How to Repair a Plaster Statue

Kids, rowdy friends, even a too-enthusiastic dusting can jeopardize your mantelpiece Venus de Milo or shrine to the Infant of Prague. Here's what to do.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Spackle
• Acrylic Paints
• Glues
• Nail Files

1. Brush off loose dust; save any big pieces.
2. Spread glue thinly and to the edge of broken surfaces.
3. Fit the pieces together as well as possible. Add back any loose chips, but make sure the edge is smooth.
4. Allow to dry.
5. Use household spackle to fill the crack, smoothing with your fingertips when wet and with an emery board when dry. (Spackle contracts as it dries, so you may need to repeat this step.)
6. Mix acrylic paint to match (remember, it dries a bit darker) and dab on.

Tips & Warnings

• If the broken surface is big enough, and if the break seems likely to recur (for example, if the piece that broke off is an appendage that sticks out), drill a small hole with a narrow drill bit into both the base and the broken piece, and insert and glue on a piece of toothpick or wire; this will anchor the two pieces together.
• Plaster dust is messy, so do the emery board step over newspaper.

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