Source Lab

05/25/2026

lots of writing reports and catch-up today. Wish me luck!

05/16/2026

This beauty came into the studio last week covered in dirt and years ni****ne staining. A gentle cleaning brought it back to life. Its purported to have been created by a galveston island painter around the 1880’s. After cleaning, the colors popped. We decided against a varnish because the paint film was perfect and the artists original intent would have been this gentle matte sheen. Would you add a varnish? It would definitely richen up the colors.

05/16/2026

Fellow Conservators and P for life, Bob And Judith Pringle working on the Black-forest carvings from Ashton Villa at the Studio. Reattachment of long broken pieces as well as re-carving and infill of lost pieces. These lovely pieces from early in Ashton Villas history will get a new chance to glow thanks to these two!

05/08/2026

Preservation Dallas Awards!
That was awesome!

05/07/2026

In Dallas today getting ready for Preservation Dallas Awards at the Longhorn Ballroom, where Im excited and very honored to receive their Craftsmanship Award. Ill post a picture later!

04/23/2026

What Now? This is for everyone visiting fromm another country. ahhhhhhhck

Any visitor showing poor automotive choices could be refused entry

04/23/2026

What a fantastic project. I was glad to be a part of this. When I began in the early 90’s no-one had ever heard of Scagliola and all the books said Texas had no specialty finishes like this. It’s safe to say, after three courthouses, the book should be rewritten.
Thanks Architexas!

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01/23/2026

I had some fun revisiting San Saba, a past project with Architexas. Most people dont realize the truly vibrant colors people lived in the early 20th century.
Its still remarable to me when I uncover these colors and decorative finishes out in even the smaller of Texas towns. I have believe people must have had a real joy for Life.

01/06/2026

We received this wonderful carved wood picture frame into the studio. After removal of the overlaying gold paint, we found real water gilding underneath. Its probably worth removing all the gold paint to see what were working with.
Many times, during the early 20th century people would ‘freshen up’ thier (real) gilded frames with gold paint. It probably looked great for a bit but gold paint evetually failes and turns brown- like we see here. Its a terrible thing to do to an object of such high caliber.