02x14 - Majolica Vase

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Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms are
brought back to life...

This is the workshop of dreams.

..home to furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune
on stuff that, once it's broken,

they just bin it.

But everybody has something that
means too much to be thrown away,

and that's where we come in.

Working alongside Jay will be some

of the country's leading
craftspeople.

Every piece has its own story.

It's amazing to think that some of
my work becomes part of that story.

I've always pleased with things,

I've always repaired things
and I just love it.

There is a real pleasure in bringing
people's pieces back to life again.

Each with their own unique set
of skills.

Right tool for the right job.

They will resurrect...

..revive...

Come on, man! ..and rejuvenate...

..treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces of
family history.

Wow! She's fantastic.

Bringing both the objects... Ah!

This is what I remember!

..and the memories that they hold...

Wow! ..back to life.

Oh, my god!

In The Repair Shop today, Kirsten is
tested by some vibrant ceramics.

The difficult thing about this is
that there are just millions

and millions of different colours.

They sort of flow from light to dark
that you have to mimic,

so it is quite challenging.

While Dom uncovers a glittering
piece of history.

See that sparkling there?

I think that... That looks to me
like gold leaf.

I was not expecting to find that.

Real shock to find that under there.

But first, Philip Edwards has
brought a favourite childhood toy

to The Repair Shop.

Hello, you must be Philip. Hi.

I'm Steve.
Hi Steve, pleased to meet you.

Come on, bring it up.
You'll fix my spaceship.

A spaceship? A spaceship.

I've never repaired a
spaceship before.

Well, if you can repair a spaceship,
you can repair anything!

Steve Fletcher is The Repair Shop's
clock expert,

but today he'll have to set
his sights a little higher.

This spaceship, I must've bought it
around about the Christmas of 1963.

I'd just been given quite a lot of
money from aunts and uncles

and it was burning a hole in my
pocket, and my grandmother decided

to take me shopping to spend
the money.

As soon as I saw it, my jaw hit
the floor, I had to have it.

It's really amazing.
So, there's no batteries in it?

No.

And I'm just wondering...
Do you pull a string? No.

There was a cranking handle,
which, sadly, is no longer there.

I blame my brother for that.

You put the cranking handle in there
and you just turn it.

Yeah, and it slowly builds up
the speed.

And it would slowly build up
the speed

and the note of the motor would
slowly rise.

Was this one of your favourite toys?

This WAS my favourite toy, without
any shadow of a doubt, you know.

It'll bring back some memories of
your grandmother, as well.

Fond memories - my grandmother,
my childhood, it had a sound,

and I'd love to hear that sound
one more time. Oh, right, OK.

I really would.
It's a humming, whirring sound.

Yeah. I'd love to get it working...

Yeah. ..and I'll probably play
with it for a bit as well!

I'll let you. Thank you very much
for bringing it in.

I'll do my best for you.

Thank you very much.
All right, thank you. Good luck!

The spaceship was manufactured by

American toy maker
Louis Marx and Company -

once one of the largest toy
companies in the world.

It's powered by a gyroscope -
a metal disk mounted on a pivot.

When the spaceship's mechanism
is wound up,

the force generated holds it
upright,

like a space-age spinning top.

The first thing I'm going to do is

actually take this main
mechanism out.

I'm really hoping that the quality
of the wheels is just

good enough to repair,

because they're not meant to last
a long time,

not like, say in a clock, that they
last for hundreds of years.

So, I'm hoping that's just going
to push through now.

Ooh... Someone has attempted
to rebuild this,

I think Phil has attempted to
rebuild this without any success.

I think probably the best thing
that I can do is to actually make a

whole new unit here,

which is one of the main bearings
of the gyro.

What I'm going to do is,

I'll probably make a brass plate
to go on here.

Hi, there. Afternoon. Hi.

Next to arrive is publican
Trevor Summerhill from Chester,

with a huge challenge.

Right... One pub frame that's been
through the wars.

Yeah, I can see that!

He's hatched a plan to surprise
an old friend,

but needs the help of metal expert
Dominic Chinea.

So, what have we got? It's the sign
from The Ship Victory,

a pub in Chester.

It was built, as far as we know,
early 1800s,

recently knocked down to build
a new bus station. Oh, no!

Yeah, it was run by the
last landlord, a Joe Gildea.

Known Joe for a long time,

it was known as a small pub with
a big heart,

because he raised over £100,000
for a local charity.

£100,000? Yes.

The sign was given to him when
he retired.

So, I volunteered to actually
keep it at my pub,

because I've got a pub just down
the road. Right.

I'd like to have that sign
kept at the pub,

so Joe could at least see that

there's something kept now that
pub has gone.

Does Joe know that you're
having this restored?

He only thinks I'm putting a lick
of paint on it.

A lick of paint on it!

I think it'll take a bit more than

a lick of paint to get this up
to standard!

Well, two licks. Two licks of paint.

Well, Dom, Mr Metal... Yeah.

The steelwork seems to have lasted
much better than the painted piece.

Yes. This is all in really,
really good condition.

I know it looks rough with all the
layers of paint,

but it's structurally sound.

I think that'd be really nice,
wouldn't it, to redo it?

We better let Dom get stuck in.
Right.

Thanks for bringing it down.
I'm putting my trust in you, lads!

Don't worry, we've got it.
Thank you very much.

Thank you. Cheers, bye-bye.

We'll get it apart, strip it
all down. Lovely. No worries.

You've got lots of sand blasting
or sanding, or...?

We need to strip all this back,
exactly.

You keep on saying "we". I'm not...

This is a bit out of my polishing
and carving...

Don't worry, I'll do this.

Dom wastes no time in getting
the sign out to his bench,

where he can get better acquainted
with his latest project.

As I'm flaking off this paint, I'm
just having a look to try and see...

There's so many layers of paint
here, it's crazy.

It's hidden all of this old detail
that I'm trying my best to just

uncover and piece together and

work out how it would have
originally looked.

See that sparkling there?

I think that... That looks to me
like gold leaf.

I was not expecting to find that!

You can see the remains of it
under there, just underneath.

Gold is as shiny as it would have
been when they first put it on

and it's really, really lovely.

I'm just going to now work out,
basically, methodically scrape back,

work back over the whole thing.

There seems to be just little
highlights.

It's amazing, I really can't wait
to start putting the gold back on.

It's going to look really good.

Is it wood?

Another new arrival at
The Repair Shop.

Hello. Hello. Hi.

I'm Steve. Hi, I'm Lyndon.
Lyndon. Margaret.

Hi, I'm Kirsten. Hello, Kirsten.

You've got something for us?
Yes, we have - a majolica vase.

Would you like to...?
I might be your lady.

Margaret and Lyndon Riordan
have come from Wales

with a treasured piece of pottery.

It's a majolica wine jar.

What's a majolica?

Originally like an Italian style,

so it's basically an earthenware

with a sort of quite a transparent
sort of glaze over it.

I actually love majolicas!

There should be a box in there
as well.

It is bold and striking,
I think it's beautiful.

That's a beauty!
KIRSTEN LAUGHS

What was this used for?

Because it's got holes in the top
on the lid, as if...

That's why I think it's called
a wine jar, I think,

for the fumes from the wine
to come out.

That's what I assume.

My father was an avid auction goer.

Ah, OK.

So we're not too sure
where he bought it.

It was always in my parents' house.

My brother's responsible for
this damage.

I was going to say!
Playing cricket. Oh, golly, OK.

So we have the angel's,
or cherub's, head.

Ah, right, great, look at that,
lovely.

And then...
A few little bits, as well.

I think I'm responsible for
the most recent damage. Right.

A picture fell off the wall

and hit the rim and the top.

Oh, gosh.
And I was really upset about it.

It's the memory of my parents,
you know?

If you'd like to leave it with us?

