Wilson Antibes Wedgwood Restoration
This is one of the last photographs ever taken of my Wedgwood pram as it was when I bought it!
Today I stripped down the pram ready for spraying (no, I am not doing this one myself!) I have taken lots of notes and lots of photographs, some of which turned out rather blurred I am afraid, but they are better than none. I am hoping to show you what I did in the order that I did it, along with corresponding photographs.
This is one of the last photographs ever taken of my Wedgwood pram as it was when I bought it!
Today I stripped down the pram ready for spraying (no, I am not doing this one myself!) I have taken lots of notes and lots of photographs, some of which turned out rather blurred I am afraid, but they are better than none. I am hoping to show you what I did in the order that I did it, along with corresponding photographs.
The first thing that I did was to remove the hood and apron. I am afraid that I forgot to take a photograph of this, which was a fine start!
The hood is actually only fixed to the body of the pram by two screws which are located along side the canopy knobs, just under the fold of fabric on the bottom part of the hood frame. You can easily just lift up the fold slightly and undo the cross headed screw. There is one on each side of the pram. After that it is a simple job to stand behind the pram and slide the hood off to the rear, which disengaged two little metal lugs which push into the back of the body and support the rear of the hood stopping it from falling down in any way.
The next thing I did was to undo 12 little cross headed screws which fastened the base of the pram in place and lifted it out. It is only made of painted hardboard and I think I will be replacing it with a new section, when I put it all back together again.
The hood is actually only fixed to the body of the pram by two screws which are located along side the canopy knobs, just under the fold of fabric on the bottom part of the hood frame. You can easily just lift up the fold slightly and undo the cross headed screw. There is one on each side of the pram. After that it is a simple job to stand behind the pram and slide the hood off to the rear, which disengaged two little metal lugs which push into the back of the body and support the rear of the hood stopping it from falling down in any way.
The next thing I did was to undo 12 little cross headed screws which fastened the base of the pram in place and lifted it out. It is only made of painted hardboard and I think I will be replacing it with a new section, when I put it all back together again.
The next job was the to remove the two little chrome fittings which accept the safety reins. They are held on with two crossheaded screws again and beneath the metal bracket you can hopefully see a little plastic plate which lies behind it and presumably protects the lining from being damaged by rein clips. Sorry about this photograph, it is rather blurred! These fittings will get a good clean and new screws instead of the rather rusty ones and if necessary I will have the rein fittings re-chromed I think.
The next job was to have a look how the head and foot board part of the lining was fitted and remove them.
First job was to remove the plastic finishing tape which goes all around the outside edge of the lining of the pram, with upholstery tacks at regular intervals. These tacks are finished with a leather grain effect and so are worth saving if at all possible, to re-use. You can respray them if they are scratched but if they are rusty it is best to replace them from upholstery nails which can easily be got at B&Q.
First job was to remove the plastic finishing tape which goes all around the outside edge of the lining of the pram, with upholstery tacks at regular intervals. These tacks are finished with a leather grain effect and so are worth saving if at all possible, to re-use. You can respray them if they are scratched but if they are rusty it is best to replace them from upholstery nails which can easily be got at B&Q.
The handle end also has a row of piping which lies underneath the plastic finishing ribbon on the side of the body nearest to the handle, to just finish it off that extra little bit. I used a blunt old knife to begin to carefully lift the nails and once they were slightly lifted I used some pincers to pull them out. Try to save your plastic finishing ribbon if it is worth saving too because you can't buy this stuff now and you would have to cut lengths of lining fabric and laboriously fold it into nice neat widths which isn't easy to do. The stuff on the Wedgwood was excellent and so after a good scrub I am hoping to re use it.
In the next picture, again taken after I removed the finishing ribbon, you can clearly see the piping on the upper edge of the body. Next I had to begin taking out all of the little metal tacks, many of which were rusted into place. This was a laborious job because I had to be careful not to make a mess of the lining which of course I need to use as a pattern. Also in places, there was a chance that the knife I was using could have slipped and dented the bodywork. Being aluminium it would have been very easy to do.
To be continued!
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