Mega NoVeLas 2025
  • 4 hours ago
The Repair Shop S14 E09

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00Hello, in you go.
00:02A dream team of master craftspeople.
00:05This is quite a project.
00:07It's huge, yeah.
00:08Under one roof.
00:09Who wants a cup of tea?
00:11Together...
00:13Look at the colour.
00:14Absolutely amazing.
00:15Teamwork.
00:16They can repair anything.
00:18If someone's made it, then I can fix it.
00:20It's not bad.
00:21This is quite the conundrum.
00:23Kitching.
00:24Transforming the feed-in.
00:26This is major.
00:27It's just rotten.
00:28I don't think I've ever seen a wheel that bad.
00:30Back to fantastic.
00:35This is not the same table.
00:36I'm going to have to give you a hug.
00:38Reigniting the stories they hold.
00:41I'm going to have this smile on my face for a long time.
00:47Welcome to the repair shop.
00:59Morning, Pete.
01:00Morning, Chris.
01:01Have a good one.
01:02Hope so.
01:12Tea.
01:13Watch out, it's hot.
01:15Milky, no sugar.
01:16There you go, got it right.
01:19First, smoke and mirrors from times past.
01:24Camilla Krask from Abingdon
01:26has a groundbreaking form of Victorian entertainment
01:29she'd like to see back in action.
01:32Hi.
01:33Hi, nice to meet you.
01:34Nice to meet you too.
01:35What have you brought in for us?
01:37Well, I'll just get it all out here.
01:39Get it all out?
01:40My goodness me.
01:41Yes, there's lots to it.
01:43There seems to be a lot of paper here.
01:45I'm going to need some help with this.
01:47Angie, do you have a second?
01:49Angelina Bacalaru has clocked up nearly 20 years
01:53of paper conservation experience.
01:56Any guesses?
01:57I don't know.
01:58Camilla, you're going to have to help us out.
02:00So this is called a zoetrope
02:02and it's a very early animation device.
02:05So basically you take the spindle and that fits into the bottom.
02:09OK.
02:11And then these are all different scrolls here
02:14with numerous rolls of pictures.
02:16One of the scrolls would then go inside the drum with a candle
02:21which would go in the middle and then it would spin
02:24and it makes the picture move through the spokes at the sides.
02:27It's a very, very early animation.
02:29Very, very early.
02:30And thanks to my lovely dad and other members of our family
02:33we've kind of pieced it together
02:35and we think my great-great-great-grandfather Theodore
02:39actually made it about 1850s.
02:42Do you know much more about him?
02:43So he was chief draftsman of the Darlington Railway
02:46which meant that he would do a lot of technical drawings of trains,
02:49that kind of thing.
02:51From what we've gathered, one thing he would do
02:53was to give lectures about the human eye just as a hobby
02:57so we think this might well link to his ideas about the human eye
03:01and the way it's a bit of an illusion really, I suppose,
03:04when you spin the drum and the pictures come to life.
03:08With their ability to animate a strip of drawings,
03:12evolving zoetropes delighted Victorians of all ages.
03:16Later incarnations laid the foundations
03:19for the development of moving film.
03:23It went to my granny Jean in the 1970s, roughly.
03:27I would go and spend time with my granny
03:29and she had this cupboard where we would keep our toys and things
03:33and in that cupboard was this box.
03:35It's one of those things as a child, I think,
03:38that when you find something so unusual
03:40it sticks in your mind, really.
03:42So it's now come to me, remembering how much I loved it,
03:45I thought I would love to get it repaired.
03:47Well, on that note, what are you hoping that we're able to do?
03:51So you can see the paint is flaking away quite badly
03:56and inside we've got these metal prongs that hold the scrolls
04:00and I think there's only one remaining.
04:03Yeah, OK.
04:04And then in terms of the scrolls,
04:06it would just be really lovely to try to repair some of the artwork
04:09where we can and perhaps maybe give it a little bit of a clean
04:12where that's possible. Absolutely.
04:14I think the main thing for us is just to be able to have it
04:17in that usable state again, really.
04:19Which is going to involve some kind of stand. Yes.
04:21Ideally, it would be lovely to have a wooden base
04:23so it can freestand to make sure my children can now enjoy it.
04:27That would be really, really special.
04:29Honestly, thank you so much for trusting us
04:31with this amazing piece of history.
04:33Thanks very much. OK, bye. See you later.
04:36We've got our work cut out for us, don't we?
04:39Yes. I'll take the metal bits.
04:41I better speak to Will, actually. Hopefully he can make us a stand.
04:44OK. Here we go. See you on the other side.
04:59This is probably one of the most exciting things that I've seen
05:03in a while.
05:05However, the scrolls themselves, they're quite dirty.
05:09They've been very well used.
05:11The paper will not stay flat.
05:13I can see that there's little losses here and there.
05:16So what I want to do is just blend everything in.
05:19So I think the first thing that I need to do is clean.
05:22Because essentially this is a painted surface,
05:25I need to test and see whether it's soluble to water.
05:29If I don't test this,
05:31I run the risk of actually losing the painted surface.
05:37All right, so I can already see a bit of red coming out,
05:41which tells me that this is sensitive to water.
05:44So I will work on the area of the background.
05:48I need to go as close as I can,
05:50but not close enough to reactivate these paints.
05:54Ooh!
05:56OK, this is looking good already.
05:59I can already see the dirt being picked up.
06:03I really need to take my time, be careful with it.
06:07Once done, I've got three more scrolls to go.
06:17The barn's next project
06:19is a pair of furniture-designed canopies.
06:22This is a pair of furniture-designed classics.
06:25Great chairs.