Kirsten will crack on
and restore it. I will do, yes.

It'd be an absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much.

Thanks for bringing it in. Lovely.

Shall I carry it over for you?

Shall I take that? I'll take it.

No, no, it's fine.
No, it's all right. Go on, then!

Honestly.

If you could take the other bits,
I'd be very grateful. Thanks, Steve.

Majolica pottery was named
after the island of Majorca,

where it originated
in the 14th century.

It's since been reproduced all over
Europe and is typified by its

flamboyant designs and
bright colours.

Right, so this has been stuck
by someone in the past.

It looks like it's been stuck with
an old sort of animal adhesive,

that sort of very yellowy-orange
colour.

I think I'm going to make a start
by applying some paint stripper,

which sounds really dramatic.

It's completely safe to use on this
type of glazed material.

I'm hoping that it will start to
soften this old adhesive.

And I'm just going to leave that
like that now

for probably a couple of hours,

and then go back to it and just see
whether it's working into the joints

and the pieces starting
to loosen up.

Across the workshop...

..Steve's beginning to rebuild the
grounded 1960s toy spaceship.

He's creating a new brass unit to
house the internal fittings.

The plate that I've just made up,
I'm going to turn a big hole,

just to take this unit here
that I made up earlier.

That'll sit down in there like that

and I'll bolt it on there.

Next on Steve's list are the cogs
that power the gyroscope.

They haven't worked for
over 50 years,

and he's going to need some help
to get them spinning again.

How are we doing, all right?

Yeah, not too bad.
I've had a few issues. OK.

This is the wheel that runs into
that worn wheel and you can see

it's all damaged on the teeth.

I'm going to bend it back
and reshape it,

but I need an extra bit of help.

So, I want you to...

..hit the top of this. Yeah.

So when I nod my head, you hit it,
all right?

Hit that, not your head?

No, not my head!

OK, go.

That's nice pressure, actually.
Go on, and again.

That's working really well, go on.

You're enjoying that, aren't you?
I am enjoying this. Go on.

So how come you wouldn't just make

a new one of these?

Because it's a softer alloy and
I think I can repair this, anyway.

Go on.

Is that cool? Yeah.

With the teeth back in shape,

Steve's next job is to make
a new pivot,

to help turn the gyroscope inside
the spaceship.

So I'm turning down in my
little watchmaker's lathe here.

Basically, you take off
little slivers of metal each time...

..you push the graver over it.

This is the graver,
which is a cutting tool.

The pivot's 3.15 millimetres.

I'm at...

..3.93 at the moment,

so a little way to go.

Ceramics restorer Kirsten is fixing
a prize majolica wine jug,

but before she can begin
the repairs,

she must first undo the
previous attempts.

Looking at this and seeing that it's
starting to bubble up means that the

adhesive has softened, which is
a really good sign.

I'm going to see if this might move.

There's one piece.

How we doing? Hi, Jay.

All right? Yeah, good, thank you.
You not done it, yeah?

Course not! How are you getting on?

Cos the head is still missing,
I can see. Yeah, that's right.

No, it's going really well.

I've given it a clean

and I've prepared all the surfaces
for sticking.

Then I've got to fill all the cracks
where I've stuck it. Oh, right.

Make up any missing areas, which
there are going to be a few. OK.

And then the painting, which is...

Matching up the colours? Yeah.

And, in fact, whilst I absolutely
love the glaze on this,

I love all those colours, it is
going to be really, really tricky.

It is, isn't it? Yeah.
You know, you can see,

you're not just making up one
colour, you're making the blues,

the greens, and then it sort of goes
into the ochres.

It is going to be tricky,
but I'm up for the challenge.

OK. Sounds like you've got a lot of
work. Yeah. Thanks, Jay! OK.

Once the lid is back together,
the last piece of the ceramic jigsaw

is to reunite the cherub with its
missing head.

And that one I'm happy with.

Meanwhile, Steve is giving the 1960s
spaceship a full MOT.

