China Restoration FAQs

I mend ornaments, vases, cups, saucers, plates, and figurines. All items that are restored are then for decorative purposes only.

I will restore your items as near to the original as possible. This includes cleaning the item first, glueing, then filling and painting to match. To finish off, I glaze the item (if required) ready for you to collect or for me to post back to you.

Yes. Your items are not insured by me at any point. You can insure your items yourself if you wish. We advise you to extend your own insurance to cover goods whilst in transit and away from your premises as individuals have different insurance requirements and policies.

I mend china items for individuals, insurance companies, retail shops, antique dealers, collectors, auction houses and antiques shops.

I can mend most china, porcelain, terracotta, resin and ceramic items to an incredibly high standard, provided they are within approx. 3 ft in height. My restoration includes the repair and recovery of broken and damaged china, porcelain and ceramics.

I have been an expert china restorer since 1990, so I have extensive experience in most ceramics and potteries.

I wanted to mend my Mothers Poole Pottery jug with a broken handle, that had been broken for about 50 years. So I did and that's where it all started!

All areas of the china restoration process are equally important so I pay great attention to carefully cleaning the items first, then glueing the broken pieces, making new pieces (if required), mixing the colours to match (this can be a tricky and time consuming process!) and then glaze the item ensuring they are represented in as close to original condition as possible.

An invisible mend is what I strive for when mending china, ceramics, pottery, etc. An invisible mend means that you cannot see where the item has been repaired. In lots of cases the mend is so invisible that my customers have told me they cannot even see the repair, which is great!

I have a minimum charge for mending china and then an hourly rate thereafter. However, the overall cost will depend on the individual piece (and the amount of pieces it's in!). Take a broken ornament with figurines, for example. The cost of mending a broken china figurine will depend on where it's broken, how many broken pieces there are and if any are missing (like a finger, part of a foot or a basket of flowers). If there are any missing parts, I should be able to make them if I'm able to make a mold of another part of the figurine or I may have a mold already here in my studio that could be utilised and matched. And last but not least I would need to take in to account the original size of the figurine and the colour or pattern and even the glaze or finish. As you can see, there's a lot to consider - but that's where my expertise comes in!

For a free quote, please first see the ceramics repair quote check list.

View my minimum charge and hourly rate for china repairs.

My china and ceramic repairs studio is based just outside Newbury, Berkshire, U.K. within minutes of the M4. If you would like to deliver your broken china items, please contact me for my address. I am open Mon-Fri 9.30 - 5pm (excl. bank holidays) BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. Please contact me to make an appointment or to request my postal address. 

I mend china, porcelain, terracotta, resin and ceramic items to an incredibly high standard, so items do take time to get right and during the repair process the special glue and paint requires drying time. Roughly speaking you'd be looking at approx. 2 weeks however I do have a long waiting list, so please let me know if you have a specific deadline and I can let you know if I am able to meet that timescale for you.