06:27Beautiful chairs.
06:29I don't know what's happened to them.
06:31They smell quite damp from here.
06:33I was about to say, the smell is quite strong, isn't it?
06:36Bound to keep woodworker Will and upholstery queen Sonez busy,
06:40these forlorn chairs belong to Roger Parsons.
06:45Hello. Hello.
06:47You must be Roger. I am.
06:49Yes. They are indeed.
06:51Yeah, not looking so lovely now, are they?
06:53Yes, they've seen better days, I have to say.
06:56Well, they once belonged to my twin brother, Chris.
06:59He had them when he lived in Cornwall in the late 80s, early 90s.
07:03An opportunity for work took him to Florida,
07:06but he kept the house, rented it out with his possessions
07:09and then he sold it
07:11and I was tasked with emptying the contents out.
07:14And the chairs were amongst those items.
07:17Chris sadly lost his life to cancer back in July 22.
07:23Were you close as brothers?
07:25Growing up, yes.
07:27We were born 17 minutes apart.
07:29Oh, really?
07:30Chris was born at ten past ten, I was born at 27 minutes past ten.
07:33Were you identical twins?
07:35No, but we did everything together.
07:37You know, we played rugby, played sport together.
07:40Chris was always one step ahead, you know,
07:42so I kind of hung on to his shirt tails,
07:44but he had my back and I had his.
07:46He was confident in everything.
07:49He didn't really shirk a challenge.
07:51He made him very popular with the girls throughout his life, actually.
07:56It's just that family bond, you'd never...
07:58It becomes more important, the older you get, I think.
08:01When he moved to Florida, you know, we'd see one another most years
08:05and when we got together, just having a good time together,
08:08you know, we just picked up where we left off.
08:10Mm-hm. Yeah.
08:11Chris obviously had great taste because these are Urkel chairs,
08:14quite stunning pieces.
08:16These were designed 100 years ago, if not more, and they're handmade.
08:21Right, I hadn't realised that at all.
08:23He would have known that, I'm sure,
08:25which is why he always said to me, hang on to the chairs.
08:28But as you can see, I didn't really look after them
08:30as well as I might have done.
08:32I've had them in storage, but it was damp storage.
08:34They'd been under tarpaulin with a lot of other things in my lock-up.
08:37We've got fractures here.
08:39You can see a lot of water damage, loose joints.
08:42Were there cushions on the chairs? There must have been.
08:45Completely rotted away, then? Yeah.
08:47I'm just ashamed, actually, that they've ended up in this condition.
08:51Now that Chris has gone, you know,
08:54everything that was attached to him is of greater significance to me.
08:59If they can be repaired, to be sat on, that would be something.
09:03Just be another reminder of Chris, really.
09:06We do our very best. Appreciate that very much.
09:08Nice to see you. Nice to see you too.
09:10Lovely to meet you. See you again.
09:12Thank you. Take care.
09:18Will, you've got so much work to do. Thanks.
09:21You've got work to do on the upholstery?
09:23Yeah, totally new upholstery. It's going to be a big, big task.
09:27Over to my bench first, I think, and I'll have a look.
09:30OK.
09:41BANG
09:49I've never seen chairs so bad.
09:52That crack at the top there,
09:54I'm not sure if I can fill that with something.
09:56And down at the bottom here,
09:58where it actually fits into the base of the chair,
10:01that has all crumbled away.
10:03I'm not too sure I'm going to fix this.
10:05These chairs are made of beech.
10:07Dirtiness has really got inside the wood
10:09and they've become incredibly mouldy as well.
10:12The arms have almost gone to a black colour
10:15and that's where mould and water has got inside.
10:18So if that won't come out, it's going to look really odd.
10:21I'm intending to strip these right back,
10:23but before I do, I'm actually going to remove
10:25as much of the surface dirt and surface mould as possible.
10:29There's a long journey ahead,
10:31but it's going to be worthwhile for Chris's memory.
10:37MUSIC
10:46The restoration of the Victorian zoetrope is well under way.
10:51Dom has been working on the formerly flaky spinning cylinder
10:55that holds the paper drawings.
10:58I've stripped all of the paint off of the outside.
11:01Lovely, beautiful old paint, but it was just crumbling away.
11:04I'm going to repaint that in a very matte black,
11:07but I'm going to keep holding the paint on the inside
11:09because that is in much better condition.
11:12I'm just working on tinning the ends of my new prongs
11:16that are going to hold the paper scroll in place,
11:19basically coating it in a layer of the solder.
11:22There's already six spots of solder inside,
11:25clearly where prongs like these used to be.
11:28So in theory, I could just offer that up in the position I want it
11:31and hopefully the solder should melt just enough
11:33that they should fuse together and hold in position.
11:36I'm going to just stick my prong onto a piece of wood.
11:40It's going to keep my hands out of the drum
11:42so I can actually get my other hand in there with the blowtorch.
11:52Right, there we go. Brilliant.
11:55It looks good. Just need to do that a few more times.
12:02I am really, really pleased with the way the cleaning went.
12:06The main issues structurally, there's what we call tenting.
12:11This scroll is made out of two or three different pieces of paper.
12:16With all the use, it will just point because there's no support.
12:20It's really creased, so it's a weak spot right here.
12:24I want it to stay as flat as possible.
12:27So I'm just going to use a wide strip of paper
12:30just to give it a nice little brace.
12:33I'm using a Japanese tissue.
12:36I'm just using my water pen to score it.
12:40I don't want to cut it with a pair of scissors
12:43because I want the strips to be nice and feathered.
12:46Sharp edges can't be hidden,
12:49but feathered edges like these can be hidden easier.
12:53I'm just going in with wheat starch paste.
