03x09 - Mid-Century Eames Chair

[bunniefuu]

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 played 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...

..and rejuvenate

treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces
of family history.

Wow!

She's fantastic!

Bringing both the objects...

Oh!

This is what I remember.

..and the memories that they hold...

Wow!

..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In the Repair Shop today,

Lucia employs all the
tricks of her trade

to restore a 100-year-old
painting...

It's like plastering,
but on a micro scale.

..while a boys' toy gets
Steve's seal of approval.

I've enjoyed it all
the way through,

and I really don't want
to let it go.

I want it back! I know!

But first...

Hi, could someone give me a hand?
Course I can.

..Caroline Morris needs help
with some precious cargo.

Do you want to put it on there?
I should be able to hold it.

No, cos I don't want her
to get even more squashed.

Oh, is it...?

She's got a family heirloom
that needs expert attention.

OK, so not too heavy for you, Jay?

No, no. There we go.
What do we have here?

Oh, it's ceramic. Right.

We have the ceramic queen,
who's going to help me out.

Pottery conservator Kirsten Ramsay

has 25 years' experience in
the field of ceramics restoration,

and she's going to need to
draw on that pedigree.

What have you got for us?

Here we have the female dog of Fo.

Oh, lovely.

And she, unfortunately,
her head has been broken.

Oh, my goodness.
All the little bitties are in there.

OK. What's the history
behind these two, then?

They're Chinese lion dogs,
and they're known as dogs of Fo.

Right. And they guard entrances.

So these will be standing
outside the front door, and...

They would be inside. Oh, inside.
Probably on a shelf.

OK. Looking at the door... Right.
..from the inside.

To scare off people
or to welcome them?

Just as a guard dog.
It's a guard dog. Yes.

Yeah, that could be a good
guard dog. It's quite scary.

I know, my grandchildren are always
a bit worried by his face!

Are they? Yes. Oh!

But these were my
great-grandfather's. Oh, really?

Which, he then gave them
to his son, my grandfather,

who gave them to my father.

And when he eventually died,
they came to me.

You know, they have a huge history
in our family,

and that's really what we love.

How has the damage come about?

The damage originally came about
because my father's dog... Right.

..in the 1950s jumped on his desk,
and he knocked her off.

Oh, my goodness. Naughty dog!
I know, I know.

Naughty Russett is to blame
for that.

And my father was very upset.
I can remember it happening.

Can you? I was about five or six.
Oh, golly. Yeah.

So my father tried to stick it,
but... I can see.

..then it was the old glue.

I don't know what they used
in the 1950s,

but it wasn't that good.

I mean, the great thing is
that you've...

..you know, you've got the pieces,
and... Exactly, yes.

You know, people are always
so apologetic

about previous restoration.

But actually, at least, hopefully,
all the pieces are here. So...

Well, I think so.

So what we could do for you
is basically repair her

to the same standard as he is.
Exactly. OK.

That would be absolutely fantastic.

My father will be so happy
up there, wherever he is.

Let's hope he's up there. Yes!

Thank you. You take care.
You, too. Yeah.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

I've been so upset by the
fact that she has been

in bits, literally...

..that this would really make
my day, make my life, really.

Because she's been part of it
for so long.

They're different, aren't they?

I've never seen anything like this
before.

They're not the prettiest, are they?

I actually love them.

Yeah? Yeah, I really do.

It's a stylised sort of
dragon-dog type thing, isn't it?

Dragon-dog. Beautiful glaze,

sort of dripping down the back
there.

So what I could do is help you
get these over to your desk.

Two hands... Two hands, I know.
You've taught me well.

With the dogs of Fo
safely at her workbench,

Kirsten can assess the
100-year-old figurines.

And soon detects
where the 1950s fixes are.

Wow. Um...

The previous repair is....

..yeah, it's not great.

It's really sort of showing some
signs of age. That's really bad.

It's been badly overpainted,

but there's all sorts
of restoration on here.

It's particularly dreadful in there.

I think I'm just going to
take the whole thing apart

and strip it back to the original.

To break down all the
old paint and adhesive

that may be holding
the piece together,

Kirsten's going to
unleash the dragon...

..her trusty steam cleaner.

Whilst I appear to be removing
some quite large pieces here,

I'm very confident that the
bits that are coming off

are actually all just
previous restoration.