He's putting all of the components
back in place.

That's actually worked a lot better
than I thought it would.

That is good. Excellent.

Foreman Jay is attending the
maiden flight.

Pop that on.

Hopefully, it's going to work.
Fingers crossed.

No, not at all, it's going to work.

I'm excited, mate, I'm excited,
I want to see this go.

Well, I don't know whether it's
going to go or not yet!

It's going to go.

With a wind from the new
crank handle,

it's time to see if all Steve's work
has paid off.

Don't look like that.

That sounds good to me. Yeah?

SPACESHIP WHIRS

Sounds like it's going to take off.

WHIRRING SPEEDS UP

Oh!

Oh, my goodness.

You got it going, man!

Feel-feel that, move it round,

twist it round, twist it.

Whoa! What is that?

That's a gyroscopic effect.

It sort of tries to fight you
turning it.

Now that is spooky.

It feels like there's someone in
there and they're just...

That is...
Trying to fight against it.

That is the weirdest thing ever.

I would just have that
just for doing that!

STEVE LAUGHS

Bottom line is you got it working.

So he's going to be over the moon!

Yeah, absolutely, I'm...

No pun intended. You didn't get it -
over the moon!

Sorry, I've come down to Earth now,
I've got it going.

I'm going to finish it off,

put all the bolts in and close it

all properly and then it's good.

That... I love that, good on you,
well done!

The spaceship was bought new in 1963
by proud owner, Phil.

Now he's back at the workshop to see
if it's working again.

Hi, Philip.

How're you doing?
I'm doing very well, thanks. Good.

You going to surprise me, are you?
I hope so.

Would you like to open it up
and have a look?

It's all put back together again.

Now, that's something I can
remember, that knocking noise. OK.

And I think that's a good noise.
OK.

You've made me a cranking handle.
I have, yes.

Excellent, because without that...

Spaceships are useless without
cranking handles. Oh, absolutely.

SPACESHIP WHIRS

Hear that noise?

Now, you see, you think you've fixed
my spaceship,

but you've done more than that
cos you've given me a time machine,

cos that's just taken me back
50 years.

Thanks ever so much.

That is just brilliant.

It's wonderful!

I hope you make a note of this
on the front of your shop.

"Clock repairs - plus spaceships".

Thank you so much for bringing it
in, it's given me a lot of pleasure.

You're thanking me?! Yes.

Oh, man, no, it's got to be
the other way round.

Thanks very much.
You're very, very welcome.

Just to hear it whirring and
throbbing again,

it means so much to me.

It was like being reunited with
a long lost friend.

Getting the spaceship home is
going to be very, very easy indeed

because we just crank it up,
get inside, off we go.

We'll be back in Cardiff
in about two minutes 30 seconds.

Dom is working on the pub sign.

The bracket has been stripped and
sent away to be powder coated

for a hard-wearing finish.

Now Dom must call on his
sign writing skills to recreate

the artwork from scratch.

First he preps a piece of oak.

The next thing to do is to draw on
this lovely mural.

I'm going to pull out as many
elements of this as I can,

keeping as much of this character
from the original artist.

I'm going to trace across these
pieces and use

a traditional technique
called pouncing,

which is drawing onto
a piece of paper,

then perforating that piece of paper

and then you push chalk through
the holes with...a pounce pad.

This is full of chalk which has just
been pushed through as a powder.

That should have that left us
accurate copy of the original

just onto the nice new oak board,

and then it's just a case of
joining the dots.

That looks good.

So now I've got the template of the
pattern, basically,

all drawn out, really accurately.

Next part is to try and match
the paint.

If you actually look closely,

there's quite a lot of dark shading
and a few different tones in there.

Really happy with the colour match,
which is the important thing.

Now it's just a case of getting this
base layer on and then working

on top with some shadows,
some highlights

and just making sure all three sails
are consistent and accurate

to the original painting.

Next comes the trickiest part -
the lettering.

One slip could spell disaster.

