Our Artists’ Most Loved Tools

“I use hundreds of pigments, and I use them everyday. I can imagine and create any color because of them. They can be mixed into any medium and I can color-match anything, on any surface texture or sheen, high gloss or matte: it’s all made possible with the different powdered pigments.”

Laura has spent over 20 years as a decorative arts conservator at Trefler’s, during which she has developed an exacting eye and wealth of knowledge on the nuances of color. Specializing in decorative and faux painting and specifically color-matching, her pigment collection (which includes hundreds of tubs of powdered pigments) is in a sense like a chemist’s laboratory. 

In decorative arts restoration, pigments are an essential tool which make creating flawless treatments and camouflaging damage possible. Pigments are often inorganic compounds that can be suspended, or essentially mixed with a carrier or liquid medium to apply color to a surface. Historic examples of pigments include ochre, charcoal and lapis lazuli. Because they are fairly stable and resilient in their powdered form, they have a long shelf life when stored correctly.

Laura’s extensive collection of pigments is stocked with variety of hues that can recreate any color imaginable. Having inherited the collection from her predecessors at the studio, it’s been built up over decades and includes at least ten variations of gold, over five iterations of silver and a huge variety of the color blue. She explains that some are extremely rare: these are also her most prized hues. “One pigment I can’t find anymore, is an ultra marine blue that has been discontinued from the manufacturer – I have just a little bit left and keep scraping at the bottle to get every last bit of it.”

Bernard Murphy is Head Conservator for Trefler’s Furniture Restoration Department. His focus is in structural and cosmetic repairs, as well as designing and fabricating custom furniture, art displays and frames. While he has some fairly impressive tools at the studio to claim as his favorite, the Japanese Ryoba Pull Saw is a testament to his hand skills with wood as a medium. “It cuts flush to any surface and is the best way to get a straight line, even cut by hand.” Bernard’ s love for woodworking started at age seven and continues today.

The double-edged sword. The Ryoba Pull Saw is one of the most versatile of Japanese saws. It has both small teeth for cutting across wood grain and larger teeth for making rip cuts. It’s a 10-inch blade with nine teeth per inch (or tpi) on its rip side with fifteen on crosscut. It’s a beautiful object with etched characters identifying the blade’s maker.

Chris Keiffer is a Senior furniture conservator and works primarily on structural repairs and finishing furniture and antiques. His most prized tool happens to also be a  very special family heirloom. 

“I would have to say my favorite tool in this studio is the antique drill press. It used to belong to my grandfather. He kept it in his basement workshop and I was always fascinated by it when I was a kid. It’s pretty amazing how it well it works after all these years. The engineering is fantastic will all the gears and wheels. He took great care of it and I’m excited to have it at my bench now.” 

Sarah Robison is Senior Conservator in Trefler’s Decorative Arts & Books Department. Sarah is extremely knowledgeable in conservation of a wide variety of materials including ceramics, glass, porcelain and frames, but one of her favorite specialties is bound materials and books. 

A very sturdy companion, this iron press is a fixture at Sarah’s work desk at the studio. Sarah explains, “My parents bought this for me after graduating from the bookbinding program at North Bennet Street School in 2004. I remember I was particularly grateful because they’re so heavy and very hard to ship!  For repairs, I would use it for sewing extra pages, folding and pressing.”

Sam’s describes the importance of the electric hide glue pot: the glue crystals are dissolved in water inside the mason jar. The pot heats water outside the jar which evenly warms the glue without drying it out. The glue can then be applied with a brush or occasionally a syringe. Hide glue is a traditional glue with many great features (it is strong but dissolves in water, making it easy to clean) and is appropriate for antique repairs and especially veneer repair.


 
 

Ely assists with logistics in addition to tackling more hands on projects in the furniture restoration department. While his camera is one of his most beloved sidekicks (he is responsible for the image above) the hand plane is his other beloved tool.

“The hand plane seems kind of outdated in the modern workshop but I love the precision and control the plane offers when removing fine amounts of material from the surface of a piece. The finish a plane can produce is glassy smooth to the touch and dead flat if your technique is on point, plus nothing beats the sound of a sharp plane going through wood.”