12:56It creates a very good bond
12:59between the paper and the Japanese tissue,
13:02and it dries clear, which is important.
13:05Even though this is structural,
13:08I do want to make sure that it's as invisible as possible.
13:24Next, Janneke O'Halban,
13:27with a precious link to her Sri Lankan heritage,
13:31in need of ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsey.
13:35Hi there.
13:37Welcome.
13:39Nice to meet you.
13:41Right then, what have you brought?
13:44So, I have a ceramic statue of a Buddha.
13:47A statue that's been in the family for at least 70 years.
13:52I know that my grandma Nancy had this statue
13:56and she gifted it to my mum Lila when my mum was 18 in 1960.
14:00Oh, wow.
14:02It was around that time that my mum decided to leave the family home
14:06on the south coast of Sri Lanka.
14:08She wanted to start a new life for herself in the big city in Colombo,
14:12which actually was quite unusual for that culture and that generation,
14:16for a young woman to leave the family home and not be married.
14:20So, she was more of an adventurer than your mum.
14:23There was a real adventurous streak to her.
14:26She was given an opportunity with quite a large, wealthy Sri Lankan family
14:31to become a live-in nanny for their youngest child
14:34until they decided that they were going to emigrate to the UK.
14:37Right.
14:39They said to mum, do you want to come over for a year or two,
14:42help her settle into life in the UK?
14:44And she jumped at the opportunity and the statue followed her.
14:47Oh, wow.
14:49So, they moved to London, West London, and they wanted to redecorate the house.
14:54And my dad was one of the decorators.
14:57They dated for about a year and then they got married
15:01and then that's when they decided to settle in the UK.
15:04Oh, wow. That was in 1974.
15:06What a lovely story.
15:08Did she manage to keep in contact with her own family?
15:12They very much stayed in touch,
15:14but once she moved to the UK, she never saw her mum and dad again.
15:18I think times were hard for mum, you know, with a young family
15:21in terms of material possessions,
15:23and so travelling abroad to see family was just not something that we did.
15:28Gosh, that's quite sad. So, I never knew my grandma.
15:31So, do you remember this when you were growing up?
15:34Yeah, it was a constant in the house.
15:36My mum was a devout Buddhist. Yeah.
15:38She would worship pretty much on a daily basis.
15:42She had, like, a brass oil burner and she'd burn that when she was praying.
15:46The statue was the sort of centrepiece of her shrine at home.
15:49I think when she was dying,
15:51she always felt like she wasn't leaving enough behind for us.
15:55But I wish she knew how much of a legacy she's left,
15:58just in the way she raised us and the values that she instilled in us.
16:02And the statue is so important to me
16:04because it's a symbol of mum's journey.
16:07She was just wonderful.
16:09And what I really want is for my daughter
16:11to inherit the statue at some point in the future.
16:15So, can I ask what's happened to the Buddha?
16:18Yeah. You can see the base has sort of chipped away
16:21and I don't know if it has toppled over, maybe.
16:24There's a lot of damage to the fingers,
16:27which actually, the gesture is quite an important part of the statue.
16:32Yes.
16:33So, every statue of the Buddha has a different mudra,
16:36which effectively is a hand gesture.
16:39This particular one, that hand that is like that,
16:44that symbolises the transmission of knowledge.
16:47And then there's more recent damage to the wheel at the back.
16:51But I never saw it looking brand new.
16:53So, something that's quite sympathetic, really.
16:56Yeah. It would mean the world
16:58because, you know, it's just a constant reminder, really, of mum's life.
17:02Thank you so much for bringing this in.
17:06I think it's beautiful.
17:08Thank you so much.
17:09My absolute pleasure. I'll be in touch.
17:11Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.
17:14Bye.
17:30Janaki's mother's faith was really important to her
17:34and this Buddha was very much a part of her worship.
17:38And as part of that, she's lit candles
17:43to remove the soot from the flame.
17:46I'm going to see if I can just improve the look of it slightly.
17:50The fingers need making up
17:52and also this wheel at the back need bonding and filling.
17:57And then there's the retouching.
17:59It also would have had a base at some point
18:03and I need to make up a plaster section and adhere it to the base.
18:09I'm going to start off with cleaning that surface dirt
18:14that's built up over the years of use.
18:19I can see that there's a little bit of dirt on that cotton wool swab
18:23so that's a good start.
18:26After sanding back the twin chairs,
18:30Will's spirits are dampened.
18:33I was really hoping that a lot of the water damage
18:36would be on the surface of the wood
18:38so I kind of thought a lot of that would disappear
18:41but unfortunately, that's not the case.
18:43A lot of that stain is deep inside the wood
18:46so I've decided to bleach the chairs.
18:49I don't know if this is going to work
18:51but I think this is pretty much my only option here.
18:58Now whilst this is dry, you can't really see the damage very much
19:03but when it's wet, you can really see the difference now.
19:08So this lighter colour up here is what it should look like
19:11but as it goes down to the bottom, it becomes incredibly black.
19:15The water's really gotten there.
19:17I'm going to carry on adding this bleach now
19:19to all the rotten and stained areas.
19:22Once that's dried, fingers crossed,
19:25these chairs are going to be on the right track.
19:37Is this a frame?
19:39No, it's actually a framework that I stretch fabric over.
19:43So I can make these bigger or smaller
19:45depending on the size of painting I'm working on.
19:48That's quite disappointing. I was going to order a Dora for you.
20:01Well, I've finished bleaching the chairs.
20:03They look slightly lighter
20:05but unfortunately, the bleach hasn't removed all of the dark stain.
