Repairing an oil painting is a complex process.
Restoring or repairing oil paintings requires careful work to avoid damaging your painting. Before you repair a painting, decide how you need to restore it. Sometimes, oil paintings just need to be re-varnished. Other times, they need new frames. But repairing an oil painting usually relates to fixing tears and holes. With a small hole, simply repair the area of the hole. If you are working with a much larger hole, replace the canvas's entire backing.
Instructions
1. Apply a coat of a Damar resin and beeswax amalgamation to a piece of canvas that you place on the back of the painting's tear. This mixture flattens the tear's edges. Heat the Damar resin until dissolved, and then slowly mix in the beeswax. Apply the mixture to the tear while it is still warm. Use an electric iron to smooth on the mixture.
2. Tighten the tear by applying long, narrow strips of canvas and wax across the tear's center. Once the wax cools, apply narrow canvas strips to the center on the other side of the painting as well.
3. Pull on both sides of the tear where you placed the center strips. Make sure the strips are even on the tear.
4. Fill in any gaps across the tear with more strips and wax to cover the entire area.
5. Smooth any bumps in the painting you create from the strips by using a metal hook.
6. Apply turpentine to the painting to remove any extra wax from the strips, and wait for the strips to dry.
7. Remove the dried strips from the painting.
8. Apply ground with a spatula to the torn area. To make the ground, mix and dissolve gelatin into a bowl of warm water. Add chalk to thicken the mixture to resemble putty.
9. Wipe any extra ground from the painting before it dries. Use warm water to remove the excess ground, if it has already dried.
10. Choose a matte or gloss varnish to re-varnish your painting. Your choice depends on the time period of the painting, the subject of the painting and your personal preference.
11. Re-varnish the painting with a flat varnishing brush. Use criss-cross strokes, as you begin applying the varnish using a top-to-bottom method.