This is porcelain.

It's fired to a very
high temperature.

It's not porous in any way,

and the steam is just a really
effective, fast way of cleaning it.

Only once Kirsten has
removed all the old repairs

can she begin to restore
this dilapidated dog of Fo

back to its former glory.

The next item to arrive
at the Repair Shop

belongs to James Barnes
from Salisbury.

Steve may be the Repair Shop's
authority on timepieces...

Hello?

But he is also the go-to guy
for any clockwork curios

that arrive through the doors.

So what have we got here, then?

Well, it's a very old toy...

..racing car.

That's fantastic.
Little bit battered, I'm afraid.

It looks the most wonderful piece.

It's a very precious item.

So, tell me a bit about it.

Well, this was given to my father

in round about 1925
by my grandfather,

a new toy to play with. He...
Oh, brand-new then? Brand-new then.

He was really into cars,
motor racing, and he used it.

And then, after many years,
it was given to me to play with.

Yeah. I think, probably,
slightly vigorously.

Did you sit on it when you
were playing?

It looks if it's been sat on!
Yeah...

I think it sort of did a few
rallies it wasn't designed for.

What car is it?
It's an Alfa Romeo P2.

So it was used for, well, what
nowadays is called Formula 1,

that was the top echelon of
motor racing, in the 1920s.

The steering wheel is
not...you haven't got that.

No, no, that went many years ago.

Do you know if that will turn
the wheels?

Yes, it goes down through...

..through here. I see, yes.

And this suspension all joins up.

So you could wind it up and
it would go.

Have you got a key for it? No.

Right, OK. So you'd...you'd
set the wheels... Yeah.

..and set it on its way
and then run after it.

Yeah, and then you'd sort
of follow it and then turn it.

I was brought up in a very
large vicarage and downstairs,

there was a huge...sort of runway,
effectively.

So you could start it up at
one end and let it go,

and then it would hit something.

I do have a recollection that

my mother didn't like me driving it
into the kitchen,

although I suspect my father
might have encouraged that.

I think it's a wonderful piece.

I've never seen a car like this
of such quality,

because this...this isn't
thin tin plate, is it? No.

This is quality tin plate. Yeah.
Yeah, it is quite solid.

So to get this all working again
and looking good and steering again,

what would that mean to you,
to have all that done?

Well, it's...it's a very
tangible link with my father.

Sure. You know, and so for me,

I think of him and I think
he would love it if...

..if he knew that this was
back as a...

..back as it was, as a child's
toy, and cherished. Yeah.

And it's something that
will stay in our family.

Fantastic. And once it's
all up and running,

would you then let your
grandchildren play with it?

Under very strict supervision.

The car means a huge amount to me
because it's part of our family.

My grandfather gave it to my father,
and he passed it on to me.

I'm feeling really excited
about seeing it return to...

..its usable glory, really.
It's been many, many years

it's just been a static exhibit.

It would be great to have it
back operating again.

This French tin toy dates
from around 1925 and is rare

and extremely collectible.

There's a lot wrong with it.

The whole of the front
suspension has broken

quite badly, actually.

Got to give it a good cleaning up,

and I think one of the main
challenges

is going to be keeping
the paintwork as it is.

Because it's got a lovely
finish to it,

and I don't want to
damage that finish at all,

if I can help it.
There's an awful lot of work to do.

Huge amount of work.
But it's just a lovely piece.

It's going to be an absolute
joy to work on.

I love this sort of stuff.

I heard you was mucking around
with toys over here!

Have you brought in your old toys,
yeah? What are you doing?

Do you know what? James has
brought this car in... Right.

..and it's beautiful.
It's such good quality.

It's probably the best
wind-up car that I've seen.

It looks broken to me.
You're saying the best quality?

This tin plate is so, so thick.

Right. And everything is well made.

The detail is fantastic
about it, so... Oh, OK.

You know what? It sounds like you're
quite excited about doing this one.

I am. Yeah? I really am.

This is the one that's getting
your juices flowing, this one is.

Well, this is... It is quite...
Did you have one of these? No.

No! You wanted one of these,
didn't you?

Yeah, I did, yeah.
I always wanted one of these.

Oh, bless you. It is...
But it's clockwork.

