Restoring Vintage Oval "Bubble Glass" Portraits

You've seen them before. This style was all the rage from 1880-1920. These large portraits were actually wet down and then shaped to fit the convex, bubble-shaped glass. This process would invariably "soften" the look of the images, so these photographs were often sketched or drawn over with charcoal and colored paints in an attempt to add clarity and precision to them.

I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to restore some of these unique photographs: