12x14 - Hot towel machine, ceramic poppy & girl's portrait

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop...
- Oh, my goodness.

- ..where precious but faded
keepsakes...

- That is proper crushed.

- ..are restored to their former
glory.

- Zhuzhing.
- Zhuzhing!

- Could I get finished now, please?

- Yes!

- A dream team of expert
craftspeople...

- I'm absolutely chuffed to bits!

- Fantastic!
- Brilliant!

- Yes, look at that!

- ..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations...

- Perfecto!

- It's almost magic.

- Nothing better than a plan that
works.

- ..restore irreplaceable treasures...

- Oh, my God, look at that!

- It's perfect!

- ..and unlock the stories they hold.

- Happy tears!

- It feels more magical.
- I just want to hug everybody!

- First, a piece of the historic
spectacle

that captivated the nation.

Steph Britton and her stepmum Alex are
entrusting a very cherished

possession to ceramics conservator
Kirsten Ramsay.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- Hi, there.
- How are you doing?

- OK, thank you.

- So what have you brought us?

Not just that, is it?

- No, no, the pretty bit's in there.

- Whoa! OK, that's broken.

- My goodness!
- Yes.
- OK.

- It's a Tower of London poppy.
- You got one?

- Yeah, well, my dad got one.

- And his name?
- Peter. Pete.

We went along about four times, I
think,

to see the Tower of London Poppy and
that sea of poppies.

Yeah.
- Wow!

- In 2014, a momentous art
installation took over

the Tower of London to mark 100 years
since Britain's involvement

in the First World w*r.



filled the moat.

Each poppy representing a British
military life lost.

- So, you guys got a chance to buy one
of these?

Because I tried to get one and I
couldn't get one.

- Pete, when he found out that you
could buy one, it was like,

you know, bidding for, like, tickets
or something like that.

He was completely, like, he really
wanted one.

So when it came, it was just like, you
know, a Christmas present

through the post.
- Wow.

- So what was it like seeing that sea
of poppies

when you went there?

- Oh, it was amazing. It was just me
and my dad.

And I just, the whole day was just so
much fun.

I'd say it's probably one of the sort
of last day outs with him

that I had before he was ill.

So it was just a carefree day out.

- At the time, he wasn't very well at
all.

And later he discovered actually just
after getting this poppy,

that he had a an incurable disease
called Al amyloidosis,

and it's a blood disease.

And he was just 50 and basically
passed away three years after that.

Yeah.

- So was this bought for you, then?

- He bought it with me and my brother
in mind because myself

and my older brother serve in the
military.

I did, he still does, so, yeah, he was
just quite proud of that.

- And it did give him great joy and
comfort because, you know,

both his children came home safely
from Afghanistan.

What was you doing over there?

- So I was in the Royal a*tillery.

But, yeah, I literally did September


And as I was flying out, my brother
was flying in.

So our parents had a whole year, or
just over a year, of worry.

- It seems like there's an awful lot
wrapped up

in this small poppy.

- Yeah, absolutely.

It's just that memory of my dad, you
know, real sentimental feeling

attached to it because of him.

So it's just really wrapped up with a
lot of feelings.

Yeah.

- So, kind of the elephant in the
room,

what happened to it?

- OK, so when we got it, Pete wanted
it outside, and it looked fabulous.

It was there for quite some time, a
couple of years.

- My dad had passed away in December,
so it was very much

bad weather for months.

And after a while I was like, "We
should maybe bring it in and try

"and keep it in good condition."

- So when I took the poppy, picked it
up, it just all...

it came... you know, broke and my
heart sank.

It's devastating for me to feel
responsible

for how it's... how it looks right
now, to be honest.

I really wish I'd have brought it
inside

before for Stephanie.

- So these are ceramic, but they're
not really strong enough

to withstand frost and sort of, you
know, the changes in weather.

I think it would have just happened
anyway.

- Hopefully we can do, or Kirsten
could do something with this

and bring it back.
- Would be wonderful.

That really would be wonderful.

- Well, thank you both for bringing
this in.

- Can't wait to see how it comes out.
Thank you.

- You take care.
- Thank you.
- Bye.

- You going to be all right with this?
- Yeah.

I'm really looking forward to doing
this.

I'm not so sure about this.

Metal rods.
- Got to get Dom on that.

I'll take that out to him.
- Yeah? Lovely.

Thanks, Jay.

I've worked on quite a few of these
Tower of London poppies and this...

is possibly the worst damage to a
poppy that I've seen.

And really, initially, I just want to
see whether I've got

all of the pieces here or if there's
something actually missing.

Now, each one of these poppies is
unique.

I've got no pattern on here to follow,
to guide me.

So, what I'm doing is, I'm trying to
match the areas that don't

have any colour on them and use that
as my guide.

There are a few little pieces missing,
so I'm going to have to

fill those and then I'm going to
retouch that red.

But first, I'm going to make a start
cleaning this.

- I think you're going to like this
one.
- It's going to be good?

- When's the last time you had a
shave?

- You're having a laugh, aren't you?

- When was the last time?
- What have you got planned?

Hang on a second!

- Here to see guru of gizmos and
gadgets Dominic Chinea

is barber Panos Adamou with an
essential tool of the trade

from his family's business.

- Hi.
- How are you doing? You all right?

- Yeah, good, thank you.

- Tell us about it. What is it?
- What is it?

- This is a hot towel machine for the
barber shop.

- You're a barber, then?

- I'm a barber, yes, second
generation.

- Wow.
- This was my father's, and it needs
looking after.

- How long has Dad been a barber?

- Dad came over when he was 17 from
Cyprus.

And he came over on the invite from
the Commonwealth in 1952.

There was an influx of people from the
Commonwealth to come

and help rebuild and work in the
service industry.

He learnt his barber trade in London
and he was a barber all his life.

- What's your dad's name?

- Peter Adamou.

- Is Dad still with us?

- Dad passed away seven years ago.
- Oh, sorry.

- This is part of the reason I want to
get this,

you know, get the memories going
again.

Memories of the whole experience of
working with my father.

Thinking back, you treasure those
times more.

- Yeah.
- More and more.

- Where do hot towels come in to
having a shave?

- You use the hot towel to soften the
skin before the shave.

You're sat back, relaxed, you put the
hot towel on.

It softens the skin and hair
follicles.

Then you apply the soap suds and the
razor will cut

a lot smoother.

And then the hot towel afterwards

to clean off all the excess soap and
then apply the aftershave.

- Yeah, and when was the last time
this was used, then?

- About 1980.

- Seriously?
- Yes.

And sadly, it was stored in our
basement.

And this is why it's in such a poor
state.

- So when this was in the barber shop,
before it got retired,

what did this look like? Was this
shiny?

- Oh, yeah. You can imagine all the
chrome, all the steam.

The hot towels will sit on that shelf,
all rolled up there.

And then this tap would release hot
water...

- When you need a tea!

- ..predominantly for the soap suds.

- So this is an important piece of
equipment, then.
- Yes.

Every barber shop would have had a
version of this.

And this is the little sign

that literally sits in there.
- Pops in there.

- And it should be white with black
letters saying, "Hot Towels."

- That's green.
- I know, I know.

I had a glass-maker have a go at
making something for me.

I think he must have used a bit of
glass from his glassworks.

He did it as a favour. You know, I
cannot complain.

- And the intention, if this is able
to be fixed, where's it going?

- It's going back to my barber shop in
Shanklin on the Isle of Wight,

because my son is a barber.
- Really?

- And he's the only one, the third
generation to become a barber.

- Yeah.
- So we've got to keep the line going.

- So now you're working with your son?

- Oh, and this is going to keep
telling the story.

- Yeah. It's a real joy.

And hopefully if he gets it working,
he might have a shave.

You never know.
- You never know!

Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Goodbye.
- Lovely to meet you.

- Well, I have to say, this is my
first experience

with a hot towel machine!

It's not looking its best.

I can't believe there's so much
limescale inside this.

I've never seen anything like it.

Even my kettle in the workshop isn't
this bad.

There's two sides to this repair.

First is mechanically getting it
working.

The heating element, the seized up tap
on the front.

The second side of the restoration is
cosmetics, the best bit,

shining up and polishing up this
chrome work and then

the all-important glass sign for the
top.

But the biggest issue is going to be
that sort of green drip

running down there.

That, to me, looks like a potential
leak.

So I think the first job is to fill it
with water

and see if that or anywhere else
starts leaking.

Oh, no, look, literally dripping
straight away.

That's quite bad. It's actually
dripping quite a lot.

That has made things a lot more
difficult.

I'm absolutely going to have to deal
with that.