It's a wind-up clockwork mechanism.

So you've yet to see what it's
like in there. Yeah.

So that might be totally knackered.

No. I'm sure it won't be.
That's what I like to hear!

I'm sure it won't be.
I knew you was going to say that!

I mean... You have every faith
this has kept it's quality.

It's going to be tiptop. All you've
gotta do is cosmetic stuff outside.

Yeah. And...and if it's clockwork,
I can always repair it anyway. Yeah.

See you, Steve. You're the man.

With their combined experience,
the Repair Shop squad is poised

to rescue and preserve
cherished family heirlooms

for future generations.

And determined to do just that,

Kirsten's been doing battle with
the Victorian Chinese figurine.

After a deep clean, this dog of Fo

is now displaying the
full extent of the damage.

33 pieces, all of which are
encrusted with old glue and paint.

I'm having to work quite hard
using acetone

and sort of just manually
picking with a scalpel.

If I don't get all the
break edges really, really clean

and remove all the old restoration,

I won't get good joins,
and the whole point of redoing this

is to actually make
a better job of the repair

than was previously done.

So it's vital that
I get all the edges

really good and really clean.

Once the pieces are dry,
Kirsten reaches a critical stage,

beginning the rebuild.

She's starting with a practise run
without glue,

to work out how the
dozens of tiny bits

of fragile porcelain fit together.

Kirst, is this for me?

How did you guess, Jay?

That's not right!

I'm... All right, I'll put my
hands in me pocket, then. You do.

I can't touch nothing.
I'm not that bad!

Actually, do you know what? Yeah?

It's probably all right
at the moment. Is it?

Because actually, I don't think
this could be in any more pieces

than it is at the minute.
That's true.

So I can touch? Yeah, go on, then.

Oh, thank you. Yeah.

Aren't these great? I love these.

They are quite cute.

It's quite... You've got
loads of bits! I have, yeah.

I was just sort of checking
how that one goes in there. Wow.

Cos that was quite badly joined
before.

So that's going to go there.
That's all right!

And then I'm going to actually
try and do the heads,

cos... Oh, OK.
..that's in so many pieces.

It's quite a tricky job you've got
there, then, isn't it? It is tricky.

Quite a lot of glueing, yeah.
OK. Quite a bit of concentration.

Probably just have to be left
alone... All right, I get the hint!

..to get on with it!
No, I get the hint!

I'm using an epoxy resin,

which has got really good sort of
non-yellowing properties.

It's very slow curing, it takes
about 48 hours to cure properly.

So it's great, it gives me
plenty of time

to actually go back and check
that everything's sort of in place

and sort of make any
adjustments if necessary.

Because it's quite a heavy piece,

I am actually going to use
quite a lot of adhesive here,

just to make sure it's stable.

And I'm now going
to buffer up the...

..the dog, and...

Hopefully, it will go on OK.

When it goes together well, you
can sort of feel it

kind of just clicking into place,

which is really, yeah,
quite satisfying.

Especially having spent literally
hours and hours cleaning it

and trying to prepare it all. So...

Yeah. That's good.

I'm happy with that.

With the dog back on its plinth,

Kirsten starts to stick
the head back together,

fragment by painstaking fragment.

But it's soon clear that this
jigsaw is missing a piece or two.

It's becoming apparent
that actually,

this is going to be a much bigger
job than I had actually anticipated.

To make this porcelain dog
whole again,

Kirsten will need to mould
the missing features herself.

I'm just going to have a
little look at this other...

..the pair of the dog of Fo.

What I've got is a broken-off area,

and the whole tongue
seems to be missing.

And I can see from the
other dog of Fo

how the original tongue
should actually look.

I'm just going to see if that
fits now.

I'm having to be quite careful,

because this is quite fragile,
this top jaw.

I don't want to exert
too much pressure.

Tongue completed,

Kirsten can move on to replacing
the missing section of forehead...

..and fills in and smoothes the
cracks to create a seamless finish.

Finally, some replacement fangs.

Looking at the other
dog of Fo, it's...

..they're actually quite flat,
the teeth.

I'm just going to press them
into place.

So that's the teeth in place.

Already, the dog is looking
a lot more ferocious.

The next customer to arrive
at the Repair Shop

is Terry from Bristol.