20:09So my plan is, when it comes to polishing,
20:11I can add some pigments into the polish,
20:13lighter pigments like white and ochres
20:16and try to mask that dark colour.
20:18But before I do any polishing work,
20:21I need to fix the damaged woodwork.
20:24The bottom of the back here has crumbled away
20:28so I need to turn a new piece of wood on the lathe
20:32that I can actually end up splicing onto the bottom of here
20:35and that should make it a little bit easier
20:37to start splicing onto the bottom of here
20:39and that should fit back into that hole nice and sturdy.
20:49I've found a lovely piece of beech here, which is the same wood.
20:52I'm now going to start turning it up.
21:08That fits nice and snugly into the base
21:12and I'm creating a joint at the top here
21:16to join the old wood with the new wood.
21:19I'm using a bridle joint here,
21:21which almost looks like a sandwich from a side view.
21:24You've got the two bits of bread and this is going to be the filling.
21:27When it glues together, it should join up really nicely.
21:31Oh, that is a really tight fit.
21:42I'm really happy with how it's turned out.
21:45I think it's going to look really good.
21:47I'm going to go ahead and put it in the oven
21:49and I'm going to see how it turns out.
21:51I'm going to put it in the oven
21:53and I'm going to see how it turns out.
21:55I'm going to see how it turns out.
21:58I'm really, really happy with how the scrolls are looking right now.
22:02There's no tinting anymore.
22:04I just need to recreate the little parts that are missing of the drawing
22:09and just match and tone the paper to just blend in a little bit more.
22:14These are hand-drawn,
22:16so I'm just trying to mimic the style that was used.
22:20The good thing is that I have a reference on how it's supposed to look.
22:24If I didn't have a reference, I possibly would just leave it blank
22:28because I wouldn't want to try and recreate something
22:31that I don't know how it would look.
22:39Once these are done, I only have a few more things left to do,
22:43just finishing the retouching on the scrolls
22:46and a few things on the box.
22:48I'm very excited.
22:55MUSIC
23:10Having cleaned up the Buddha figure
23:12and sealed the break edges of the plaster,
23:15Kirsten can begin making it whole again.
23:18There is a texture to the surface
23:21and now that it's been consolidated, it's quite stable.
23:25So the pieces should lock together beautifully
23:29once they're in the correct position.
23:37That's gone together really beautifully.
23:39The joins are really nice and tight together.
23:42I'm now going to make up the tips of the fingers that are missing.
23:48It's important to get this hand gesture correct.
23:53I'm using a two-part epoxy paste.
23:59It's always quite interesting to look at the other hand
24:03if you've got both hands.
24:05These are really rather lovely, long, elegant fingers.
24:10So I'm going to try and recreate that shape.
24:18MUSIC
24:23That's really taking shape now
24:26and I'm now just going to smooth the surface
24:31and then I'm just going to leave this to harden off.
24:43Work on the twin chairs is now in tandem,
24:46with Will repairing the rest of the rotten frame
24:49and Sona starting on the replacement cushions.
24:54When Roger brought the chairs in,
24:56the upholstery had sustained so much damp and moisture and damage
25:01that there's nothing reusable at all.
25:04I've used the colour of the fabric that was originally on there
25:08as an inspiration jumping point to pick the two fabrics that I have.
25:12And what I've chosen are two colours in the same style of fabric
25:16so that the chairs can sit together like siblings
25:21but they're still very, very different
25:23and it is echoing the colours of the original upholstery.
25:27I've cut the various panels over size now
25:31and I can start pinning them in place on my back frame that I've sculpted.
25:36The way that the cover is designed,
25:39it has three panels on the front
25:42and two lines of piping running down either side
25:46so I'm going to recreate exactly the same style in this brand new cover.
25:58This will be really tricky to patch with solid wood.
26:02I might end up losing the shape.
26:04Whereas using this two-part filler, I can fill out the gap.
26:08The filler can actually get inside all the grooves and all the fibres,
26:11bond everything together.
26:13Once it's all dried, I can sand it all back down.
26:17I can add some pigments and some polish and hopefully blend it out as well.
26:29So this is the exciting assembly part of the process.
26:34You start to see the fabric come together
26:37and the chair start to form in front of your very eyes.
26:43That looks spectacular.
26:45I just need to carry on sewing the various components together
26:49and I can't wait to see what it's going to look like on the actual foam.
27:01With work still to be done on the Victorian Zoe drop,
27:05Will's turning skills are required again.
27:10At the moment there is no wooden base,
27:12but traditionally they would have a lovely, beautifully wooden turned base to them.
27:16I pre-cut this piece of walnut here.
27:19I'm going to make this stand in sections out of this circular piece here
27:24and then this upright here will be a separate piece as well.
27:28There we are.
27:30Now that's all marked out, time to start turning.
27:36There we have it.
27:38That looks fantastic.
27:40I hope you've enjoyed it.
27:42I'll see you next time.
28:05Just need to see if it fits now.
28:08There we go.
28:10That lovely grain in that walnut.
28:13So the last thing I need to do is glue this together and puncture that.
28:27I think that's probably almost there in terms of the shape.
28:33Kirsten's been busy making a wax impression of the Buddha statue's crumbled base.
28:40I now need to make a mould of this piece,
28:45then cast a plaster version that I can then apply onto the base.
28:52What I'm trying to do is press it quite closely
28:56because I'm really trying to get the shape as well as I possibly can.
29:00Once this has gone completely hard, I can then remove the wax
29:05and then I'm ready to cast the plaster.
29:13With the team's work on the zoetrope now finished,
29:17it's time to put it all back together.
29:20Hello. Hey. Hey.
29:22Oh, double trouble. Absolutely. You know it.
