My sister is very lucky. A china pot she inherited from my gran "bounced" on the floor and broke in two. But the break was clean and when you held the two parts together, almost invisible. When I drop something, it smashes into a million pieces...
Anyway, the pot has sentimental value so it came my way to see if I could glue it back together. Superglue was mentioned, inspired by an advert years ago showing a market trader fixing a plate with the stuff. I remember that advert and recall being pretty certain that the "repaired" plate was a new one. Call me cynical but I find that if you assume everyone in adverts is a liar who eats kittens for a hobby then you aren't that far wrong...
Anyway, I am certain that if you go to a professional china restorer, superglue does not feature large in their repertoire of techniques. I therefore spent a fair bit of time researching online and in books (remember them ?) to work out how to fix this pot. I appreciate the quick and easy method would have done the job but I wanted know.
The correct method is this:
- Take some slow set (the blue tube) Araldite and apply it to one side of the joint.
- Press the parts gently together.
- Remove any excess glue that has squeezed out with acetone (nail varnish remover) on a cotton bud. Wipe off any leftover chemical with a clean paper towel.
- Support the joint with masking tape and leave it to dry overnight.
My results were pretty good. For most of the join the repair is invisible. Where it isn't this is my fault for not using a perfect clean towel to wipe the surface therefore forcing dirt into the crack.
I'm not saying this is the perfect professional method but it is certainly pretty good. Better than superglue anyway.
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