Chesf Stained Glass - Ferrerinha

The stained glass José Ferreira was in poor condition in the Chesf office. He was completely rusted, with broken glass and in a bad location for a stained glass window, it did not receive light and even had visibility. To make matters worse, he still suffered (in the 1990s) a botched restoration and irresponsible where people put resin and acrylic pieces to pretend it was glass, they also used lead fillets to hide broken glass. This tragic picture was reversed thanks to Atelier Jobson Figueiredo and in 2010 finally Ferreira’s stained glass received a real restoration.

The first step was to isolate its former area and assemble the building site in its new location. After that, the stained glass (seven meters wide by two and a half meters tall) was completely dismantled, with its fifty-six panels and a total of five thousand and thirty-four glasses. All panels were photographed and numbered for the preparation of the damage map, then stored in drawers made to house them.

Dismantling stained glass revealed a metal structure completely eaten away by rust and to solve it, were made new metal structures, now using stainless steel instead of iron as a way to prevent rust. All new parts were made in the workshop of Jobson Figueiredo in Igarassu under Severino Gomes command.

The panels removed passed through a washing process with water, kerosene, and sodium bicarbonate. All were analyzed to detail the damage map, at that point, it was found the inheritance of previous "restoration". When the first mistake was found, thought up it was an exception, but with the analysis progress it was found that the number of irregularities was so great that the neglect was a rule on the 1990s intervention. The main errors are resin or acrylic parts which were placed instead of glass and false lead fillets that attempt to hide broken glass pieces. Of course everything was cataloged and filed for control, then this restoration by Jobson (2009/2010) had to deal with the natural damage caused by time and with the irresponsibility of unqualified people who had made the previous "restoration".

With the damage map completely mounted, started the replacement of broken, cracked parts or incorrect material, using a large catalog of colors for glass, and also some lead fillet replacements. This surely is the most labor step of the process as the following work is done: thorough analysis of needs; piece disassemble; removal of problematic parts; precise cutting of the new glasses with the correct shape and colors; mounting of replacement parts; panel reassembly with new lead fillets; mass applied to glass to seal it and finally the new cleaning.

After doing this service in all the panels, the final moment was assembling stained glass in its new location. With the restoration completed and the stained glass receiving light daily, all who pass by Chesf hall, in Bongi, were impressed with the beauty of the work. New life to a artwork that was dying.