- As Dom rolls up his sleeves,

Kirsten has completed her cleaning
stint on the commemorative poppy

and can now begin the delicate task of
rebuilding.

- This poppy, it seems to be built up
in two stages,

so I'm going to put it back together
in two stages.

This is the first section and it's
relatively heavy

with all of these clay petals that
hang from that central point.

So I need to make sure that this is a
really good, strong bond.

I'm using a two part epoxy resin here,

which is quite fast acting and I've
mixed

the two parts together.

So that's a chemical reaction where
they start to harden.

So I'm going to use this tissue rolled
up just as a support

because it's quite a difficult angle.

I'm just trying to find the exact
spot.

I've got some tape ready here which
I'm going to use

just to pull those two sections
together.

It's just a very small touch point,
and it's really about just seeing

that it looks correct.

I'm going to allow that to harden and
cure now.

And in the meantime, I'm going to take
a look at this petal here

and see if I can get these little
fragments

into place.

So I'm really looking for shapes to
try and match.

And that's the first piece there.

You can see that I've got

an area that's missing.

And once this is hardened and cured,

I can then make up that missing area.

It's come together really nicely, it
feels strong.

And the next stage now is to start
filling in these areas

where some of the petal's been lost.

I've decided to use a wood filler.

It's not too hard, but it gives a
really nice smooth surface

to paint onto.

I'm just going to let this harden off
now and then I can sand

and shape the fills before retouching,

which, with this red,

can be quite tricky.

- Raring to repair, it's horologist
Steve Fletcher's time to shine.

- How many clocks have you worked on?
- Thousands and thousands.

I've been doing it half a century.

- Seriously? Wow! All right.

Got to take care of you, do you want
to sit down?

- Oh, bless you! No.

- There she is. Hello.

- Hello.

- So, what have we got inside?

- Jaswinder Bhogal from the West
Midlands has brought a treasured

possession that holds fond memories.

- So, it's my dad's clock.
- Yeah?

- It stopped working in 1985, when my
dad passed away.

And it hasn't worked since.

- Wow! What was Dad's name?

- Darshan. Darshan Singh Bansal.

My dad saw the clock at his first
cousin's house

and just fell in love with it.

And he wanted one exactly the same.

And so my cousin went out and bought
this clock for him.

- And what year was that?

- Around about the '60s.

- So what do you remember about this
clock from your childhood?

- It was the bane of my life!

- Well, what do you mean?

- It just constantly chimed.

When you're trying to watch something,
it chimed on the hour.

So, 1.00.



So by the time it's got to 7.00 on an
evening, all you can hear

is this chiming going on.

So we'd try and stop it from chiming

and stop the pendulum until my dad
found out.

- Wow!
- We weren't allowed to touch it ever
again!

- So if it was the bane of your life,

why would you want to get it repaired
now?

- Because I need my dad back in my
life.

- All right.

- It means a lot to me because this is
the only memory I've got of my dad.

And I just need something to hold on
to.

- Yeah.
- And it's the clock.

- Yeah.

- How old were you when your dad
passed?

- I was eight years old.
- Oh!

- He had a heart attack, just out of
the blue.

He was 48 when he died.

He was an absolutely wonderful bloke.

He was just lovely.

He was an entertainer.

He loved entertaining.

- Yeah.
- Loved cooking.

So Mum wasn't allowed to cook if we
had family round.

- Seriously?
- Yeah, it was Dad.

Dad did all the cooking.

He was a gentleman.
- Yeah.

- So, what will it mean to you if I
can get it striking again?

- Well, I'll just know my dad's there,

and that's all that matters.

- I see it's all held together with
tape?
- It is.

My brother tried to fix it a couple of
years ago, and he took

the hinges off and tried to keep it
all together.

We just want it working again.

- Right. I've got to get it done.

- Thank you for bringing it in.
- Thank you.

- You take care now.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.

- It's amazing, isn't it, how much
memory can be stored

in a thing like this?
- Yeah.

All right.
- Right.

This clock is a 30-day clock,

which means you wind it up once a
month.

Wow!

The first thing I can see is that
someone has put lots

and lots of oil on it and it's
probably the wrong

sort of oil because if you use an oil
that's too thick,

a clock will just stop working.

It's just thoroughly gummed up.

So I need to take the mechanism apart,
give it a really good clean,

and then I can identify if there's any
wear that I need to repair.

And then I'll give the case a really
good polish

and put some proper screws in.

The hot towel machine is starting to
come apart.

