During Spring of 2023, I treated a ceramic tile mural from Wilmington Friends School. The mural served as a wall-mounted memorial for a past student.
On first examination, it seemed to have taken fall damage due to the bent corners on the lower edge of the metal frame. The impact resulted in six detached tiles, two of which broke into smaller pieces.
Explore my treatment process below, and click here to view my full treatment report.
Detailed documentation of the two broken and detached tiles.
Full mural before treatment.
Before Treatment
Treatment Process
(1) Rejoining the broken tile pieces after cleaning:
I prepped the broken edges to be joined with diluted Paraloid B-72 in acetone (an archival conservation grade adhesive) to assure a stronger bond.
Using 40% Paraloid B-72 in acetone, I adhered the broken pieces together.
(2) Prepping tile surfaces to be reattached:
I brushed on diluted 5-10% Paraloid B-72 to the edges and underside of each detached tile before adhering to the mural's support.
(3) Re-adhering the detached tiles to the mural:
I bulked the 40% Paraloid B-72 solution with glass micro-balloons, and applied this adhesive mixture to the support. By matching the adhesive and glaze patterns, I adhered the tiles to their original positions.
The six previously detached tiles after reattached, outlined in red.
(4) Making fills and in-painting:
Using a Paraloid B-72 putty mixture and silicone-release mylar backing, I created fills for the losses in the two previously broken tiles. Then using acrylic dispersion paints to match the glossy finish of the surrounding glaze, I in-painted these fills.
(5) Faux grout fills:
I mixed bone black and yellow ochre pigments with the putty mixture to match the color of the original grout. I filled the areas of chipped and missing grout with this mixture for structural stability and aesthetics.
After Treatment
Full mural after treatment.
Corner of mural with reattached tiles after treatment.