Hello, Terry. Pleased to meet you.
I'm Lucia.

Come into our lovely workshop.

Lovely, thank you.

Resident painting conservator
Lucia Scalisi

has been in the restoration
business for over 25 years.

Put it on the easel.

Now, that's the damage.

Oh, I've got my work cut out
with this one, haven't I?

How did you damage the painting?

I was transferring from
one property to another.

It was balanced on the back
of the car seat,

I thought, propped up well.

A black cat ran across the road,
which was really unlucky for me.

My brother braked heavily
and the painting shot forward,

and... Hence the...
..punctured a hole in it.

Yeah. It's quite a fragile canvas.

I'll look at the back of it
in a minute.

But what attracted you to it?
It was in 1960,

I was in business
with my school friend,

partnership in plumbing and heating.

And we did a fair showing,
had a little bit of profit.

And I said,
"I want a decent painting."

And we went down to the auction,
and I found this painting.

Yeah. And I looked at it,
and I thought,

"That reminds me of my childhood,"
because in Worthing,

there's an avenue of trees like that
called the Ilex Way,

from Goring to East Preston.
Oh, really?

Is Ilex Way, does that still exist?
It still exists. Oh, lovely.

Probably a lot more overgrown now,
you know. Cos I'm going back...

..right to my childhood,
I was seven years old,

walking down this avenue of trees.

Does it sort of bring people
back into your memory,

your family or friends?

Just my friend. He bought
a painting, as well, and... Oh.

I always reflect to it, because
he's got the twin of this one.

Really? Yeah.
So do you still see your friend?

Are you still friends?
I still see him, now and again.

I go down to see him, and he's still
got his hanging on the wall.

Oh, how nice!
He says it's never moved. Really?

Wow, so it's a really nice
record to have,

of a friendship
from childhood to now.

Yeah, he's a good lad.
That is a wonderful story.

So we've got a monogram here, JWM,

and we have a date, 1887.

Interestingly, it's
in original condition.

We've got an old 19th century
canvas here.

Tabby weave.

It's got some old patches
on the back.

So, with my job cut out,

it's obviously repairing that tear.

It's very discoloured.

If we clean it, it will look
a bit brighter

and there will be more contrast
between the sky and the trees,

which is quite a nice thing.

But leave it with me,
if you're happy to do that.

I'm quite excited that
you're going to work on it.

Yeah. Oh, good.
Thank you. I'm glad.

I will see you when it's all done.
Yeah. Many thanks.

Bye.

The painting, to me, means a great
deal.

I was seven or eight years old
when I first walked along Ilex Way,

and it reminds me of my childhood.

This is a difficult job. It's quite
a complex problem, with the tear.

The canvas is very brittle,

and there's actually a section of
the canvas missing from this damage.

Meeting Lucia,
studying my painting,

giving me hope that
it's going to be restored

to a very excellent condition.

I'm very pleased.

It's a really complicated job.

I've got to combine the
ethics of conservation

with the practicalities of the work.

A lot of thought
got to go into this,

how we're going to tackle it,
and a way forward.

Over on Steve's workbench,

he's planning the restoration
of his latest project.

This 1920s toy racing car
has seen better days,

and so has the paint job.

Lucia, can I ask your advice,
please?

You may. Yes.

Lucia's more used to restoring
portraits and landscapes,

but her extensive knowledge makes
her a valuable ally in the workshop.

Just had this come in.

It's... It's beautiful.

It is beautiful. Yeah. 1925.

Wow. It's an absolutely
wonderful object.

I need some advice on the paintwork,

cos I really, really don't
want to touch it that much.

I really don't want it to
look too new.

By just taking that sort of
top surface dirt off,

it'll look a lot brighter. Yeah.

Look, its whatever... Oh, that's...
..fan belt's fallen off.

No, no, no. It's the leather strap
that goes over the bonnet. Oh, OK.

Got to keep that. Oh, and look!
That's the colour.

Yeah. It would have been red, red,
red. Yeah.

I don't want it to look like that.

That's too... But what if
you do a little surface clean

and it comes up like that,
and it's just dirt?

I don't think it will.
I'm tempted. I'm tempted.

Oh, are you? Can I do it?
With a bit of saliva?

Be careful. Let's do it on...

Oh, look, that is literally
just dirt coming off.

