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Stacking Ceramic Pieces For Totem Pole


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I teach high school ceramics and my students have created a totem inspired by their north pacific totem pole unit. We are planning on putting  this in our school sculpture garden. The ceramic piece will be outside. We have already dug a two feet deep hole and plan on using a galvanized pole that is the same diameter as the holes in the ceramics pieces themselves. This piece will be permanent so I want to glue the pieces together. Originally I was planning on using liquid nail but I am having reservations. What would other suggest I use instead or would liquid nail be alright. Also, should I fell the bottom section with sand to help with weight distribution? The sections are pretty large. Thanks in advance for the help. 

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JB Weld makes a good epoxy, that should hold up.  

 

Whatever you use, it has to handle freezing and thawing.  Along those lines, what kind of clay body are you using, and what Cone are you firing to?  The clay will need to be vitrified, in order to tolerate the conditions outdoors.

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Some pictures or dimentions would be helpfull to grasp the overall size of the project.

 

If the sculpture is glazed and the surface is shiny, you can use 100% silicon caulking...very strong stuff on a non-pourous surface.

Silicon does not work well on a pourus surface, epoxy may be better as Benzine mentioned.

Liquid nail is good for some things but it tends to get hard and brittle after it ages.

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Mug is right about avoiding liquid nails, especially on slick surfaces.  As a trim carpenter, I used it to attach heavy decorative moldings on the front of fine cabinetry and was surprised and embarrassed when it "let go" three years later. 

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Sounds like you are past the "planning stage" for assemblage. I would have recommended using a base with weld steel rod and have the piece slip over the pole through holes top and bottom of each piece.Or you could use clear silicon caulk.I think it could work on the raw clay but who knows.

JB Weld nevers fails. PC 7 or PC 11 are also fail safe.One is Black and one is white.

There is also the kneadable epoxy that many ceramic artists use that can be colored or painted. They have pigments for it. I think it is called Valley epoxy. Grahm Marks developed it.

 

 

 

 

Marcia

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Sorry guys i thought I attached a file with a picture. The ceramic pieces do have a hole on the top and bottom so a pipe can help support the piece.

 

Benzine what do you mean by "vitrified" if it is going to be outside. I think the consensus is to use JB Weld. Does anyone know if they sell large packages? I only ever see the small tubes in the hardware stores.

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