Repairing Terra Cotta
- Subject: Repairing Terra Cotta
- From: "Tiede, Karen E" k*@eds.com
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 08:00:11 -0400
The problem I've had with terra cotta is that the glue/sticky stuff will
successfully bond the top layers of the terra cotta to each other at the
broken place, but there is very little inherent strength in TC so it then
breaks off/splits right next to the break--it actually gets repaired, but
breaks again.
If I really liked the piece, I'd think about some external support--kinda
like a cast, or plaster wrap except plaster won't hold up outside. Run a
few splints up the ears, wrap in maybe fine wire mesh?, find a coating
(maybe Bondo; not sure) and smear it over the wrapping so that there is
structural support as well as "glue."
I lost a Madonna to weather last year. I have thought about reassembling
here, making a plaster cast, and then pouring concrete into the mold. Or
maybe I'll just decide it was an ephemeral piece (from El Paso, not intended
for NC humidity and damp winters) and let it go.
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