Repairing greenware

[tinypieces 0]

This is a shot in the dark and I should probably just let it go to the clay gods but it doesn’t hurt to ask you beautiful, more experienced ceramicists.  I accidentally broke the edge of a small dish I made and wonder is there any way I could repair it before I bisque fire it?

 

[liambesaw 562]

Nothing worth trying in my opinion

[Mark C. 3,110]

Make a new one and move on is the best way to fix this problem

[Pres 1,629]

Time better spent making a new piece than putting in the time to fix the old one.

 

best,

Pres

[JohnnyK 345]

Just last week I picked up a leather hard bowl by the edge and broke a piece off. my choices were: trash it; trim it down to half its size: or break the rest of the edge of the bowl and call it art. I chose the last option. For grins, I'm going to Raku glaze and fire it and see who might be willing to buy it as a piece of art. 

[shawnhar 170]

Hate it so much! Just broke another handle on a bone dry mug yesterday, it was on my bisqued shelf and I grabbed it by the handle to load it in the kiln, whoops!

[tinypieces 0]

Thank you. I totally get that and I most definitely will continue making new things but I am still curious to know if and how one would repair damage to leather hard or even bone dry work. Is it even possible? Is there a way? What is it? I wanted to attach a photo of this broken piece but there is a size limitation on the photo . I assume it too big (taken with my iPhone) but I don't know how to reduce it :-(

[liambesaw 562]

18 minutes ago, tinypieces said:

Thank you. I totally get that and I most definitely will continue making new things but I am still curious to know if and how one would repair damage to leather hard or even bone dry work. Is it even possible? Is there a way? What is it? I wanted to attach a photo of this broken piece but there is a size limitation on the photo . I assume it too big (taken with my iPhone) but I don't know how to reduce it :-(

Look up spooze, it can work sometimes, but on leather hard mostly.  Bone dry is not worth it at all in my opinion, the clay has already shrunk so far that adding anything wet to it will shrink out of the way again, so you might repair the same crack multiple times over the course of a week and still have it crack in the bisque firing.  On an elaborate sculpture you've been working on for weeks it's worth it... On a dish you can throw again in a few minutes, not worth it at all

[Callie Beller Diesel 1,327]

Congratulaions! You now have a most excellent test tile. 

[shawnhar 170]

1 hour ago, liambesaw said:

Look up spooze, it can work sometimes, but on leather hard mostly.  Bone dry is not worth it at all in my opinion, the clay has already shrunk so far that adding anything wet to it will shrink out of the way again, so you might repair the same crack multiple times over the course of a week and still have it crack in the bisque firing.  On an elaborate sculpture you've been working on for weeks it's worth it... On a dish you can throw again in a few minutes, not worth it at all

Same here, I've gotten a couple of leather hard pieces to attach, and some not, but once they are fully dry, none of them stuck.

[Rockhopper 47]

In addition to "spooze" (mentione above) - there's a commercial product called APT-II (apt2products.com) that's sold for this sort of thing - but, as they say "results may vary".  I've only tried it once - and it the piece still separated during the bisque firing.

Depending on the size & shape of the brake, you may be able to  smooth the edges with a damp sponge, then take some similarly sized additional 'bites' out around the rim, and smooth them as well,  to make it look like an intentional design element.  (Lots of folks are into  'modified' pottery)

[Babs 676]

Spooze does work but dont uese on handles  on mugs etc

For less shrinkage i use paper added to spooze.

Make sure the join is totally dry before bisquing, can sand iff roughness prior to firing.

May have better results rebisquing prior to glaze fire

If unfired piece is totally dry, can spray or zponge to redampen area .

[oldlady 1,960]

tiny, if the broken part and the pot have only separated with a jagged edge, you might try to repair it.  BUT only if the broken part is very small.   to try it, put the two  bone dry pieces together and support the pot with a nest of towels or some other thing so the broken part is straight above, vertically perfectly above the pot.  

here is the magic that might work.  take a paint brush, at least a number 6 round camelhair or sable brush full of water and touch it to the very top of the broken part.   let the water run onto the piece and the pot so that the break is visibly wet.    then walk away for at least 24 hours.   do not touch it until you can see that the entire thing is absolutely dry.   

it might work.     if it does not, you have learned to toss something that breaks.

BTW, this is a good way to add sprigs or other decorative  additions .