Oh, man, look in there.

If I can't get that nut removed, I'm
never going to be able

to get this handle off and get inside
the tap to clean out

all of that sludge inside there.

The nut is brass, the actual axle that
runs through the middle,

it's all quite soft and delicate
pieces of metal.

I'm using a soft hammer, so I'm not
causing any damage to the end

of the thread.

I've hit that as hard as I dare at the
moment.

You know what? I'm not going to push
my luck.

So I think the best thing to do

is soak this in my limescale removing
solution.

Hopefully after a bath in there, I'll
be able to get that axle out.

At this stage, I'm not sure

if we're going to be able to save
this.

Time will tell.

- While Dom waits for the solution to
work its magic on the seized tap,

it gives him a chance to lend a hand
on the Tower of London memento.

- OK, Jay has given me the stem of the
poppy that Kirsten

is working on.

I'm going to clean this up, remove the
rust, and then prime it

and paint it to protect it for the
future.

- That's the fills all smoothed back
and shaped.

And you can really see how that
poppy's coming back together now.

The next stage is going to be
retouching,

and whilst I normally love colour
matching,

I happen to know that these poppies

are quite difficult to get that exact
red.

So I'm going to see how I get along.

And looking at the colours I've got
here, I'm actually seeing

that there's a slight darkness,

possibly a blue or a brown.

So I'm going to add in a little bit of
a blue and see

whether that's right.

Actually, that colour looks pretty
good.

- Now the tap has had a good while

to soak in the limescale removing
solution,

that's amazing how much that's
removed.

I reckon if I clamp that back in the
vice and give that a wiggle,

carefully, that might come out.

Oh, it's worked, right.

If I wiggle that...

It all looks in good condition,
actually.

Just needs a bit of a clean up, and I
reckon that's good to go.

Panos's hot towel machine has a leak.

I've found where it is, there's a
little hole.

It's right here.

But I'm going to try my very best to
solder this hole back up.

Here we go, then.

Well...

I'll tell you what, I'm actually
really pleased with that.

But it doesn't really matter what it
looks like.

The whole point is that it doesn't
leak, and holds water.

The only way I'm going to know that is
by filling it up

and testing it again.

- Steve's skills are being stretched
by the 30-day clock.

- I've unleashed the main springs of
the clock.

And they're really long

and they're long because they have to
give the clock power for 30 days.

This is the main spring that drives
the time side of the clock.

The other drives the striking
mechanism.

They're also absolutely covered with a
thick, thick grease,

and it just doesn't wash off.

So I'm having to use some wire wool
and some detergent

and really press hard to get it all
off, because if a main spring

doesn't slip nicely against each
other,

then it just won't release the power
nice and smoothly.

Hello, Louise.

- Oh, hello, come on in!

- I think this is probably one of the
longest springs

I've ever had to clean.

Good.

- Having perfected the poppy's colour,
Kirsten's finishing the last petal.

- Hello, hello.
- Hey!

- You OK?
- Yeah, fantastic.

You've done it?
- Yes.

Sandblasted it, stripped it, primed,
repainted.

I did have to replace these two little
bits of rubber, though,

like for like.

But they were just completely
corroded.
- OK.

- And they're holding it all together,
believe it or not.

- Do we know what order they go?
- I'm just trying to think.

- I think this one was definitely
on...

That one was on the top.

- Well, see how you go.

But I would start with that, yeah.
- Coward!

- All right. Good luck.
- Thank you very much, Dom.

That looks great.

- This poppy was one of thousands of
unique handmade flowers

that formed part of a moving and
monumental installation

at the Tower of London,

commemorating lives lost in the First
World w*r.

- Kirsten, you ready?
- Yeah, absolutely.

Don't sneeze.

- I'm not going to sneeze. You best
not sneeze.

Oh!
- And breathe!

- For ex-soldier Stef and her stepmum
Alex, the poppy holds even greater

meaning, reminding them of much missed
father and husband, Pete.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- How are we doing?
- Good. How are you?

- Very good. You all right?
- Yeah.

- Bit nervous.
- Yeah, very nervous.
- Why?

- It's just emotional.

It's just been, you know, a bit of
another roller-coaster

of bringing back the...

the lovely thoughts of Pete and...

Yeah, and the special day.

- Yeah. You guys ready to see it?

- Yeah, yeah.
- OK.

- Oh!

- Oh, wow!

- That's so smart.
- Yeah.