I know it doesn't look much,

but that's actually a lot,
in conservation terms.

And that's just with saliva. And
I think the object's small enough

to be able to do a spit clean
across the whole thing. I would.

I think it would be very rewarding.

But if you don't want to use...
A spit clean? Spit cleaning.

I mean, even if you rolled over that
with distilled water or something,

it would take something off. Sure.

But the enzymes in your saliva
have a bit more of an effect.

I don't know whether I have
enough spit to do all that!

Oh, I'm sure you... I'll have a
very dry mouth at the end of this!

Getting into all these
little areas here

is going to be really good,
cos there's a lot of gunk in there.

You'd really enjoy that,
wouldn't you? I would enjoy this!

Thank you for your advice.
My pleasure.

Confidence he's not going to
damage the paintwork further,

Steve can turn his attention
to the clockwork mechanism.

Slightly scary, because I've never
taken one apart like this before.

Certainly, not one of
this sort of age.

I have no idea how this is actually
going to work, in the end.

So this is what I like about
a project like this,

is that I have no...

..preconceptions about how easy or
how difficult this is going to be.

I will just work through it
and repair part by part.

I do want to actually have a look at
the clockwork mechanism, though.

I haven't seen in here yet, so this
is going to be quite interesting.

Clockwork toys work by winding up
a spring which, when released,

turns a series of cogs,
gears and axles to power the wheels.

These screws are coming out nicely.

OK.

I did think that was just
going to pop off, actually, so...

Um...yeah.

I might just have to
force that out.

There's no other way.

I can't take the top off,
I can't take the sides off,

I can't take anything else apart.

Oh.

Right. That's good news.

It's obviously suffered from
being in the wet at some time,

because it's absolutely red rust.

It's nice to get that out,
that's the first step, really.

With the spring coil
finally removed,

Steven winds it to its full length

and sets about cleaning off
the rust and grime.

A well-maintained spring is key

to the smooth running
of the mechanism.

And cleaning duty doesn't end there.

So what I'm doing now is just
scrubbing up

the clockwork mechanism
from the car.

By scrubbing it, what I'm doing
is I'm removing some rust,

removing the dust, the dirt,
the grime.

This lever was absolutely seized up,

and it's probably working
for the first time

in 20, 30, maybe 40 years.

But this piece is relatively modern
compared to some of the objects

that come through
the Repair Shop doors.

And over on Lucia's workbench,
more history is being revealed

as she prepares to free
a 130-year-old painting

from its wooden frame.

I have...I've taken out the tacks,

and what I'm going to do now
is actually lift it out of the back.

One of the advantages of having
the original tacking edges is,

because I actually need to
make a little patch here,

I'll make a pattern,
cut it out of here

and actually insert that,
so I'll be using the same canvas.

So that's the advantage.

So now I'm going to lift
the stretcher out.

There we go.

So for the dust collectors
amongst us,

there's some really grotty dirt
and dust down there.

And insects, look, a lot of flies.

I have found a skeleton
of a bird behind a painting, once.

Obviously a big painting
and a small bird.

So the next process, I'm going
to clean this with my vacuum.

With the painting now dust-free
and the hole patched up,

Lucia can line the picture,
strengthening it

by sticking the entire painting
onto a fabric backing.

So I'm going to use a lining
adhesive that comes as a film,

and if you look closely,

you can see...

..the adhesive is on the back
of the canvas.

So it will be just nap bonded
to the lining fabric.

It's polyester sailcloth.

That's pretty good.

Using the heat of an iron,
the canvas adhesive and liner

are now bonded together.

It's actually quite good.

I can see where the tears that
I've aligned

have melted, as well,
so that's quite good.

The danger here

is that Lucia's industrial
glue mix is so powerful,

it could bond to the table, as well.

I'll just give it a little jiggle.

That's fine. It's free.

You only get one shot at this,

so I'm really pleased with that.

And it's actually nap bonded,

or attached to the
polyester lining canvas.

This square here is where I actually
took the patch of canvas

and made the infill for the loss.

And if you look closely,
you can see the patch

and you can see
where the actual paint is lost

on the original canvas as well,

and another one I inset there.

With the canvas newly
strengthened and intact,

Lucia can cut away
the excess fabric

and then set about
re-stretching the canvas.

I'm actually putting them
into the original tack holes,

so we don't have any extra
perforations in the original canvas.

Finally, the corners are carefully
folded back into place.

Where it's been protected,
it's cleaner,

and the exposed areas are dirty.

So that's sort of helping me.

It's like making a bed.

Ceramics conservator Kirsten's
been rebuilding

a century-old Chinese figure
known as a dog of Fo.

The reconstruction has
been painstaking,

but now she can get on with
blending in the repairs

with some expert paintwork.

I find, when I'm painting,

it's not about sort of
being really, really exact.

It's actually getting a feel,

it's more sort of an instinct
for the feel of the piece,

and it's normally
sort of something like this.

It's quite loosely decorated,

you know, it's not sort of
tight, little things.

It's all just quite
relaxed and loose.

And so I will just try and
mimic that when I'm painting,

and sort of look at the
signs of age and wear

and just try and copy that, too.

My palette is actually really small.

I think people are quite
often surprised,

how few colours you use.
So I have white,

I've got...like, a raw umber,

which is a sort of really dark
brown, and that's quite good for

sort of making colours look slightly
more sort of dirty and aged.

A couple of blues
and ochre, yellow, magenta.

And not a great deal else, actually.

You can get most
colours that you want

from that just basic palette.

I'm hoping that this sort of,
really, the final stage of painting

will transform this dog of Fo

into a dog that Caroline
will recognise once again.

When Caroline dropped the dogs off,

their 100-year history was evident.

But she's hoping Kirsten has managed

to get Mrs Dog of Fo
back to her best.

There is a certain amount
of nervousness.

Maybe they won't be quite
as they were before,

but the main emotion is excitement.

And I really, really feel happy

at the prospect
of seeing them again.

Hello! Good to see you again.
Likewise.

All right, you ready?

Yeah, I'm ready. OK.

Yeah, I'm ready. In you come, then.

Caroline, how lovely to see you.
Yeah, good to see you as well.

Gosh, it's a bit exciting!

Has she been a challenge?

She's been a challenge, yeah.

She's been a little bit tricky. Oh,
dear. Would you like to have a look?

Yes! Oh, OK. OK.

SHE GASPS
Wow, look at that!

She's fantastic!

Look at that!

Gosh, you wouldn't have even known
anything had happened,

that's so incredible.

And her brain is looking intact!

You're a Wonder Woman.
Oh, you're very kind.

I'm thrilled,
and I think he's so happy now

to have her back again!

But today is my birthday.
Is it really? It is!

You kept that quiet.
Well, I'm 21 again.

Well, I thought as much.
There you go, yes.

So this is the best birthday present
I could possibly have.

That's so lovely.
So, she's got new fangs.

Oh, she's got... Tongue.
Oh, my goodness!

So she has. There was quite a lot
of dental work in there.

You didn't think you'd be doing
dental work. I didn't, no.

Really, I don't know... It just
means so much to me, Kirsten.

I'm just delighted.

Really, really fantastic day,
wonderful birthday.

Just...happiness all round.

I couldn't believe
how well Kirsten had done them.

What an expert! And to me,
to my family, my children,

even my husband,

everybody will be thrilled.

And nobody's more excited than me.

I really can't wait to get them back
into their rightful position

guarding the door.

Over on Lucia's bench, work is
finally under way on the front

of the painting.

She's filling in patched areas
to get a level enough surface

to paint on. So I'm going to use
my beautiful dental tool,

which I've had
since I was a student,

and nothing I have ever found
has been able to replace it.

It's wonderful.

And I'm going to apply the filling
to those losses.

I apply the filler into the surface.

This little inset is the little bit

that I cut from the edge
of the painting to fill in

the hole there.

So, basically,
I want to bring this fill

up to the level of the ground
that's on this piece of canvas.

It's like plastering,
but on a micro scale.

So there's the island
of original paint,

in a sea of lovely white filling.

And it matches up
to the edges very neatly.

It's a lovely thing to do.

You really get quite focused.

It can be quite meditational.

It's quite rewarding to see
the job well done at the end.

It's been days of work just to get
the painting to a place

where Lucia can open her paint set
and begin to blend in

her repairs.

This is where her skill
as an artist is really tested.

The paint brush that I use
is pure sable.

