Home >> Hobbies >> Antiquing

How to Glue an Antique Clay Pot

Seeing your family's heirloom pot broken can be upsetting. Broken clay pots are not necessarily bound for the trash bin. You can repair broken clay with a special type of glue, called two-part epoxy. Use the epoxy to glue your pot properly and avoid future breakage in the same spot.

Things You'll Need

Newspaper
Thick garden or work gloves
Razor blade
Fine grit sandpaper
Disposable plastic cup
Wooden stick
Rubber tipped clamp clips or wet clay

Instructions

- 1
  Cover your work area with newspaper to protect it from glue and sharp pottery edges.
- 2
  Wear thick gardening or work gloves to protect your hands from sharp shards of the pot.
- 3
  Inspect the broken edges for signs of previous breakage. If you find glue or discoloration on the raw edges of the break, you need to prepare it for glue.If the raw edges are consistent with the pot's color and have no glue on them, they need no further preparation.
- 4
  Scrape away any glue with a razor blade and sand the edges with fine grit sandpaper to remove dirt and oils from the raw edges.
- 5
  Remove the pin tip from the two-part epoxy glue packaging and squeeze a dime-sized amount into a disposable plastic cup. The applicator squeezes both components of the epoxy at the same time.
- 6
  Mix the epoxy with a wooden stick. A bamboo skewer or Popsicle stick will work fine.
- 7
  Apply a generous layer of epoxy to the entire raw edge of the break and press the pot pieces back together. Hold the pieces of the pot together with rubber-tipped clamp clips or pieces of wet clay, molded over the outside edges of the pieces around the broken areas.
- 8
  Allow the pot to dry, undisturbed, for 24 hours.
- 9
  Inspect the breaks for glue that has oozed from the cracks when the pieces were pushed back together. Chip them away with a razor blade.

Antiquing