Yesterday I bought a ceramic teapot for my mother‘s birthday gift and while she was carrying out of the store, it fell down and the handle broke off and split in two parts. The pieces are glue-able because they are big enough, still, I am not sure what glue to use to put the pieces together since it needs to work on ceramic and it also has to be heat resistant. I was thinking of using epoxy glue and painting the scratched bits with nail polish. I also want to know if nail polish will work on epoxy or if the material would suck it off. Thanx!
I haven't heard of epoxy being used. Superglue is the best. Make sure you do a test run to put the parts together, then just glue one part of the ceramic and attach and hold firmly in place for a couple of minutes, job done. I don't know what affect the nail polish would have if any, I suspect once the glue has hardened it will be impervious to the acetylene in the polish.
It depends on the type of ceramic piece, you can use polyvinyl acetate (PVA) or white glue for pottery and ceramics. For porcelain, ironstone and glass you can use a slow setting two part epoxy. These allow for the time you need to piece the handle back exactly. A fast epoxy won't allow enough time to get it right. Also some people use E 6000 for repairs. Have gloves, a toothpick or small brush, and a razor blade available for your repair job. As far as use, be very careful holding the teapot with the handle. Most adhesives will not stand up to washing and hot water use -- they will deteriorate over time and use. SInce it is the handle, you don't have to worry about food safety issues like you would if this were a mug. You may want to use it as a decorative element from now on. Good luck.
