Stapled bowl

Objects as different as teapots, flower vases, high voltage insulators, space shuttle insulating tiles, electronics components and some artificial bones are made from ceramics - materials and objects made from non-metallic minerals fired to more than 1000˚C. From rough earthenware to fine bone china, ceramics have had an enormous impact on human development over the ages, but the problem of what to do when they are damaged remains universal.

When damaged, some ceramics items tend to be discarded, but others are not. Some items are kept because they are considered to be of practical or monetary value, or both. Some have carried religious significance to different cultures. There has often been a desire to be able to keep using them.

Missing or broken sections might be often replaced. In the past shellac, plaster, clay and even sections of other items were used. Waxes, shellac, natural gums including garlic, mulberry and tree sap have been used; as well as gelatine and isinglass, egg whites, glutinous rice and even boiled Gloucester cheese with quicklime!

Lacquer was often used and then covered with gold powder, making no attempt to hide the repair. Wire, rivets or dowels have also been used to hold broken pieces together but they can corrode, stain or damage the ceramic.

Modern adhesives for ceramics include epoxy resins, polyesters, acrylics, cyanoacrylics and UV hardening resins. They are chosen to suite the material, while their light transmitting properties are assessed to make joins as invisible as possible. Damages are recorded so that the history of the piece is known before the losses are integrated and disguised by painting or airbrushing.

Did you know?

The first recorded ceramic repair dates from around 7,000 BC.