This isn't necessarily a font you
could just go on the internet

and type in, it's all hand drawn
and hand done,

and I think that's part of the charm
of the sign,

which hopefully we're putting back
into this.

It's looking very good,
I'm really pleased.

Back inside the workshop,

Kirsten is being tested by the
extravagant majolica wine jug.

She's going to have to use a box of
tricks to make all those

telltale signs of repair disappear.

I find that you can really make up
most of the colours from this

small palette here.

I've got a brown and I've got just
a touch of orange,

because this ochrey-brown here has
some orange in it.

It's really just a question of
moving around

and tweaking the colours
little by little.

The difficult thing about this is
that, as you can see,

there are just millions and millions
of different colours.

They sort of flow from light
to dark.

And you've got this sort of drips
as well that you have to mimic,

so it is quite challenging.

I'm now just doing the
final details.

Here's hoping it's dry in time.

Margaret and Lyndon are eager to see
if Kirsten has managed to mend the

many breaks their precious piece
had suffered.

Look, here they come, Jay.

Hello, again. Hello.
Feeling really excited.

Are you? I am.

So what are you hoping to see
underneath here?

Perfection. Ooh...

You're always a perfectionist.
I do my best, I do my best.

Her best is good. Absolutely, yeah.

Are you going to take it off?
Shall I? Yes, please.

Yeah, OK. All right, are you ready?

Oh, wow! Wow!

Oh, fantastic.

Yeah, that's amazing.

It looks like new! Yes.

I don't know what to say!

It's lovely. Thank you so much,
that is beautiful.

You're very, very welcome.

I can't even see where it came off.

It's unbelievable.

I can't believe anyone could do
that, that's fantastic. Thank you.

He's getting the glasses out now!

Ooh, scrutiny!

No, you just wouldn't know.

So where's it going to be now?
I've no idea!

It'll have to be somewhere
very safe.

No pictures above it.
No, or cricket bats or ba*ls.

Seeing the vase whole and...

..it just brings back so many
memories of my childhood.

And my old family home.

I lost my dad quite early,

so my mother has looked after the
vase all these years,

and I inherited it when she passed.

And now it's my turn
to look after it.

And keep it safe!

The old pub sign in need of rescue

has become a real labour of love
for Dom.

The steel bracket that displays the
Victory Ship is almost ready,

and he's going the extra mile
with the finishing touches.

Now all the steelwork of the sign is
back from being powder coated,

it's time to put the gold leaf on.

We've actually got 24-carat
real gold leaf.

It's just a case of...

..laying that over the top and just
gently pressing it down.

It's great, there we go.

I think this bit of gold detail is
really going to make it jump out,

it's going to look really good.

I think it's going to be a big
surprise for Trevor, as well.

Great, that's it.
Finally, all finished.

The sign is returned to Chester and

Trevor's pub, where it will hang in
memory of another much-loved local

that no longer stands.

All that remains is to surprise the
Victory's old landlord, Joe.

I don't know why I'm here, because
I really don't know what's going on.

He's going to be very surprised
and very, very happy.

Getting a season
ticket for Liverpool!

SHE LAUGHS

THEY CHATTER

Joe. All right, mate.
How are we doing?

How are you? The motley crew!

Right, Joe.

If you'd like to pull the
honourable cloth.

There you go. Wow!

That looks fantastic.

What do you think?

Absolutely amazing.

No, they've done a fantastic job.

Yeah, it's quite emotional,
actually.

That's amazing.

Very, very proud that someone would
do that for us.

I feel very, very emotional about
the whole thing,

because by that sign,
The Ship Victory will live on.

That's a piece of history.

The day's been fantastic.

Joe is over the moon,
he is so happy.

We will keep that memory of that pub
going while we are here.

Made up that we've managed to keep
something of the pub.

Very, very happy.

Join us next time, as more
treasured possessions...

Ah, wow!

..are brought back to life...

You all right? He's wonderful!

..in The Repair Shop.