What glue to repair this?

RuneBrush

New member
Apologies for the rather cryptic topic title and it's not a truly miniature related question... Last night though a pure accident I managed to break part off a garden ornament of my Mum's - true to form this ornament was given to Mum by a lady who's funeral was yesterday...

The ornament (it's a snail) is made of fine terracotta and the break is pretty clean with the broken piece fitting very snuggly back in place. Has anybody had any success repairing this type of thing? In the past I've found the porous-ness of the material to make it a bugger to glue together.

Fingers crossed!

pete.
 

tommelom2

New member
PolyVinylAdhesive=PVA or simple white glue. Bonds everything and created a more flexible join. Epoxies dry rock hard, and will probably work just fine as well, but PVA is my advice:)
 

MrIxolite

New member
Almost any glue with the exception of cyanoacrilate will work ok. But if the ornament will spend time outside the PVA glue could soften and fall again. In your position i would use a really small amount of epoxi glue or contact glue.
 

Einion

New member
PVA would do it (and it forms bonds that are surprisingly strong) but epoxy is a safer bet if it'll spend time in the elements.

Einion
 

freakinacage

Well-known member
PVA would do it (and it forms bonds that are surprisingly strong) but epoxy is a safer bet if it'll spend time in the elements.

Einion
aye that

spread the epoxy on both surfaces, leave for a bit so it starts to go tacky (it'll seep into the ceramic) and then hold together
 

RuneBrush

New member
Cheers all. I'll try and pick up some epoxy glue from somewhere - I might have some araldite in the cupboard at home...
 

gsr15

Member
One other suggestion that I'm not sure will work but...in woodworking something often done is to put super glue in fine cracks/gaps and then immediately sand over the wet glue, which creates a nice slurry of glue and sanding dust that does a pretty good job of hiding the cracks and matching the color of the surrounding wood. Something this size would likely still be visible, (especially since terracotta doesn't have grain like wood) but it might help hide it a bit.
 
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