- Oh, thank you, it looks amazing.

Oh, my God.

- That's absolutely amazing.

- It looks so shiny.

That looks so good.

I'm so chuffed, can I...
- Of course.
- ..twizzle it?

Oh, my gosh.

That just looks so smart.

I'm chuffed to bits.

Thank you.

- It's just overwhelming, really,
because it's like...

It's really hard when you lose
somebody, you know,

and when you... a treasure, that was a
treasure to him.

To have it put back into the way it
should be,

it's quite magical, isn't it, really?
- Yeah.

- Wow!

Wow!

- Oh!
- So are you going to take it out?

- You carry it out.
- No, I'm going to give it to you.

- Oh!
- Because...

Because that's what your dad would
have wanted.

Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Thank you so much.
- You're very welcome.

- Thank you.
- Here you go, sweetheart.

- Take care.
- Thank you.

- Both of you, take care.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.

Well done, you.

Perfect!

- It feels like I've restored a memory
of Pete.

And it felt...

I feel so relieved to see it in one
piece.

To be able to give it to Stephanie,
which Peter would have wanted,

is just amazing.

- He'd be chuffed to bits that it's
been repaired.

And I think that we've done this
together and made a memory.

So it's memories upon memories
attached to this poppy now.

Yeah.

- Good to have you back.
- Thank you, Jay.

- You glad to be here?
- Yeah, fun.

- Bless you.

- Paper conservator Louise Drover is
here to help sisters

Tiffany Watson and Sarah Blackman with
a very precious assignment.

- Hello.

- Hello.

- All right?
- You?

- Very good.
- Good, thank you.

- Have a seat.
- Hello.

- Wow!

And who have we got?
- Tiffany.

- I'm Sarah.

- So, who's this in the painting?

- This is Tracy, our older sister.

- And I can see the date on there, it
was painted in 1980?

- That's right, yeah.

- And how old was she there?

- She was 13.

Sadly, Tracey died at 13.

That's why the portrait was done of
her.

So, yeah.

So me and Tracey have two very rare
muscle wasting diseases.

Got central cord disease and malignant
hypothermia.

- What does that do? I've never heard
of that.

- So, the central core disease is the
physical disability,

it's under the umbrella of muscular
dystrophy.

- OK.
- And malignant hypothermia,

we're allergic to anaesthetic, but we
didn't actually know that

until, sadly, we went for, like, a
routine recorrection surgery.

Tracey, being a little bit older than
me, went in first,

and then obviously, she had the
reaction to the anaesthetic

and never came out, so...

- Sorry to hear that. So, how many
sisters are there?

How many...?
- There was three.

- Tracey was the eldest?

- Eldest, yeah. I'm the middle.

- Tiffany, younger. Yeah.

- So what was Tracey like?

- Very happy.
- Yeah, yeah.

Just fun-loving.

She got a good sense of humour.
- Yeah.

- Nothing really stopped her.

We all did the same things.

- We always played loads of games.

We were always together, very close
family.

Every night I'd go in and sleep with
Tracey.

When my mum and dad were, like, went
to bed,

I'd sneak in and I used to curl up
with her every night.

I felt very kindred with her.

- So was Tracey alive when this was
painted?

- No, I believe this was done after
she died.
- OK.

- So Mum and Dad wanted to have a
painting above our fireplace.

- And it was done from, like, a
portrait, a photograph,

that had been done of Tracey.

So that's where it came from.

- I think it was her last school
photograph.
- Yeah.

And the fact that it's a permanent
reminder of keeping Tracey,

like, alive in our memories, sort of
seeing her on the wall, smiling.

- Yeah.
- It means so much to the family.

- So how do you think this damage has
occurred?

- It was always in the family home, in
the lounge.

It was over a big open fire.

So I just, you know, maybe sort of the
heat, sort of, you know.

- We'll know more once it's opened.

- And what you would like Louise to do
is just basically bring it back

to the way it was when it was first
painted?

- Do your best, you know?

Anything's going to be brilliant.

- But I'm looking forward to working
on it, actually.

- Thank you.
- Be a pleasure.

- Be exciting to see it.
- Yeah.

- Well, thank you both for bringing it
in.

- Thank you very much.
- You take care.

- Thank you.
- We'll see you soon.

- Fine, thanks.

- That's weird how it's done that.
- It is, isn't it? Yeah.

- Certain spots.
- Yeah, I'm intrigued to open it,
actually.

