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Adhesives For Ceramics


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Curious about adhesives for fired, non glazed ceramics and or glazed ceramics when adding

materials such as crushed glass, semi precious stones or mineral rocks to the surface of the work.

I'm exploring sculptural concepts,(layering of materials and objects)for my ceramic work.

 

-is there an adhesive better suited for fired non glazed ceramics than for glazed ceramics?

-does it depend on the material(s)one would attach?

 

I understand there's a lot of info regarding craft glues, epoxies, etc. If there's known

adhesives that have proven more successful than others could someone share?

 

Grateful for input.

 

Oh...yeah, my pieces have been bisque fired cone 06. Not sure if it makes a difference but I got responses below saying that cone 6 (not 06) gave them issues.

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Hi Nu2Cad, really depends on a lot of variabeles regarding your work. Is the clay vitrified? if it's not > you can use any glue designed for porous materials and the material you want to glue = 1 of the goops will do it. If the work is vitrified , you want to prepare the surface before you fire = rough it up a bit and then use a good epoxy,; for temporary gluing I use a silicon glue > you can cute it off easily.

Best thing is to go to local hardware store and read all the labels, you'll find the right one.

I think we all end up with a large assortment of adhesives depending on the project.

Remember to do any gluing w/ good ventalation! Have fun in your exploration, Deb.

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One of the glues we use in the studio I go to and have always had good luck with is E6000. It does take awhile to dry, and it can be messy, but it holds pretty well. I'd IMAGINE it would be okay to use on a non-porous material such as glass, but I am not a 100% certain.

You might want to buy a few recommended types, take a test piece, and test them out and see what works best for your needs.

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i had a difficult gluing up job. cone 6 glazed ware and a plastic threaded collar. tried epoxies/silicons nothing would hold. then reading a label of one of the special cyano-type glues...it has rubber in it and i thought to use it as the glue area already

had a silicon base. glued it up and it is holding very well so far. the flatter the two surfaces are the better the adhesion.

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It does depend on circumstances and what you want as an end result. I've used Elmer's to hold decorative glass chips in place until the piece is fired. 5-Minute Epoxy, Super Glue, Craxy Glue and Future Glue have been sucessful on Cone 6 glazed work when an accident happens. I don't use any glue if a pot, plate, or cup is for food--in fact I only repair sculptural work. DON'T EVER USE GORILLA GLUE! The stuff will hold anything--any material--in place, but it expands as it dries, forcing the broken piece out of alignment. Even if this doesn't matter, if it smears and you don't immediately clean it up, you'll never get rid of the excess. Nothing removes it.

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This discussion got me searching. Found something called Apt II Enhancer (www.apt2products.com ). Has anyone out there used this? It sounds like magic in that it can be used on green, bisque, glazed ware for repairs and/or decoration. It's an acrylic polymer that is mixed with slip and the instructions say it can be fired, but doesn't say to which cone. Almost sounds too good to be true. So...anybody?

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This discussion got me searching. Found something called Apt II Enhancer (www.apt2products.com ). Has anyone out there used this? It sounds like magic in that it can be used on green, bisque, glazed ware for repairs and/or decoration. It's an acrylic polymer that is mixed with slip and the instructions say it can be fired, but doesn't say to which cone. Almost sounds too good to be true. So...anybody?

 

 

The MSDS indicates that decomposition begins to occur at 350 degrees F.

 

I'm not sure off hand what cone that would be, 050? I don't think the charts go tthat low ;)

 

Regards,

Charles

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This discussion got me searching. Found something called Apt II Enhancer (www.apt2products.com ). Has anyone out there used this? It sounds like magic in that it can be used on green, bisque, glazed ware for repairs and/or decoration. It's an acrylic polymer that is mixed with slip and the instructions say it can be fired, but doesn't say to which cone. Almost sounds too good to be true. So...anybody?

 

 

 

The supply store at the studio I frequent sells this product. I've not used it myself, but it seems to sell regularly, as does another product called Magic Mender. I've used Magic Mender and find it successful about half time. I use it to reattach items that might have disconnected while drying or in bisque firing. The key is to rebisque the item as I have found glaze does not attach well to unfired Magic Mender.

 

The store/studio owner says the APT item is high fire.

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The Enhancer and Mender products have not worked for me but there could be lots of reasons why...who knows.

 

After firing I have had good luck using Gorilla Glue. It does swell (as the package says, to about 3x the original amount) so I use a small amount, am careful to place it just where I want it (using a toothpick) and I use it only when I can stabilize the two pieces in place w/ a rubber band or something to add pressure and keep everything aligned. I've also started using a very small amount of a 2-part resin/hardener called Envirotex Lite. It's quite runny so I let it get thick for several minutes and, again, am careful not to use it where it'll run. It takes a tiny amount. I haven't found anything (wood, ceramic glazed and unglazed, metal, glass, stone) it won't bond.

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