They're quite expensive
because they take

a lot of expertise to make.
The tip is everything.

It controls the flow of the paint
onto the surface

that I'm working on.

With the background colour in place,
Lucia must now begin to imitate

the hand of the original artist
to rebuild the missing areas

of the painting.

So I take a few...

..specks of the yellow ochre,
mix it in,

and I just start to retouch
and see how that looks.

I think this area of retouching
is actually going to be

quite forgiving

because there's a lot of colours
in here and a lot of work happening

in the brush strokes.

So what I'm trying to imitate
is the yellow foliage colours that

have been put on before the green

foliage has been applied.

Mimicking the style of the artist
is an important skill

in the world of art conservation.

Really, it's such a slow
and minute process.

The labour...
Or the skill, I suppose,

and the experience comes from just

sort of getting your eye in,
onto the artist's palette.

So you have to know
what the artist intended,

rather than what a modern taste
might require.

Steve's been giving an antique
clockwork car a full MOT.

But it's been more complicated
than he bargained for.

I thought it was going to be
relatively straightforward.

I have, though, found some issues
with it. On the front of the car

here, all of the wheel axle side
of things, the suspension,

it's all bent and broken.

I've actually discovered
something as well.

I'd assumed that this car had
a simple toy steering device,

but I've discovered actually
that it doesn't,

it has a more complex
rack and pinion device.

A rack and pinion device
is what you have on a real-size car,

a proper-size car,

so quite sophisticated for a toy.

But it does mean that I've got

to make, from scratch, a new rack
for it, which is quite challenging.

I hope it works out, actually.

With the internal workings
of the car overhauled,

it's time to see if he can get
them all working together

to power the wheels.

So, this is the moment of truth.

I've made a good solid key
for the car.

And...

This is where the main spring
either goes bang...

..or it winds up fully and
does its job.

CLICKING

It's a great sound, isn't it?

And...

WHIRRING

That's working absolutely fine.

Essential to any car -
a steering wheel,

and this one had been missing
for years.

I've made a steering wheel.
I've just got to solder

those arms on.
It's starting to bubble now.

There we go, that's flowed lovely.

I think, when James comes in,
he might have a problem taking

this from me, actually.

I really, really want this car.
It's so nice.

Lucia has been spending hours
meticulously filling in

the missing patches on the painting.

She's emulating
the style of the artist

to seamlessly blend in her repairs.

And today, owner Terry is due back
to collect it.

I think Terry will be very pleased,
actually.

I think he'll be surprised
when he sees how the whole tear has

been pulled together.

I think I'll be quite happy to see
his tree-lined avenue back

in one piece.

The painting had hung
in Terry's home for 50 years,

until it got damaged.

He's hoping Lucia
has managed to restore it,

earning it pride of place
back on his wall.

You must be Terry.
That's it, that's me.

How you doing? You all right?
Yeah, I'm fine, thanks.

You've come to pick up
your painting? Yeah.

I'm really looking forward to this.
Well, you should be.

In you come. In you go.

Lucia, look who I found.
Ah, Terry! Lucia.

Welcome, welcome.
Lovely to see you again.

Lovely to see you. Been a while.

Yes, it has. Come in.
I'm really excited about this.

Are you?

So, what did it look like
when you first brought it in, then?

I remember a nice

two-inch diameter hole in the
middle. Right. And I thought

it'd never get repaired, surely.

Well, we won't keep you
in suspense any more.

I'm all smiles.

You can't wait to see it, can you?

No. Lucia'll show it to you.
Are you ready? Yeah.

Wow.

That's amazing.

You like it?

Over the moon with that.

It's certainly a lot cleaner,

and that hole has disappeared.

And I was thinking of sticking a
patch on there and touching it up!

Oh, no!

I'm still trying to find
where that hole is,

and I can't see it.

That is amazing.
I do thank you so much.

Oh, my pleasure. That's brilliant.

It was really nice to work on,
actually. Lots of little details

have come out, like this little
flock of sheep over here.

They weren't really very obvious
because of the discoloration

and dirt on the surface.

Those are birds there as well,
in the distance? Birds in the sky.

Yeah, there's a few birds
in the sky. Yeah.

And there's a lot of details
in these figures as well.

If you look at girls' faces,
this little girl's got highlights

in her eyes, she's got rosy cheeks.

