Possible Repair Of Broken Bone-Dry Tile?

[EASloan]

Good morning everyone,

 

I'm a newbie to ceramic tile making and have a question. I broke one of my tiles in a mosaic and it is in the bone-dry state and underglazed. Is it possible to rejoin these two pieces with a slip made from the same clay body, or do I have to recarve the one tile? Thanks for any insight into this. Eddie

[Marcia Selsor]

Mix up some patch with toilet paper and your slip. dampen both sides and join together. I have also patch bisque this was as well. It takes more dampening on bisque. Put the toilet paper in water overnight. Then in a blender with a drier version of your slip so the water in the TP doesn't make the solution thinner than desired. You want a paste/slip consistency.

[Dinah]

This works for me. Using a mortar and pestle, pulverize some of the clay body you've used for the tiles. Add vinegar -- white/cider -- until you've got slip consistency. Take a spray bottle and carefully dampen both edges of the pieces to be repaired or dab edges with a brush. Then brush on the paste, marry up the edges and smooth and so forth. Wrap piece up until it's "cured" -- overnight.

[Chris Campbell]

It also depends on how forgiving your clay body is.

 

If neither of those two replies work, then wrap the tile in a wrung out to just damp towel, then

wrap it in dry cleaner plastic and leave overnight. You want to add just a bit of dampness to

the entire tile but you don't want to wet it.

 

Then try either of the previous solutions again.

[EASloan]

Thank you all for the quick replys. I will be trying these possible remedies before the week is out. I have the mural I'm doing sitting for a couple months now in the bone-dry state, and I broke this same tile twice already. I'm tired of making it, so hopefully one of the techniques you've provided will work for me. Being new to tile making, I now understand the beauty of making molds! Thanks again. I'll post pictures of some of my work I just fired. Eddie