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Crystal Repair (with samples)
"The kids / dog / husband / wife / maid / guests broke my family heirloom!!!!" Does your beautiful piece have a chip?
Don't worry. Send it to us, or bring it in.
Come and see why many of the largest decorative crystal stores send their customers with repair issues to us.
See why we are only of of two companies in the entire Chicago and Northern Illinois area that Waterford of Ireland gives repair referrals to. About our capabilities: - We repair crystal and glass by way of cutting, grinding and polishing. This is called "cold glass work". We do not do any "hot glass work" such as melting the glass via kilns, torches or furnaces. ...Please note that it is not possible to fill holes in glass. We can only grind a piece down, or replace a top or base entirely, or grind the two broken surfaces on either side of a break so that they may be bonded together.
- We bond pieces together using premium Ultra Violet light-catalyzed glue. For this technique to work, the pieces must be a clean break and perfect fit.
- Finally, we often use a combination of cutting, polishing and bonding.
How do I send in items for repair? - You order a repair by actually ordering a Cystal, or Glass, Repair item from us.: (Note: *** Repair Order item is at bottom of this page. ***)
- You only need to order one Repair Order, no matter how many items you are sending.
- In the description field, tell us whether you want us to e-mail you a cost estimate (we must have the items in hand) or just go ahead and repair. Note: Our pricing is always fair, and we will not send an estimate for something that is a typical repair (eg. $25 standard for chips on the rim of a glass, etc.)
- Also in the description field, tell us about the item(s).
- Click the "Add to Cart" button
- Check out. (fill in all payment info.)
- Print an extra copy of the Order Invoice so that you can send it in the carton you will be sending us.
- Pack your crystal or glass extremely well. We are not responsible for breakage incurred in transit from you to us.
- Ship your repair carton to our address (listed on the order item below).
- After we see your glass or lead crystal, we will:
- repair it, charge you, and ship it back, if you already approved the job, or
- tell you how we might repair it, and the cost, if you are awaiting a proposal.
Typical Pricing: | Common repair example | Price | Depends upon... | | UV glue-bond pieces together from a perfect, clean break, or with small art pieces, such as Swarovski, etc. | $5 - $35/ joint | size of broken pieces; value of piece | | Remove chips from top of crystal goblets, flutes, stemware, etc. (our most common repair) | $20 - $39 | depth of chips; thickness of stemware; and value of piece. Price is usually $25. | | Remove chips from top of flat-top bowl | $50 - $150 | depth of chips, thickness and weight of bowl; value of piece. More if bowl is very heavy. | | Radical cut and reshape of thick lead crystal bow or vase. | $150 - $400 | amount and size of cuts, shape of piece, value of piece. |
Samples of Our Work Note the before and after photos. This beautiful vase needed a massive chip removed from the top lip. This is a common type of repair. 
| Below, you can see the very long and unfortunate crack in this thick Waterford lead crystal vase. We took advantage of the fact that crack did not go through the original artist's palm tree design. We did a radical cut and polish on the top of the vase, which removed the crack and highlighted the original artwork. 
| Below, we have a wonderful round bowl, with a chip (right side of bowl top) that goes past the bevel, and into the bowl proper.
We had to come up with something better than simply cutting the whole rim, plus a little more, off of the top of the bowl.
We modeled the bowl on a computer and calculated how few scallops we could reasonably cut into the top in order that the new cuts looked pleasing, evenly distributed, and would, of course, envelop the original chip.
Our customer was in on the process from the beginning and was very pleased. 
| Sometimes customers just give us boxes of broken Svarovski crystal and hope for the best.
In the top photo we have pieces. In the bottom photo, we have the repaired and cleaned crystal figurines. 
| On the items below, we had to replace both crystal tops of this very decorative set of flutes with ones that we lovingly hacked off a pair of high-quality crystal flutes that had crystal stems. 
| If the break is clean, and the piece is saved in tact, we can often bond it back in such a fashion that one is hard pressed to find the original seam. 
| We probably repair more lead crystal goblets and flutes than any other item. Some of them are quite thin and ornate. Usually the grinding does not alter the height to any noticeable degree. Occasionally, we will have to make the glass shorter, or shrink its base, if there are chips there as well. 
| This very old Waterford design in lead crystal used to have a circular top, but the chips were so massive that we had to reshape the piece.
Luckily the chips just barely missed the beautiful designer cuts done on the sides of the piece, and we were able to leave all the artistic cuts and reshape the top into a sort of clover design. 
| The woman who brought this set in was heartbroken that the lead crystal that she had hand-picked while shopping in Italy with her husband was broken during shipping to the U.S. She was pregnant and wanted to get the piece repaired before she had her first baby.
Now we're not going to claim that the peace of mind that we gave her strongly affected the developing baby in the womb, and that they lived happily ever after ...but then again, we wouldn't deny it either. 
| This beautiful, heavy, lead crystal bowl had two very sharp corners opposite each other on the lobes of the top rim. One corner had huge chunks broken out of it. We decided to round the lobe, and then round the opposite lobe to match it. The customer loved the results. 
| Some of the pieces we work on are quite ornate, and require polishing on their interior. 
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