Objects Department: Bonding and surface integration treatment
Toots Zynsky, Appanto, n.d.
Our client grew up with this Toots Zynsky glass vessel in his family’s home. When his parents passed away this past year, he eagerly took on the ownership of the work. He hired a shipper to pack and transport it to the West Coast but the piece arrived broken in 10 shards and further tiny fragments. He was disappointed as the memory of it on his family credenza is notable and irreplaceable so reached out to us for conservation. When the vessel arrived at the Preservation Arts studio, our objects team was excited about the complex project and started the process of dry fitting the shards to see how they would come back together to address the structural challenges ahead.
Toots Zynsky is a glass artist who attended the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied under Dale Chihuly. In 1971, she was part of a group of pioneering artists who founded the influential Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state. During her early exploration of glass, she developed a distinctive process to pull glass caning into super fine threads which are then layered to create her “filet de verre” technique, fused and hot-formed in a kiln to achieve its distinct texture. The resulting vessels are explorations in color and form.
Treatment for glass is extensive and time consuming as the bonding adhesive is slow to cure. This vessel was carefully dry fit to assess reassembly and then all pieces were adhered at the same time and left to dry over several weeks. Next, the joins were filled and molds taken from intact pieces of the artwork and the ridges were shaped and inpainted to reintegrate the surface.
(above) Before treatment.
(below) Dry fitting the shards.
Associate Objects Conservator Derrin during treatment.