- I'll leave it to you.
- Yeah, thank you very much.

It's a lovely thing, really delicately
done.

I think the artist has used either an
oil based pastel

or a sort of chalk type pastel,

and these are very loosely bound
drawings.

The thing that does distract is the
discoloration, but I think

if I open it, I'll probably know a
little bit more.

Oh, look at that staining.

Yes, there's the staining.

So whatever that was, which looks kind
of oily in a way,

it's clearly this that's had the
effect

on the actual drawing itself.

So the first thing I'll do is some
surface cleaning,

and it'll go through a whole wet
treatment process to try and remove

all this staining and at least reduce
it if it's not removable.

May need some retouching at that
stage,

perhaps more to disguise that staining
and eventually a new mount

and then reframing.

But first thing to do is to take off
all this tape.

- Yes!

- After hours and hours,

a lot of cleaning and scrubbing and
polishing,

the hot towel machine is looking good,
and I just need to put

all these pieces back on and then test
it and hope it doesn't leak.

This has definitely not been a
straightforward journey.

This tap has been a bit of a test.

But now it's turning nice and freely
and working perfectly.

OK.

Before I get too far into this
reassembly, I'm just going to fill

this up one last time and keep my
fingers crossed.

It's just starting to show on my water
gauge there.

I think, so far, no leaks.

Hopefully the tap should work as well.

Ha-ha!

Yes!

Well, I'm very pleased to say that
it's looking dry.

It's not leaking.

It's so nice to see it actually coming
back to life again.

I can now finish putting the last few
pieces on the door

and the shelves inside and of course,
the all-important

glass sign.

- Work continues on the stopped clock,

whose tick and chime

once provided the soundtrack to a
family home.

- I've got all of the parts of the
clock now really clean.

And I've just been checking out all of
the wheels in their pivot holes

in the place that they're supposed to
sit.

And it's identified that actually,

there is so much wear in this clock.

Dust just gets into the case and mixes
with the oil

in all the pivot holes and acts as a
grinding paste.

And that just makes the holes far too
big

for the clock to work.

So you've got this one pivot hole

with probably about,

almost half a millimetre of wear,
which in clock terms, is huge.

If that's worn, then the wheels don't
mesh properly.

Instead of nicely sort of meeting like
that,

they actually start hitting on the top
like that and causing

a lot of friction.

So what I need to do is reduce the
size of the pivot hole.

And to do that, I need to use a bush,

which is one of these little things.

Before I pop that into the plates,

I need to just open up the hole in the
centre there.

Big enough for the pivot just to slide
in nice and snugly.

I'm just going to open up the hole
using a broach,

which is a five sided, tapered cutting
tool.

And as I spin the lathe, just gently
push it in

and it opens up the hole

nice and evenly.

OK, that's tight enough, but not too
tight.

Now going to use a different sort of
cutting tool.

And this is a reamer, which again is
tapered, but will open up

the hole just the right size for the
bush to go in.

These sort of tools have been used for
hundreds of years.

The hole that it opens up is slightly
smaller than the bush.

So when you push the bush in, it holds
it so tight

that it won't come out.

And when I push it in, it'll be really
friction tight.

I'm just going to make sure that it
spins nicely.

Good. That's nice and smooth.

Just got another probably 12 to do.

And then I can get the clock back
together and get it ticking.

- In her effort to remove the oily
stain from the irreplaceable

portrait, Louise is deploying the
surprising combination

of water and paper.

- I'm humidifying Tracey's portrait,
just in readiness for washing.

Humidification will stretch the paper
and what we call

relax the paper.

Also helps me to highlight these oil
areas, and I noticed

that they didn't wet as readily as the
rest of the sheet.

I'm masking off that, the chalked
area, the drawn area.

We don't want that area saturated.

Looks pretty good.

I'm going to lift it off and take it
to the vacuum table.

There we go, this is a vacuum table.

It's basically full of holes.

It draws down moisture and it's
operated with a wet and dry vac,

which is behind me.

Moisture is pulled through and I can
treat stains individually

and for it to operate at its optimum
in the actual area of the artwork,

you just mask out these areas.

So I switch it on.

I can still see that the oiled areas
are slightly resilient,

so I'll turn the vacuum up a bit.

And I may add just pure alcohol to
those areas.

In theory, the alcohol acts a little
bit like washing up liquid

perhaps on a greasy plate or
something, and it just breaks

that surface tension.

