3 ms·

Oh, this might be my opportunity to tell HN about one of my nerdy recent hobbies, one that would terrify professionals! In fact one that professionals say is im

Oh, this might be my opportunity to tell HN about one of my nerdy recent hobbies, one that would terrify professionals! In fact one that professionals say is impossible for non professionals (which might be what attracted me to it). I restore paintings as a hobby! It is not easy to get into. Watch Julian Baumgartner on YouTube. He carefully never tells you what glue, resin or solvent he is using. The appreciation this has given me for the paintings is phenomenal. I have been mostly restricted to removing varnish to date. AMA. I have lived the opportunities for research it has given me. I work on scrap paintings from charity shops or fb marketplace, if that scares you less.

dfxm12 3mo ago
How do you do this as a hobby? I mean do you buy paintings you think need restoration from flea markets and restore them for fun? Do you have a collector friend who asks you to help with their collection? Something else? I've done some art handling (transporting from collectors to galleries). One collector asked me if her painting could be touched up a bit. We didn't provide that kind of service (^_^')
- jimnotgym 3mo ago
  Yeah I buy scrap paintings! It takes a long time, and there are a few in process at a time, so I don't need to source many. I'll buy almost anything that is an original oil painting. Most cost £5-10 and are semi-pro level, with horrible yellow varnish on them, making them look rubbish. Cleaned up they can be pretty things. I have a pair of what looked like Scottish landscapes, but researching the framers stamp they turned out to be Canadian, and in a charity shop in the UK! What a thrill. £25 is my highest price to date, which the seller wanted for the old gilded frame. I got the decent quality late Victorian/ early Edwardian en plein air landscape in the frame for nothing! It was so dirty you could barely see it. Looks very different with the filth and old varnish removed. They end up on my wall. I figured that I would rather have originals that were not quite to my taste than prints of Pre-Raphaelite masters that are a shadow of the real thing. I still have plenty of wall space. When I run out of room I'll move some on. I can scarcely lose out financially! I plan to get in with some dealers for their junk later on. Learning to remove varnish is a fun thing. It would be very easy to ruin the painting, but fingers crossed it has not happened yet! Each painting is a whole new challenge, with different varnishes and paints. My next victim has some tiny holes that need patching, which will be a whole new avenue! A never ending hobby
dofm 3mo ago
I was not that bothered that this whole post was flagged until I saw this comment. What a fabulous eccentric hobby to develop. I don't know you but I am fully happy for you that you've found this for yourself :-) FWIW my own eccentric hobby is that I've decided to make my own art lenses for my cameras — simple lenses (meniscus lenses or doublets) in basic barrels that I 3D print with the right specifications to focus properly. One of the rabbit holes it sent me down is how the earliest lens designers figured out where the aperture goes — including a chap who designed a lens for work in a camera obscura, before photography. You know you have a niche hobby when you are reading academic research.
- jimnotgym 3mo ago
  That is an awesome hobby, thanks for sharing. Can you source good enough lenses for the job? At least you know that you have a lens no one else has
- jimnotgym 3mo ago
  Now this is flagged, I started a thread of my own. Would love you to post over there where more people might see it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021336 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021336

dfxm12 3mo ago

How do you do this as a hobby? I mean do you buy paintings you think need restoration from flea markets and restore them for fun? Do you have a collector friend who asks you to help with their collection? Something else? I've done some art handling (transporting from collectors to galleries). One collector asked me if her painting could be touched up a bit. We didn't provide that kind of service (^_^')

jimnotgym 3mo ago
Yeah I buy scrap paintings! It takes a long time, and there are a few in process at a time, so I don't need to source many. I'll buy almost anything that is an original oil painting. Most cost £5-10 and are semi-pro level, with horrible yellow varnish on them, making them look rubbish. Cleaned up they can be pretty things. I have a pair of what looked like Scottish landscapes, but researching the framers stamp they turned out to be Canadian, and in a charity shop in the UK! What a thrill. £25 is my highest price to date, which the seller wanted for the old gilded frame. I got the decent quality late Victorian/ early Edwardian en plein air landscape in the frame for nothing! It was so dirty you could barely see it. Looks very different with the filth and old varnish removed. They end up on my wall. I figured that I would rather have originals that were not quite to my taste than prints of Pre-Raphaelite masters that are a shadow of the real thing. I still have plenty of wall space. When I run out of room I'll move some on. I can scarcely lose out financially! I plan to get in with some dealers for their junk later on. Learning to remove varnish is a fun thing. It would be very easy to ruin the painting, but fingers crossed it has not happened yet! Each painting is a whole new challenge, with different varnishes and paints. My next victim has some tiny holes that need patching, which will be a whole new avenue! A never ending hobby

dofm 3mo ago

I was not that bothered that this whole post was flagged until I saw this comment. What a fabulous eccentric hobby to develop. I don't know you but I am fully happy for you that you've found this for yourself :-) FWIW my own eccentric hobby is that I've decided to make my own art lenses for my cameras — simple lenses (meniscus lenses or doublets) in basic barrels that I 3D print with the right specifications to focus properly. One of the rabbit holes it sent me down is how the earliest lens designers figured out where the aperture goes — including a chap who designed a lens for work in a camera obscura, before photography. You know you have a niche hobby when you are reading academic research.

jimnotgym 3mo ago
That is an awesome hobby, thanks for sharing. Can you source good enough lenses for the job? At least you know that you have a lens no one else has
jimnotgym 3mo ago
Now this is flagged, I started a thread of my own. Would love you to post over there where more people might see it https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021336 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021336