The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

Faith13 — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:59:22 GMT

I would glue the entire piece onto a flat piece of metal and glue some seed beads over the cracks.

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

BuC — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:29:30 GMT

Being a fan of Roman glass I would have been too distraught to think at first.

Next I would pack a 1 foot square of bubble wrap for the next show.

Now hmmm...

I like the placement in the photo of the broken piece just offset from the ring. My suggestion would be to wrap it with a stained glass foil tape (the glue on it is made to stick to glass) to seal and reinforce the ring. That way you would be incorporating the soldered part into the design, appearing that the break is a part of the design. Bezel the ends very slightly, and then weave a light draping rope spiral from the top right break down to the lower left.

Another possibilty would be to make some "spokes" radiating out from the soldered piece to wrap and catch the broken arc.

I hope you will post whatever you come up with as we have all had a broken treasure and now your treasure has an even bigger story.

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

btrimble — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:48:56 GMT

How about if you glued it back together and at those points peyote stitch a 1/2 in.- section around where you glued. If you needed to balance it out you could do some on another area of the ring also. I think I probably would've cried!

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

JanSchultz — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:39:31 GMT

What if you made two delicate bead tubes... maybe with 15/0 beads and slipped each end of the broken glass into a tube to hide the break?

Then it would look like a circle of glass with two little bead sleeves on it.

Jan Schultz

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

lw4beau — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:23:46 GMT

I am heartbreakingly familiar with that awful "crack" and sympathize totally. You could try gluing it together with an adhesive formulated for glass. I don't know what stitch you planned to use for your chain but you could try to stitch small bands (possibly tubular peyote?) around the mended areas as a design element. If the area is very fragile, you might even be able to epoxy a small "splint" of some type behind the repair, such a small piece of thin sheet metal. This could be concealed by the stitched band. If it doesn't work, you could always resort back to breaking the remainder off and filing it. Good luck!

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

beadbeader — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:52:42 GMT

Hi Jennifer,

I collect miniature glass animals. Unfortunately some of them get broken over time. I usually am able to find a person who makes these animals locally. They usuually have a booth at shopping of the shopping malls around Christmas or at Craft Fairs. I start out by call some of the larger malls to see if they have anyone listed. Also, if you call one of the larger housecleaning coimpanies, they usaully have a conatct on someone who could repair it, I had to do this when one of my cats knocked over a very tall antique pitcher(ceramic) and The Maids, had a number to call, lo and behold, when I picked it up from the fellow I could see anything that looked like that handle had been broken righyt off.

Just a couple of suggestions, Good Luck

Sharan Green

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

cherrybowers — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:33:16 GMT

how about wrapping it with silver wire, glue the pieces together then wrap use some decorative way

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

MyLadyK — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:27:31 GMT

I would certain use it as is! I agree with some of the artists on using it as a bead embroidery center piece. I can see a strand of light/dark green ivy twining itself over and around the piece of glass. A backing of light weight leather would help to protect the entire piece.

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

JeanY3 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:01:43 GMT

I would embed it in something which would not detract from its beauty. I notice that the inner part looks, on my computer,at least like a signet crest or seal--you could play up that look! I think it is stunning and I am glad you have it--broken or not, it is a true treasure.

jean yates xox

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

NevaG — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:42:01 GMT

use glass glue, I broke a beautiful vase that was a clear glass and my husband used glass glue (carefully and it looked perfect)

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

gingerkins314 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:37:18 GMT

I think the glass ring was way too fragile to be used as a piece of wearable jewelry. The vendor should have known better. At any rate, if you want to repair the glass ring itself, I would look into museums who deal with Roman glass and how they conserve and repair the pieces for posterity. But I would seriously reconsider actually wearing the this piece at all. I think trying to remove it from the secondary piece without taking steps to stabilize the fragile ring would result in a pile of shards on your worktable. Good luck!

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

Gail@159 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:37:12 GMT

Have you thought of putting the whole piece is a bazel setting, either with the metal or using metal clay? I have a pair of earrings of Roman glass and cherish them. I can only imagine how you feel. Good luck.

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

Radiance@3 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:21:35 GMT

I think you're right -- the outer ring is just too fragile to incorporate and will have to be removed. But with a solid metal backing to support them, the broken pieces could be used in a mosaic design to wear as a brooch or pendant.

Ancient Roman glass is my deepest beading desire... I surely feel for your loss.

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

ScottyMom — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:17:51 GMT

Method 1: Use a back plate of metal (color and type up to you) slightly larger than the ring was to start with. Clean up the ends of the broken glass. (Be sure to sand in water!). Mount prongs to hold both pieces and the focal. Make a rope with the matching beads.

Method 2: Use a backing piece of Lacy's Stiff Stuff. After cleaning up the broken pieces, mount them and the focal onto the Lacy's (glue). Coordinate the colors of your beads in bead embroidery, and back with ultrasuede. Either way would protect and support the ancient glass pieces. No doubt the colors are amazing!

Lastly, give thanks for receiving the opportunity to use your design skills to remake this JUST FOR YOU! Have fun! Roberta

re: The Heartbreak of Tucson: Ancient Roman Glass

Luvzhorses — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:02:51 GMT

Okay - here's what I'd do. I'd break off the other side, then using a sort of embroidered seed bead piece, I'd incorporate the two ring pieces into the seed beads to form a bezel around each and with other colors of seed beads, make the "skip" at the broken off spot just below the two loops part of the design. Whether you glue a piece of thin leather to the back of the main soldered piece is a choice, but you could create a sewn bond along the top using the back side of the two large rings to attach it. Kind of like a back flap with the embroidered seed beaded piece extending past the main piece. Sheesh - this is hard to explain, but if you'd like to see what I mean, I'd be glad to sketch it up and send it to you. rae @ luvzhorses dot com. I can just SEE the piece in my mind and it would still be the original shape of the piece but decorated.

HUGS,

Rae