Fixing Fireplaces

Some of the fireplaces I have are free standing, but the majority are like normal ones you might have at home, they need fixing to the wall.

However, as my walls are thin cardboard, this means I have to be careful how they are fixed on. I don’t have much space behind or to the side of the rooms to add batons, for example, and I don’t want to damage the Victorian and Edwardian fireplace inserts I have collected.

After looking at screwing hooks into the back of the wood surrounds, I decided that magnets were the best way to go. This would work very well with things like cast iron fireplaces.

The first one I did was one that might get changed in the future, but was a great starting point. 

This was the surround for a mirror from a very broken dressing table mirror. I assume it’s some kind of walnut veneer. Here I’m holding it up just to show how it will look once done. 

I started by sicking magnets to the back of the surround, just with ordinary superglue. This will attach the cast iron fireplace insert to the actual wood surround.

A word on the surround—this one is badly damaged. You can see that I have an almost identical surround cast in brass (but a later copy, you can see how poorly the design is cast). Although it looks fine from the front, the back is completely missing, here you can see the brass version actually looks like a fireplace.

Someone at some point has tried to solder the back on, but it’s just fallen off, and is missing.

However, this meant I could add it to a very narrow depth of fire surround.

I also added magnets to the back of the fireplace insert, layering them up so the fireplace insert would remain as level as possible. These are not stuck on, it's the magnetism keeping them in place.

Finally, I glued a square of metal to the wall of the room where I wanted the fireplace to stand.

Then it’s a case of putting the fireplace insert onto the steel sheet, followed by the surround, and it’s fixed in place, but so I can remove it to decorate, or even shift to another place.

With a brass fireplace insert, I’d just put the magnets on the surround itself, but I’ll tackle that on a case by case basis. This one is ideal because it’s so narrow, having that extra level of security helps.

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I love miniature clocks. I don't know why, but there is something really appealing about them.

This one is a sub-miniature silver clock. It was made in London in 1912, by Maple & Co.

With the handle it stands at only 7cm tall, and is perfect except...at some point it has got soaked in water, and the workings have been destroyed.

A shame, but a pretty piece all the same.