29:24We come bearing gifts.
29:26Look at that. Beautiful.
29:29And that looks good too.
29:31This is now like super matte black paint on the outside.
29:34See if it fits on that base.
29:39Oh gosh, that's lovely.
29:41That's so nice. Awesome.
29:43That looks good.
29:44Angie, I'm not going to put my dirty hands anywhere near your paper thing.
29:48There we go.
29:50That's it.
29:52Perfect. Oh, look.
29:53Perfect little circle.
29:55Love it.
29:56I think this is going to be a success.
30:01Enchanting members of a family for over 150 years,
30:05this dilapidated Victorian toy was beyond use.
30:11There we go. Are you excited?
30:13I am. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.
30:16Now Camilla wants to ensure the marvel and magic she experienced
30:20can continue down through the generations.
30:23Hello.
30:24Hi. Welcome back.
30:26This looks interesting.
30:28Have you missed the Zoetrope?
30:30I have, yeah.
30:31In part thinking of all the time I've spent learning more about it
30:35in our family history and then to kind of see it hopefully now repaired.
30:39It kind of feels like it's coming to a bit of a close,
30:41but then it's a new beginning for it as well.
30:43So a mixture of emotions and excitement all at once really.
30:48Well, shall we?
30:49Do you want to have a look?
30:51Yeah.
30:52Do you want to see it?
30:53Yes, yeah.
30:54Let's do it.
30:59Oh my goodness me.
31:02Wow. That's amazing.
31:08It's just taking my breath away.
31:10That is absolutely unbelievable.
31:12Oh, the base is just beautiful as well.
31:17Wow. It's so smooth.
31:19Just to let it spin freely like that.
31:22It's just amazing.
31:24I think it's the thought of my great-great-great granddad as well
31:28and it would have looked much more like this for him.
31:31There's something missing though.
31:33I think you have noticed that there's something missing.
31:36Yeah.
31:37So there you go.
31:39Gosh. Oh my goodness.
31:41I can't believe how much better these look.
31:43That's fantastic.
31:45The colour looks so much more vibrant now and the reds.
31:49So can I have a go?
31:50Yes.
31:52I'm not used to there being all these beautifully aligned prongs in here.
31:58Perfect.
32:03You can do the honours just taking it in.
32:11It's spinning.
32:12Fantastic.
32:13Oh, that's absolutely brilliant.
32:16My children are going to absolutely love it.
32:18Hours of fun.
32:19It does make you think, doesn't it?
32:21When this was first made for your great-great-great grandfather,
32:25how magical that must have been.
32:27Yeah. It's so clever.
32:29So, so clever.
32:30Even all these years later, it has the same effect.
32:34Thank you so much again.
32:35This is going to last us for generations more now
32:38and that's something to be really celebrated.
32:41Thank you for trusting us with an amazing thing.
32:43Absolutely.
32:44That's brilliant. Thank you.
32:45Bye.
32:50Amazing. Well done. Well done.
32:52Well done. Us?
32:53Really good.
32:54I'm really glad she liked it.
32:56It's absolutely blown me away.
32:58I'm just delighted with it.
33:00I can't wait to get the family round the table
33:03and show them the Zoe trope.
33:05It's going to be absolutely fantastic
33:07and we can enjoy it for generations to come.
33:11The barn's next visitor
33:13has a very different kind of entertainment in her blood.
33:17Dean, do you like dancing?
33:19Absolutely not.
33:20No? No, I don't.
33:21I could see you as a dancer.
33:22That's my greatest fear.
33:23That makes two of us.
33:26Fiona Davies from Norfolk
33:28hopes to continue an old tradition
33:30with the help of cobbler Dean Westmoreland.
33:35Hello. Hello.
33:36Hello.
33:37What have you brought in for us?
33:39I have brought in my dad's boots.
33:42Look at them. Nice.
33:44I think Dad bought these ones in the 60s.
33:46They've done some miles, haven't they?
33:48They have.
33:49They're no ordinary Chelsea boot.
33:51They're actually my dad's dancing boots.
33:54Dancing boots?
33:55Dancing boots, yes.
33:56Who dances in boots?
33:57Traditional step dancers.
33:59Oh, I see.
34:01Who dances in boots?
34:02Traditional step dancers.
34:04We have a family of traditional step dancers.
34:06OK, what is step dancing?
34:08It's a freestyle dance to music, to mostly folk music.
34:12OK.
34:13It's individual dance and you dance one after another.
34:16The easiest way to describe step dancing
34:18is the music comes in your ears and comes out your feet.
34:21Sounds simple.
34:22Very simple.
34:23I bet it's not that simple.
34:24If you've got rhythm, you can do it.
34:26We're both lacking, yeah.
34:28Sorry.
34:30These are instruments rather than boots.
34:32Oh, are they like tap dancing?
34:34Yeah.
34:35Oh, OK.
34:36So you've got the normal metal bits on the heels,
34:40but my father added these bits.
34:42What was your dad's name?
34:43Richard, Richard Davis.
34:45Was Richard a good dancer?
34:46He was a very good dancer.
34:48You wouldn't expect him to be so nimble on his feet.
34:51He would always keep the rhythm.
34:53He was a very talented man.
34:56He enjoyed it.
34:57And I think that's what's special about step dancing,
35:01that you enjoy the dance.
35:06What would be the occasion?
35:07For my family, it was a hard day's work at sea
35:10because my father was a fisherman in Norfolk,
35:13and lifeboatman.
35:15It was a tough life,
35:16but lifeboat, they would go out in all weathers.
35:19Some girls say that their father is their hero,
35:22but my father was real hero, so...
