Fixing Our Fireplace Screen

I was looking for a project to do today... Steve was busy watching the Packer Game.  

I found something that needed to be fixed, and it has been needing some special attention.  Here is the back story: 

We have this beautiful leaded glass fireplace screen. This is one of the first things Steve bought when we bought our house down in Chilton back in 2012. It's become  such a favorite decor item in the house, that when we moved here, we kind of decorated around it in the living room. We even chose hearth tiles that would complement the design in the glass.

A few months ago, our granddaughter Chelsea was sleeping on the floor in the living room. She was in a slippery sleeping nylon sleeping bag ---  and she is known to be a wiggle worm when she sleeps. 

During her slumber, she had pushed over against the screen, pushing it up against the fireplace during the night. She must have kept pushing and pushing on it until it was flat instead of in the tri-fold position. So it tipped over forwards and landed right on her head while she was sleeping!!! 

It's very heavy (about 40-50 pounds) and I heard a big WHUMP!   I got up and was totally panicked to see that she was laying there, holding her head and her mouth wide open in a silent cry.  The poor thing was only half awake and hurt!! I rushed to pick it up off of her, and made sure she was okay. She tried to be brave and not cry.  She had a knot on the head for the day and we pampered her with lots of attention and care and love.

She was more distressed that she had broken Grandpa's pretty fireplace screen. 

Just look at that! 

Her poor little head made that great big hole!

The backside of the leaded glass screen has an extra layer of some kind of heat resistant protective clear material to prevent the glass and lead from getting too hot. So it is not broken all the way through. The front surface is where the crack is.  I looked closely at it, and figured out I might be able to repair it.  It was worth a try.

So Steve carried it out for me into the garage, and laid it flat on the work table (where the motorhome window had been sitting for 30 days).  I gathered my tools and goggles and a protective glove for cutting things.

I carefully took a tiny screwdriver and worked out each little piece of broken glass to clear out that entire section. I was worried that it was sealed to the underneath layer, but it wasn't.  I was able to pull out each little piece of glass with the tip of a small jeweler's pliers.  I didn't want to scratch the underneath surface.

Bit by bit,

I was able pull each shard free

from the copper edging.

Steve popped out to see how it was going.  He ran a tiny screwdriver in each copper channel while I held the shop vac hose close by. All of the tiny broken pieces came out and flew up the hose.  This was working better than I had thought. 

I gave it one last good clean-up and then carefully bent over the edges of the copper foil leading material.  I figured if we secured it down safely with a bead of silicone, it would hold and not come further apart.  The shape of the missing piece didn't leave any big gaps of other neighboring pieces to fall out.  It seemed to be pretty secure leaving it this way.

Steve came back out during halftime to give me a hand. He got out some clear silicone caulk to run a bead around the edge. This will hide the copper foil section of the leaded glass framing all around that space. Plus it will seal it in and make sure everything stays secure. It looks white in the picture but it will dry clear.  Steve has the smooth steady hand for caulking.

I cleaned it up a little bit, and the rest will come off once it's clear and dry.  I think we did a great job together! 

Now you can't even tell it has been broken! Granddaughter Chelsea will be relieved to see that----  I will send her this blog so she can read about it. 

Steve carried it into the house, so it can dry in the warmth of the indoor temps.  The garage is down in the 40's today, so best to dry where the climate is more constant. 

There!  

Back to Normal! 

~~~~~~~~

Also, I was able to get a bottle of Howards Cutting Board Oil to seal the wood on the new oak cutting board for my sink!  It's food grade and will not turn rancid or harm the wood.  I did my old salad bowl too, which needed a new coat. I got that from some art collectors who traveled the world and had so many neat things. I have no idea what country this was from, but a lot of things at their auction were from Africa and South America.  I can tell it's handmade and probably old. 

This Howards mineral oil stuff is nice, and it is soaking in well. It says to give it 2 or 3 coats to properly seal new wood.    I also use the Howards Feed N Wax on my looms and spinning wheels. They have such nice products. 

Well, the Packer Game is still on,

they are winning 35-13. 

I might go take a nap.

Stay tuned for tomorrow.  Some exciting stuff going on with another contractor.  Time to get this stuff all done before the snow flies.