/collector model. If you have a spinner in good working order, with a
-Page Three-​​Dschida, Spinner Process, March 19, 2012 (cont’d.)
completely unacceptable face, and would like to ready it for sale, you could select this design. Each new piece we treat in the future (in spinner or other format) would have the same potential. The owner of the original, for the purposes of permissions and reproductions, would be the gateway for future usage of the art.
Mick, we thank you for your business. Please contact me with questions or discussion, and to grant your formal approval for the necessary changes – first in procedure, and the small alteration in price shown on the Revised Proposal, attached. Please see notations in signature area of Revised Proposal. As soon as we receive your final authorization, we will proceed with the orders for glass and other materials needed for your Spinner.
Again, thank you for putting your trust in us. We are glad to be working with you on your project.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Schalk
Kathleen Schalk
Owner and design consultant
This is gonna take 4 to 6 weeks.in the meantime,I'll be showing you what I am doing to prepare the body.
Website
www.artglasschicago.com * Email info@artglasschicago.com
Phone 847-404-8126 * Fax 888-448-3882
P.O. Box 525, Mount Prospect, IL 60056