35:25So for your dad, then,
35:26I guess it would have been a busy day out at sea fishing,
35:30potentially out with the lifeboats.
35:32And then go down the pub.
35:33The dancing and the pub was the social side of things.
35:35That was the kind of relief from work.
35:37Yes.
35:38You know, they would go out and have a dance and a sing.
35:41He had so much to give,
35:42but unfortunately we lost him to a brain tumour.
35:46Oh, sorry.
35:47He was only 65, and he had so much more life to live.
35:52So that's why I want his boots, so I can live it for him.
35:55I actually dance in these shoes.
35:57Yeah, that's brilliant.
35:58We had the same size feet.
36:00As your dad? Really?
36:01Yeah.
36:02Convenient, though.
36:03He would dance, take them off, give them to me,
36:05and then I'd put them on, and then I'd dance.
36:07And I've worn them, I've danced in them,
36:09and they're starting to deteriorate a little bit now.
36:12So what are you hoping Dean's able to do?
36:14Right.
36:16Possibly fix where the soles are coming off here.
36:20The elastic's gone.
36:21And that would be nice to be replaced?
36:23They're quite uncomfortable inside,
36:25because the insoles have gone and possible nails that have come through.
36:28Oh, my goodness.
36:30And, yeah, whatever you can do for me to still use them
36:34and still have him in my heart.
36:36It's that social history that I want to keep alive.
36:40If I'm able to fix these how you want, will you give us an example?
36:44Oh, definitely. Definitely, yes. Yeah.
36:47Fiona, it's been an absolute pleasure meeting you.
36:49Thank you so much.
36:50All right, thanks a lot. See you later. Thanks, bye.
36:52Bye-bye.
36:58Wish they could talk, no? Imagine the stories they used to tell.
37:01Yeah. Best of luck.
37:03Yeah, I'll get Melvin with these.
37:20Although I don't dance myself,
37:22I can see that these have been loved and danced
37:25and so many moves made in these boots by Fiona and her father.
37:30It's important I do a repair on these that makes them usable again.
37:34My main concern with these boots is the cracked insole.
37:38I mean, it's a wonder Fiona could even walk in these,
37:41let alone dance in them.
37:43Now, the insole is the foundation of a welted shoe.
37:46It holds all the leather together.
37:48Everything is sewn through onto that insole.
37:51So when that is damaged, it becomes quite difficult to repair.
37:55But I do have a few ideas of how to make that strong again.
37:59If I turn to the bottom and the sole,
38:01I can see that these have been repaired before.
38:03These have had a leather half sole put on.
38:05But over time and through plenty of dance moves, that has pulled away.
38:09But I think if I use some brass nails,
38:11I should be able to get that back down with a bit of glue as well.
38:14The elastic gusset is quite common for the elasticity to go,
38:19and there is no real way of fixing that.
38:21So my best option is to remove that and replace the gusset elastic with new.
38:26It is really just a case of cutting the stitches that hold the elastic.
38:30The danger with this type of work, it is a very sharp knife,
38:34and it's quite easy to come through the leather upper.
38:38It's all in the detail for Will,
38:41as he disguises the damp stains on the chair frames with pigments and polish.
38:47I'm trying to achieve a sort of uniform colour,
38:51something that looks like beach.
38:53It's not quite a beach, but it's a beach.
38:56It's a beach.
38:57It's a beach.
38:58It's a beach.
38:59It's a beach.
39:00It's a beach.
39:01It's a beach.
39:02It's a beach.
39:03It's a beach.
39:04I'm trying to achieve a sort of uniform colour,
39:07something that looks like beach, a nice sort of golden colour.
39:11I can get these over just on it.
39:18And it's a delicate moment for Kirsten and her newly cast piece for the statue.
39:24The plaster should be hard enough now to actually remove from the silicone mould.
39:30It's always a little bit nerve-wracking
39:32when you try and get things out.
39:34They can get broken.
39:36It's these ends that are really vulnerable,
39:39so I have to go quite carefully.
39:45So that's come out,
39:47and I can now see how it fits onto the base.
39:53It looks pretty good, actually.
39:56I'm using a ready-made adhesive,
40:02and this is something that's suitable for use on plaster
40:07and slightly softer-bodied materials.
40:11And I'm just going to leave that now.
40:14I can then think about consolidating that base
40:18so that I've got a good surface to retouch onto.
40:26Oh!
40:28Look at that!
40:30I've had to work some wonders with some of those deeper stains.
40:34It really looks fantastic, and it feels so good.
40:37Polished and waxed. Over to you. I'll go and get the other one.
40:40Thank you so much.
40:45After inspecting the step-dancing boots,
40:48Deans decided to replace their insoles.
40:52Now I have the insoles cut.
40:54I've used a lining leather
40:57that is used in the lining of all decent-quality boots.
41:00This idea, really, is the only way I can make this boot secure
41:05without kind of rebuilding it
41:07and erasing all that lovely history of Fiona's family
41:10and of Richard's dancing.
41:12Under that leather insole, I'm going to create a heel cushion.
41:15I'm hoping to give her some comfort back
41:18while using the rest of the leather.
41:20Now I'm going to just cut a small angle into the edge,
41:24being careful not to go through the leather.
41:27That will just blend it in with the foot
41:29and stop any sharp edges digging in.
41:32Even the little things make a big difference.
41:35I'm going to glue those in now.
41:38It is quite difficult to get the glue all the way down to the toe.
41:43I need to move quick,
41:45because I don't want to damage the leather.
41:49I need to move quick so that I can slide this in.
41:53If I don't move quickly, it will set before it's in position.
41:57That is in.
41:59That feels really nice, nice and soft on the foot.
42:03The cushioning's in, it's glued well.
