How to Glue Ceramic Pieces Back Together

Ceramic is used for many purposes, including pipes, floor tiles and kiln linings. Another popular use of ceramic is for making decorations and artwork. As with many types of decorative artwork, ceramic pieces are fragile and are damaged easily. Most of the damage that occurs with ceramic is when it breaks into two or more pieces. When a ceramic piece breaks, you can use PVA glue to repair the pieces. PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) glue is common white glue.

Things You'll Need

• PVA glue

Instructions

1. Place a small amount of glue on each piece of the ceramic and rub it into a thin layer with your finger. Use enough glue that it covers each piece of the ceramic, but not so much that it will squeeze onto the outside of the ceramic when the pieces are put together.

2. Let the glue sit for a couple of minutes until it starts to dry. As the glue dries it becomes more tacky.

3. Line up the two ceramic pieces and press them together tightly.

4. Hold the pieces together for several minutes until the glue dries. If you stop holding the pieces, you risk having the two parts moving and not attaching correctly.

Tips & Warnings

• Sections or chips may be missing from the ceramic piece even after gluing it together. You can rebuild missing sections or fill in chips with a good polymer clay that hardens when baked in an oven. The clay can then be sanded and painted to match the piece.

References

• Gluing Broken Ceramic