Karen Hamilton on mon 14 aug 06
I finally managed to throw the perfect martini glass. While
underglazing it, I knocked it over and broke the stem where it attches
to the bowl. Is there anyway to salvage the piece? Thanks for any
advice. I was looking forward to using it at an upcoming party.
--Karen
William & Susan Schran User on mon 14 aug 06
On 8/14/06 3:21 PM, "Karen Hamilton" wrote:
> I finally managed to throw the perfect martini glass. While
> underglazing it, I knocked it over and broke the stem where it attches
> to the bowl. Is there anyway to salvage the piece?
I've had my students making repairs to greenware and in some instances
bisqueware by using paperclay.
I have them whip up some institutional toilet paper in warm water, beating
to a pulp consistency. Screen/squeeze out the water and by volume mix 2/3
clay slurry & 1/3 paper pulp, blend completely.
Put a dab of this paperclay on one side and immediately press carefully
together to the other side. Smooth over the excess.
For cracks, the paperclay slurry is worked into the crack with a needle. If
you patch like spackling on a wall, it won't work.
Finish underglazing and bisque fire.
-- William "Bill" Schran
Fredericksburg, Virginia
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
gsomdahl on mon 14 aug 06
If the glasses bowl will balance on the broken stem you could try glaze
"gluing" it. Select a glass that fluxes well and may even be a bit
runny. Take some of the goop that's in the ring of partially dried glaze
around the top of the glaze bucket and apply it to the stem. Press the
two pieces together and hope they stay that way during firing. I've had
this work when I've had a foot ring come off in bisque, but you've got a
trickier balancing act.
Best of luck.
Gene
Karen Hamilton wrote:
> I finally managed to throw the perfect martini glass. While
> underglazing it, I knocked it over and broke the stem where it attches
> to the bowl. Is there anyway to salvage the piece? Thanks for any
> advice. I was looking forward to using it at an upcoming party.
>
> --Karen
--
This is a post only account. Send replies to "gene" at my ".com" domain named "somdahl".
Bruce Girrell on tue 15 aug 06
Karen,
Whenever you are trying to get two things to stick together, the more
surface area you have to work with, the better. Unfortunately, you have
broken your piece at a place where you have very little surface area to work
with and no matter what you do, it is going to be a bit of a long shot.
The good news is that the piece has yet to be fired one more time. If you
use a bisque mender (commercially available product) to get it to hold
together through the final firing you may actually be able to recover the
piece because the firing will cause the clay to sinter together (much
stronger than an adhesive) and the glaze itself will add strength. If your
glaze is somewhat runny then the glaze from the bottom of the bowl part will
slide down to the stem during firing to help thicken the glass in the area
of the break. If your glaze is not runny, I would suggest applying an extra
thickness in the area of the break to get as much strength out of the glass
as possible.
It's worth a try. Don't put any precious pieces near this one during the
final firing, as the top may fall off during the firing.
Good luck,
Bruce Girrell
Lee Love on wed 16 aug 06
On 8/14/06, Karen Hamilton wrote:
> I finally managed to throw the perfect martini glass.
Don't you want to make more? Glue the bowl on and use it as a
sample to make 100 more of these perfect martini glaze forms!
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
dwichman@frontiernet.net on wed 16 aug 06
I wanted to make a further suggestion to the person who suggested
possibly fixing the break with glaze, but noted it may be impossible if
it cannot be balanced. ( I accidentally deleted without thinking about
it). I think the idea is good because if you used an opaque type
glaze, maybe the crack would not show. Instead of trusting the glass
to balance on the martini stem, maybe the cup part could be propped up
with clay on several sides right above the stem so that when the glaze
melted it would bind it without fall to one side, the other, or off
completely. Maybe even consider using a lower temp glaze so that the
clay supports would shrink less as it fires.
I have found that trying to correct or fix a fired piece has seldom
been successful for me, but I do understand really liking a piece and
wanting to fix it. Have you also considered throwing another one?
The more practice, the better! If you want a really thin stem, perhaps
you could make it a bit thicker while throwing and then alternately
sponge it down and let it dry so that it never gets too damp and
bends......
Good luck!
Debi
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