42:06I'm going to move on to that other boot now.
42:09Get that glued in in the same way.
42:12The brush is large, which is why I'm holding the upper
42:16to create enough height to get down to the toe
42:19without getting it all over the inside.
42:32It's almost time to sit back
42:35and admire the newly restored twin chairs.
42:39Well... No way!
42:41What do you think? Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
42:44I'm glad you're here, because they're not quite finished.
42:48If I take these cushions off, you'll see...
42:51I've got the webbing.
42:53We're going to do this the original way.
42:56I'm going to pop this through here.
42:59If I give you the dowel,
43:01you can pop the dowel through the loop when you see it.
43:04So I pop the dowel in there? That's it.
43:07Oh, fingers! Oh, careful!
43:10OK, we're in.
43:12Roger's not going to recognise these chairs, is he?
43:19As a favour for his brother, Roger took in these chairs,
43:23but damp storage left them rotting away.
43:28Now he's hoping they've been brought back from the brink
43:31in memory of his late twin, Chris.
43:34Hello. Hello. Hi.
43:36Welcome back. Very nice to be back.
43:39What do you hope that Sonoz and I have been able to do for you?
43:43Hopefully the fabric has been restored and the framing repaired,
43:47so at least they can be sat on.
43:50I do feel guilty after not looked after them properly.
43:54I'm looking forward to seeing them.
43:56Are you ready? I am ready, yes. Yeah? Yeah.
43:59Let's have a look.
44:01Wow.
44:10Wow, that's incredible.
44:13Absolutely amazing. Amazing.
44:15I don't know which one to look at first.
44:20I've never seen them looking so good, and I'm sure Chris didn't either.
44:24What do you think he'd think of the chairs, seeing them now?
44:28They'd be his best chairs, I think.
44:31Never really thought that they'd look anything like this at all.
44:35Nor did I. No.
44:37They are wonderful.
44:39Now, these have been locked away in the garage for a while.
44:42Is it time for them to come into the house?
44:44They will definitely be coming back into the house.
44:46That's good news. Music to our ears. Yes.
44:49Well, with that said, would you like to take the first ever sit?
44:53Yes, can I take a seat? Yes. Thank you very much.
44:59Oh. How is it?
45:01It's wonderful. That is very comfortable.
45:03And the finish is incredible. Wow.
45:06A lovely reminder of Chris.
45:11We are thrilled that you love what we've done with the chairs.
45:14Very kind of you. Thank you very much for your skill and expertise.
45:16It's our pleasure. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.
45:19To see the woodwork and the upholstery come back to life, it's remarkable.
45:29You're just thinking how nice it would have been
45:32to maybe have been sat with Chris in the other one.
45:35They will be taking pride of place now, no longer in storage.
45:39I don't think I'll sit in anything else.
45:50Cobbler Dean has made great strides with the boots.
45:55With the inside solid, I can now move on to the elastic gussets on the side.
46:01I've taken the old ones out,
46:03and I'm now using them to try and match that into the new pieces.
46:08This elastic is vitally important.
46:11That old elastic has stretched and gone out of shape so much.
46:15This new elastic will be nice and tight.
46:18This will keep the shape of the boot and make them fit well.
46:22The elastic will go between the outer upper and the inner lining,
46:29so it goes between those two layers there.
46:32They should just slot in with a bit of glue,
46:34which will hold them there before I come to stitch them in.
46:38Both sides of the elastic and both the insides of the leather are sticky,
46:44so it can be a little bit tricky to get it in clean.
46:48There is glue everywhere,
46:50and the last thing I want to do is get it on the elastic parts that you're going to see.
46:56I'm pushing the lining against the outer with the elastic in between,
47:00much like a sandwich.
47:02That is the first piece in, and how good does that look?
47:06I'm going to put this other elastic in now,
47:09and then they will be ready for stitching.
47:13Mark, when you're not here, do you have any personal projects you're working on at home?
47:28Loads, but I guess one at the moment, my most recent, is developing a larger cinema.
47:33A cinema?
47:34Yes.
47:35I'll bring the popcorn, and I'll send the invites around.
47:44This is my beautiful stitcher that is well over 100 years old now.
47:49By not having a motor, I've always found that I've got a great deal of control over it,
47:55and I've used this machine for so long, you kind of just become at one with the machine.
48:01By stitching this elastic in, it is in keeping with the original construction,
48:07and adds that stability that I'm after.
48:10The beauty of this machine is I can actually change the foot direction,
48:14which will change the direction of the stitch.
48:16Most stitchers have a fixed foot, and you have to turn the work to change direction.
48:21It gives much more versatility, and allows me to get into tight spaces like this at the bottom of the boot.
48:30Now all the stitching on those gussets are done,
48:33I can move on to the other boots, and they will be almost ready to dance again.
49:00Kirsten is ensuring all her plaster repairs to the Buddha figure appear in keeping with its age.
49:07The base, I would say, is now complete, and now that's done, I can start to do these final retouchings.
49:19There's a lot of areas where the paint has worn away, and I've made some minor fills.
49:27I'm just dabbing with the hairs, the tips of the paintbrush.
49:33It allows each dot to carry a slightly different colour, and that gets that lovely blended effect.
49:42I'm just going to get into the zone and work my way around all of these last few areas to retouch,
49:50and then it's going to be ready to return to Janaki.
49:58For Janaki's mother, the Buddha figure was a precious link to the Sri Lankan homeland she could not return to.
50:07But broken into pieces, it needed numerous repairs.
50:12Now Janaki hopes for a more secure future for the treasure that connects her to her late mum.
50:20Hi, nice to see you again.
50:22Welcome back.