It's just...amazing. Yeah?

I could get quite emotional over
that. Really? It's wonderful.

That's nice. Yeah, brilliant.

When the painting
was revealed to me,

words can't describe how I felt.

I was like a child

receiving its first candy.

I was...

Just amazing.

Hi, Terry. Lovely, here we are.

I'll put it in the car for you,
back seat. I think it'll be safe

if it's nice and flat there. OK?
Can't move there.

That'll be fine.

I think I'm going to enjoy it more
now because Lucia has cleaned it

and brought out all the details,
and it will take me back

to when I used to be a child,
walking down this avenue of trees.

Take care. Don't brake hard.

THEY LAUGH
Bye-bye.

Meanwhile, Steve has almost
completed the restoration

of the toy racing car.

The motor is safely back in

and he's giving the bodywork
a spit clean,

as per Lucia's
very specific instructions.

Hey, Jay, come and have
a look at this.

What do you reckon of that?
Now, that is cool.

I like that. Thank you very much.

Yeah, you've done a grand job
on this. I like that as well.

What is that? Is that like
the drive shaft or something?

It's the rack that I've made
for it, so that's to do

with the steering on it.

You've made a rack for the steering.
So it works and everything?

Like, can steer? Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Can I see it?
JAY GASPS

See, now, that's why you're
Steve, innit? Thank you very much.

Right?

I need three done by the afternoon!
STEVE LAUGHS

Owner James is looking forward
to being reunited

with his beloved childhood toy.

It's one of my earliest
memories as a child.

And because cars are a shared
interest with my father,

that's something that, you know,
I have such fond memories of.

I'm hoping to see the car
sensitively repaired, cos it's

got the scars of many, many years
of use.

Hello, James. Hello, Steve. Nice to
see you. Yeah, excellent.

Come and have a look.

So, it's under here?

Yes, it is under here.

Wow. This project has been
such a fantastic project.

I've so enjoyed doing it.

And there have been issues
with it that I didn't expect

that I've had to get over. OK.

But I've enjoyed it
all the way through,

and I really don't want
to let it go.

So... I want it back! I know!

This might be a reproduction.

Here, let me unveil it.

There we go.

Oh, my word.

This is...

This is what I remember. Great.

This is what I remember as a child.
Yeah.

With all the suspension...
It's perfect cos it's as it was.

Yes. Yes. It's not overdone.
Steering wheel. Yeah, that's great!

Absolutely fabulous.
And the steering works.

Oh, look at that.
That is absolutely unbelievable,

and that's come up beautifully,

that Alfa Romeo... It has.
..badge on the front.

We've cleaned it very,
very carefully.

We haven't over-cleaned it.

We've been very, very careful
to leave the age on it.

So I've made a key.
A key, look at the key!

So...

I think I ought to let you wind it,
really.

You think so? You think I can have
a little wind?

I'm going to turn that around and...
OK. OK.

That's a long time
since you've felt that.

Yes, it is.

It's got that slow click. Yes.

Do you remember that? Yeah,
it was... I think overwound it!

And I really think...

..that we ought to run it.
Yeah, absolutely.

Are you ready? Yep, I'm ready.

This is the first time James
has seen the Alfa Romeo run

since he was a little boy.

That's right, turn it round.
Turn it round? Come back.

I've got to put a little bit...
Yeah, absolutely.

I think you've done an amazing job.

Thank you very much. Amazing job.

I'm almost tearful.

But it's...it's...

The total link through

to my father,

to our interest in cars,

to remembering playing with this

when he was still around,
obviously, which is terrific.

Yes. Here's the key.
A key, fantastic.

And I'll go and get a box and wrap
it up, and keep it all safe

for the journey back. Thanks, Steve.

I think there will be a bit of play
in the kitchen this evening.

I think my father would be

absolutely delighted
to see the car repaired.

And I can see him smiling down
from up there, saying,

"That's a very good job done."

I think the most impressive part
of Steve's work

has been repairing bits that
were broken but not taking away

the essence of the car,
and the essence of the car

is what my father had and what I had
as a child and what our

grandchildren hopefully
will have in years to come.

Join us next time,

as more precious pieces are rescued

and their cherished memories
restored...

Wow!

..in The Repair Shop.