I'm quite glad that Tiffany and Sarah
can't see what I'm doing.

I'm sure they're thoughts of adding
water and moisture to Tracey's

pastel must fill her with dread,
really,

but it is the right thing to do.

I think we'll try some on her chin.

It's always a bit scary to work
directly on the chalk,

but I'm looking at it all the time
actually, and I can see

it's quite stable, but I absolutely
love

the sort of trepidation of chalks,
actually.

I love the fear!

I think the alcohol has worked in
breaking up that surface tension

of the oil that's saturated into the
paper, should now move on to...

Sounds a bit frightening, but it's a
type of stabilised bleach,

and I'm hoping that the bleach

will actually lift the staining a lot
more.

This bleach is a conservation grade.

It's nothing like anyone would find
domestically in the house.

So I'll neutralise, just with water.

This is working really well.

There's plenty more to do once the
paper is dry.

It'll actually look more even.

So I think I'll just carry on doing
that and, yeah,

just keep going in the same way,
really.

- There you go.
- Thank you.

- Hot shot Dom may have got the towel
machine heating again,

but he's just getting warmed up on the
aesthetics.

- Panos has such vivid memories of
this hot towel machine

in his father's barbershop with the
all-important sign

above it saying, "Hot Towels."

I know that his friend made him this
sign

and bless him, it's lovely.

But it's not what Panos remembers.

So I'm going to replace it with a new
one.

I've got a new piece of glass the same
size.

I've drawn the lettering on with a
Chinagraph pencil,

which is ideal for drawing onto glass.

I'm using my sign writing enamel
paints for this.

It's very hard wearing paint.

Importantly, the colours are just very
strong.

There is no rushing this.

I do love sign writing.

I really, really do enjoy it.

It's really nice to put down the angle
grinders and the hammers

and just pick up the paintbrushes from
time to time.

When it goes well, it's really
rewarding and so far,

this is looking quite good.

Almost there with the top three
letters.

I just need to finish those, do the
bottom.

Once that's dried and finished,

the hot towel machine is almost ready
to go back to Panos.

- With three generations of Panos's
family in the barber trade,

this machine is a symbol of their
family's journey from 1950s Cyprus

to the flourishing family business
that it is today.

- Panos, hi.
- How are you, Dom?

- Welcome back. I'm very good, thank
you.

How have you been since leaving the
hot towel machine?

- Oh, well, yes, good, thank you.

- What are you hoping I've done?

- First of all, it's working.

- It's been a while since it's worked?
- Yes.

Late '80s was the last time it worked.

- Do you want to see it?
- Oh, please, yeah.

Wow!

That used to be behind me.

Oh!

And the sign!

Oh, my God!

You're a master, my boy.

Oh, wow!

Preloaded with towels as well.

When it's too hot...
- You can still hold it.

So that's OK.
- That's OK.

And then you spread it around the
face.

- You cover your whole face?
- Yeah.
- Like this?

- You wrap it around, soften it all
up, and they're ready.

- It sounds lovely.

- It's the memories all coming
flooding back.

You know, of good days.

You don't know you're having these
good days

when you're going through them.

When you lose, like we've lost my
father,

Peter Adamou,

you realise those days were the most
precious, really.

- It's a special thing, isn't it?

- Astonished. It's...

It's as it was.

- So what's the plan for it now?

- It goes back to our shop in
Shanklin.

It's told the story up to now and it's
going to continue

telling a story with my son, Alex, who
eventually

is going to take over.
- Amazing.

The next generation.
- Next generation.

- Fantastic. You pleased?

- Amazing. Oh, ecstatic.

I mean, thank you.

Thank you, Dom.
- You're so welcome.

See you later.
- Bye.

Having the hot towel machine

feels like an old member of the family
that's returned.

To see the steam coming through, to
hear the noises,

it was, for me, like going back in
time.

It's an incredible feeling.

They were happy days, the good old
days.

Hopefully my father is smiling down
from up above and appreciating

that we've got it back working as good
as it was.

- The stained chalk portrait has had
its own makeover.

- The vacuum process has worked very
well, actually,

and it's just necessary to retone some
of that sort of scarring

that's left over from the oil.

And I use a chalk, a pure pigment
chalk for that.

I'll use the finer sharpened ones just
to get into any detail.

And then I also use pastels,

which are sort of formed as a block
like this.

