Monday, March 12, 2012

Repairing cracks with paper slip

If you are a potter and especially a handbuilder you must have come across the small hairline crack.  It usually happens when pieces are made to dry too fast. Well sometimes you are in a rush, so what can you do?

I have used my paper slip which has worked everytime and also in cracks in bisque ware. All it contains is my clay body with toilet paper and water. Quick way to make it is use some bone dry clay, water soaked toilet paper and some water. No real propotion. Just use a hand blender to make this goop. You will know you have enough paper by looking at the fibers in the goopy slip.



All you do next is score and apply this goop where the crack is and burnish it smooth. Bisque as normal. You can use this to repair bisqued cracks too. For bisque cracks or joining broken pieces adding a little white glue helps to keep the pieces together while it dries. You still need to rebisque the piece before glazing it.


Glad to see all this salt pepper shakers survive. Love seeing this colorful bisque load.

I use this slip for all my handbuilding purposes, attaching handles, bottoms of pieces and it works great.

Do you have a slip that does wonders for you? Do share in the comments below.

6 comments:

Charan Sachar said...

I have heard a lot about Lana Wilson's Magic Water too, but never used it. Thanks to Mimi Champlin for sharing this
http://glazesharing.wordpress.com/?s=magic+water

Michèle Hastings said...

great post. I knew about paper slip but never used it. I occasionally have had cracks in oval bakers that I throw and assemble in sections. Next crack is going to get the paper treatment!

Denise H said...

Great post, I have a crack now that I can try this on. Thank you!

JM's Virtual Gallery said...

Couldn't you technically use paper slip almost like you would mache in a way too, in addition to making repairs?

Charan Sachar said...

Yes you could. Air dry clay it paper mâché is a mix of clay paper and some binding agent like glue

JM's Virtual Gallery said...

I was thinking more with using the slip as a binding material, but that could work too.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...