50:24How are you?
50:25I'm actually quite emotional.
50:26Okay.
50:27I think not having the statue there, I've thought about mum a lot.
50:31So is this the first time you've actually not had Buddha with you?
50:35Literally the first time in my lifetime that it's not been in the same house as me.
50:41Ready to see it?
50:42Yeah.
50:43Okay, lovely.
50:51That's amazing.
50:53Wow.
51:00That's incredible.
51:02And it's got a base again.
51:06Thank you so much.
51:08And the fingers.
51:10You'd never have thought that they weren't there at one point.
51:13That's incredible, Kirsten.
51:14Thank you so much.
51:16I think mum would be really, really proud.
51:19Proud of the fact that it means a lot to me.
51:23Yeah, she'd be really proud and chuffed to see this looking like it does.
51:29I'm really pleased that you're happy with it.
51:32I can hand it over with pride now.
51:34Good.
51:35Yeah, it's amazing.
51:36And I hope it inspires my daughter as well to be a bit courageous and adventurous like her grandma was as well.
51:42Thank you so much.
51:43It's been an absolute pleasure and lovely to meet you.
51:45You too.
51:46Thanks very much.
51:47Bye.
51:53I think looking at the statue as it looks now really took me back to my childhood and lots of great memories of mum.
52:01It feels quite emotional to know that at some point I'm going to pass this on to my daughter because she never knew her grandma, she never knew my mum.
52:10And this feels like a tangible thing that I can hand over and hopefully it will remind her of her childhood and her mum as well in the process.
52:20Thanks to Dean, the boots are almost in step, except for the damaged sole.
52:28The glue is in there now.
52:30I'm going to put that on the last stand and now I'm going to put the boots on.
52:35Thanks to Dean, the boots are almost in step, except for the damaged sole.
52:42The glue is in there now.
52:44I'm going to put that on the last stand and now I'm going to get some brass nails into them holes.
52:49In theory, these nails should go right through to the insole and as they hit the metal last, they should clinch over and grab.
52:59And that should give me a nice secure joint in the shoe.
53:05As they hit the metal last and curl round, they should go nice and flat so Fiona will not feel them.
53:13This is the moment of truth where I feel inside and that's lovely.
53:19That is now a function of it, it's holding that in place.
53:22Everything is flat inside. It has clinched the new insole so I'm confident everything has been pulled together.
53:28That pleases me very much.
53:30I'm going to move on to the other boot now.
53:32Get the nails in that in the same manner and then I can give it a bit of a shine and a buff.
53:39Having helped a fisherman who worked on lifeboats to dance away troubles at sea, these boots were falling apart.
53:48If she can step into them herself, Richard's daughter Fiona will help keep a long tradition alive.
53:55She's a professional.
53:57She's a professional.
53:59She's a professional.
54:01She's a professional.
54:03She's a professional.
54:05Richard's daughter Fiona will help keep a long tradition alive and kicking.
54:11Fiona, hi.
54:12Hi.
54:13Welcome back. How are you doing?
54:15I'm doing fine, thank you. Excited.
54:17Excited?
54:18Just to see what we've done with Dad's boots because I remember him wearing them dancing and then giving them to me to dance in.
54:25So they are really, really special and close to my heart.
54:29You've got high hopes for these boots.
54:30I have, yes.
54:33Do you want to have a look?
54:34Yes, please.
54:36Go on, darling.
54:44Oh, wow.
54:48Oh, wow.
54:52They look amazing.
54:53You've done an amazing job.
54:57I can't believe how shiny they are.
55:00Oh, and they're elastic.
55:02Wow.
55:03I feel a bit more secure.
55:05I hope so.
55:06Yes, definitely.
55:07I can now carry on dancing in my Dad's boots and making him proud.
55:12It means a lot to me to be able to keep something of his and keeping the heritage going, keep the dancing going, the tradition.
55:21They'll be great to dance in.
55:22Now, Fiona, you did make us a promise.
55:24Yes, I did.
55:25I did make you a promise that I would dance in them.
55:29Will you?
55:30You up for it?
55:31I will.
55:32I'm up for it.
55:33I've brought a musician with me.
55:34He's outside.
55:35He's outside?
55:36You've left him outside?
55:37I've left him outside, yes.
55:38Okay, I'll get the door.
55:39I'll call him in.
55:40All right, okay.
55:44Come on in.
55:49I hope they fit.
55:50I was just going to say that.
55:53You're in.
55:54I'm in.
55:55How do they feel?
55:56They feel good.
55:57They feel very comfortable, actually.
55:58Yes.
55:59It's starting to feel like we are in a little tavern now.
56:01Yes, it does.
56:02Yes, this is it.
56:25Very good.
56:27Brilliant.
56:29How was that?
56:30Great.
56:31Sounded good.
56:32They feel great.
56:33Yes.
56:34A lot more tighter on my feet as well, so I love them.
56:37Perfect.
56:38Thank you, guys.
56:39Thank you, Everson, much.
56:40Thank you so much.
56:41It was a pleasure.
56:42Thank you, Sharon.
56:43I'll get the door for you.
56:44Enjoy the boots.
56:47Thanks a lot.
56:48Thanks so much.
56:49They're going to hear you coming.
56:50Yes, they will.
56:52It means a lot to me to have my dad's boots repaired
56:55because I miss him terribly.
56:58He's always been in my heart, in my head and now on my feet.
57:05I will pass down those boots
57:08and hopefully they will be used for years to come.
57:16If you have a treasured possession that's seen better days,
57:19and you think the team can help,
57:21please get in touch at bbc.co.uk and join us in the repair shop.
57:49[♪upbeat music playing♪♪.