The following is an excerpt from a more comprehensive interview recorded in November 2006 with author and master ceramic consultant Tim Reed of the Art Teacher Ceramic Center concerning how to make permanent ceramic repairs to cracked clay work so well that even the creating artists themselves may have a hard time finding the original damage. I think that you will find the information easy and most beneficial to integrate with your own clay work. It's my pleasure to welcome you now as we join this conversation already in progress..
MIKE: "Tim, one of the biggest frustrations in the studio is when someone has spend a great deal of time and effort on a particularly important piece, only to find that it has developed a crack or split a seam while drying or when it comes out of the bisque fire. Now, I've still got a couple other topics to bring up and our time is beginning to run short, but could you briefly tell us what kind of tricks you have in your guru bag for fixing cracked clay work?"
TIM: "Well, one thing's for sure, Mike. The clay classroom certainly has its share of crack pots! Fortunately, there's one really neat little trick that's quite amazing in its ability to fix those pieces while still in their greenware or bisqueware stage."
"You see, when it comes to fixing cracked or broken clay work, the materials used to patch them makes ALL the difference. Of course, like everybody else, I use to instinctively go for the "Super Glue" or "Elmer's" whenever a repair becomes necessary, but even the most careful application will never achieve the best repair. This is simply due to the composition of the patching material itself being used."
"Fact is, if you want to achieve a really great ceramic mend, then you'll need to use a patching material that perfectly matches the ORIGINAL clay material being mended. No artificial glue or patch material will do that for you. Therefore, what better material could there possibly be other than the original clay material itself?"
MIKE: "I've heard about people using engobes or even glaze itself as a way of fusing cracks and loose clay pieces together. Is that the kind of thing you're talking about?"
TIM: "Not exactly. Of course, glazes do indeed have the ability to fuse things together like that, but that idea becomes limited pretty fast on account of wide shrinkage differences that are possible between clay and glazes, and because the end result would usually show where an obvious problem was."
"No, I'm talking about a method FAR better than that. Let me tell you about a super effective technique that I originally learned from the clay artist Tom Kerrigan for patching cracked clay work. Tom is currently operating out of Tucson, AZ and has developed a simple and effective method that has been successfully used for repairing clay work in the leather hard, bone dry and even the bisqueware stage of development. What allows this method to work so well is that the repair material is composed of the same material that was used to make the original clay work. This helps the repair's appearance not only blend in seamlessly, but also allows it to accept a stain or glaze just as readily as the original clay that surrounds it. I've personally seen amazing repairs done this way so that the original crack simply couldn't be detected!"
MIKE: "Sounds great. Do tell!"
TIM: "Now, in order for this technique to be most effective, there's one key point that a person needs to understand about how it works. I mentioned that the same material used in the original clay work would also be used as the mending material, but it is important to realize that the CONDITION of that mending clay material will be vital to its success. Let me explain like this..."
"Common sense tells us that two different materials with two different shrinkage rates are simply NOT gonna hang around together very long. Therefore, since we're dealing with ceramic materials subject to shrinkage as they move through a firing cycle, it becomes important to use clay in the mending material that has experienced the SAME conditions as that of the original clay work."
"In other words, if the damage needing to be fixed is found in clay work that has already been BISQUE fired, then the clay used to make its mending material must also be bisque fired before the patch can be made. On the other hand, if the crack is found in GREENWARE (that is, in clay work that has NOT been bisque fired yet), then the mending material must use clay that's still in its raw unfired state."
"By matching the shrinkage rates between the original and the mending materials, you will insure that the patch can create a good, stable fit that will not shrink away or sink below the surface level of the original clay around it. This then makes the repair process much easier, since what you see while working out the final appearance of the patch is exactly what you get in its fired result! Being able to immediately visualize how the end result will look is also a great benefit for younger or inexperienced students. All in all, the use of this technique will save clay worker a great deal of disappointment, indeed."
MIKE: "You were saying that this method works good for greenware and bisqueware, but what about those pieces that have already been glazed? Any hope for them?"
TIM: "Unfortunately, already glazed pieces are a different kind of animal, an this technique will not be useful for them. Already glazed clay work will require a different approach altogether. In fact, even though there may be professional solutions for restoring a broken ceramic piece reasonably close to its original state, I would suggest that the average studio or classroom situation simply wont have the same resource materials that the professional restorers have."
"Even so, in terms of studio or classroom applications, even if a glazed piece were mended so that it SEAMED reasonably ok, for safety reasons alone, you would still wouldn't necessarily want folks using them to drink or eat out of them after they had been mended with synthetic mending materials. Certain components of those synthetic agents could all too easily leach into the liquid of food. Depending on the extent of damage, repairs using synthetic materials may not even be able to hold water any more (or at least not for long). Therefore, concerning the repair of broken or cracked clay pieces that have already been glaze fired, you may not have much PRACTICAL recourse but to do the best you can with "Super Glue"... at least they could reasonably hold together and look good sitting on the shelf."
"On the other hand, the technique outlined above for pieces still in their greenware and bisqueware stage can work out to be near perfect and one that every clay artist should have in their bag of effective tricks. The process itself is not difficult, but explaining exactly how to prepare it and what ingredients are best to use is going to take more time than we probably have right now."
MIKE: "Well, it might be best that we move on for now, but you've already written in complete detail about that whole process, haven't you?"
TIM: "You betcha! I've got all of that stuff as part of the "Avoiding Trouble in Claywork Paradise" series on my web site. I LOVE that series, because it is absolutely PACKED to the gills with all those super effective tips that you've always wanted someone to tell you, but didn't know where to find them. I mean its got EVERYTHING for avoiding clay and glaze defects in ready-made formulas, as well as all those little secret ways that the really accomplished clay artists use, but don't necessarily want to let out. I'm telling you, there's more in that series alone than you'll get in an expensive weekend clay seminar! Its simply one of the best secret weapons against clay work failure out there... I just want folks to know that they don't have to WAIT anymore for success with their clay work!"
MIKE: "It's that genuine desire to really be helpful that I like so much about you, man! I know your information project will truly be helpful to a lot of people to come. But for now, do you have any last words of advice on fixing cracked clay work?"
TIM: "Well, I hate to leave it by only telling WHY it works, without getting into HOW to do it, but perhaps it can be one of the extended topics we discuss at another time. As for that particular method, though, I've seen and used a bunch of different methods, but the one outlined above is without a doubt the best one out there. As for how to do it, I've priced that series with that information so low that mere price isn't an issue for those who would like to have it, so I would encourage everyone to grab a copy right away and take advantage of all the great stuff in there."
MIKE: "Thanks Tim. We will indeed revisit that subject at a later date, but for now let's move on and talk about how a person could safely fire their kiln without using cones..."
Article Source: http://www.artsymmetry.com
Tim Reed is the author of the highly acclaimed eBook series "Everything the ceramic art teacher, potter and clay artist needs to know about firing an electric kiln, and avoiding clay and glaze defects" (Art Teacher Ceramic Center). It is currently available for immediate download at www.ArtTeacherCeramicCenter.com.
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