The one glue you need for repairing clay pots

As a Maker shop, we have lots of crazy repair products on hand. The one thing we can't recommend enough for repairing clay pots, terra cotta, and other wicked-porous objects is Gorilla Glue. Yes, *that* Gorilla Glue.

We went with the "dries white" flavor because it was on-hand. Turned out to be a good choice for the clean-looking result.

Our pot was left out over the winter, full of dirt and champing at the bit to crack itself into multiple pieces as it froze and thawed throughout the season.

Because Gorilla Glue needs a wet surface to reach its gluing glory, we soaked the whole pot overnight. This turned out to be overkill as the glue didn't get going until the pot started to dry a bit. We began with the smallest pieces, clamping up as required by the expanding adhesive.

As bad as we are at waiting for set-times, we (somewhat) patiently let each pair of pieces dry as we built the pot back up from the bottom.

Once the elements were in place around the bottom we placed the *un* glued top half on to act as a weighted clamp for the bottom bits.

Once that was set, we wetted and glued the final, all-round-the-circumference seam and weighted it down with some steel plates.

A rest overnight and the only challenge left was the best way to clean the seams of foamy residue. Because the foam was still pliable, we went with "soft" for a first try on a scraper and had great success using an unused paint stir stick to gently rub away the bubbly material.