There's a lot of different colours
going on when you look closely,

so you're trying to mask out that
yellow first and then on top

of it, you want to put sort of pinky
blue.

You want a mixture.

I tend to use soft cotton buds

because it just dislodges the pastel.

So there's no clear chalk lines.

Gradually it will just blend in.

I can see why this is so important to
Sarah and Tiffany.

It's probably one of the last memories
of their sister.

Very sweet thing.

- With the inner workings of the 1960s
clock swinging again,

Steve can turn his attention to the
battered outer case.

- It's all polishing up quite well.

There are a few little dings and
blemishes,

but it's just a part of its age.

Now that I've got all these parts
cleaned up,

I might just leave the door off until
I get the mechanism in.

And then the last thing I can do is
then pop the door back on

and all will be working.

I'm very excited.

Even though I've been doing it for
half a century, I still get

a huge buzz out of doing it.

- This clock's incessant chiming may
once have irked,

but it's been silent since 1985.

- You happy?
- Really happy, yeah.

- I can't wait to hear it.
- Sounds good.

- For Jaswinder,

hearing the clock again will conjure
up precious childhood memories

of her beloved dad.

- Hello.
- Hello.

- Hi. Welcome back.
- Hi. Thank you.

- You excited to see the clock?

- Really excited, yeah.

It's the only lasting memory of my
dad.

I'm looking forward to seeing it
again.

- Do you want to have a look?

- Yes, please.
- Yeah? Go on, Steve.

- Oh, my God!

Thank you.

It's beautiful.

Beautiful.

It was his pride and joy.

- Just going to set it ticking.

- CLOCK CHIMES

- It still chimes!

Wait until it's 12.00, that's the
annoying one.

- Drive you mad!

- Drive you mad when it's 12.00.

- It's been a while since you've heard
it do that?

- Yes, definitely. 40 years.

Yeah.

Oh, it just takes me back to my
childhood,

just hearing that ticking again.

It's just amazing. Absolutely amazing.

- I'm so pleased you're happy with it.

- I appreciate that. Thank you.

- Lovely to meet you. Thank you.
- You too.

Thank you.
- See you soon.
- OK, bye.

It takes me back to my childhood.

It takes me back to when I was six,
seven, just running around the house

and hearing it.

And to me, it means that my dad's
still around, and always will be.

He's back again.

- Some meticulous retouching has
restored the portrait

of a much missed little girl.

Louise must now ensure her work is
preserved for years to come.

- To prepare the frame in a
conservation manner,

I would line these rebates.

And what that does is, it seals all
the insects out and the dirt

and the dust and anything that can get
trapped

onto the artwork.

This is an acid free paper tape,
actually.

You just moisten it and just fit it
along this rebate.

It's not seen at all.

I'm excited to see Tiffany and Sarah's
reaction to this, actually,

because it is so incredibly different.

And even I wasn't sure how it would
come out, which is often

the exciting thing about conservation.

You know, we don't ever fully know how
things will come out.

I will just let that dry.

And once it's dry, double check the
glass and it can all be

assembled and it's ready to go.

- The portrait of Tracey honoured the
memory of a young girl

whose life was tragically cut short,

but the years had left their mark.

- All done?
- Yeah, all done.

There she is.

- It's lovely.

Right, let's get it covered up.

- Now Tiffany and Sarah have returned,

longing to see the image of their big
sister

just as they remember her.

- Hello.

Welcome back.

Both looking very floral and bright
today.

- Yep.
- I feel like I've underdressed!

What are you hoping that Louise has
managed to do for you?

- I'm obviously hoping what I call,
like, the rusting effect has gone.

- Yeah.

Should we have a look?
- Yeah.

- Yeah? Right, Louise.

- Oh, wow!
- Oh, my God!

- Yeah.

- That is totally brilliant.
- Yeah.

- It's the colour, it's really good.

Like, the...

It's all, like, where all the damage
was at the top,

that's... you can't even see that.

It's really good.

- You can just see how happy she was
at the time

the picture was taken.

- It's just like having her back with
us,

that we're all together again.

And it's...

That's what it is. It's just, that's
all.

- Well, she's in the best condition
she can be in now.

So I hope you enjoy having her back...

- Thank you.
- ..where she belongs.

- Thank you very much.

- When I look at the portrait,

the memories are just of how happy we
were growing up.

We had a lovely childhood, so, yeah,
it's just her smiling back.

I can remember her as vivid as I see
it as the picture.

So...

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