A potter brushing Mayco AC-306 Clay Mender into a crack on the side of a leather-hard stoneware bowl at a studio table

REPAIRS AND ATTACHMENTS

Mayco Clay Mender

For when the handle pops off, the little attachment betrays you, or a crack shows up in the exact spot you spent the most time on.

Clay Mender is an enhanced slip. It grabs harder than the slip you mix in a yogurt cup, it needs no other adhesive, and it is happiest on greenware.

$7.75 2 fl oz bottle

In-studio purchase only. We do not ship any of this. If you are not a member standing in the building, this one is not for you.

MAYCO AC-306 GREENWARE AND BISQUE 2 FL OZ

How to use it

Five steps. The one people skip is the scoring, and the one that decides whether it holds is the drying.

  1. 1

    Wet the area

    A damp brush or a wrung-out sponge on both faces. Damp, not dripping, and definitely not soaked.

  2. 2

    Score both sides

    Needle tool, toothpick, fork, the corner of a rib. Scratched-up clay grabs. Smooth clay slides.

  3. 3

    Lay it on thick

    A generous coat, not a polite one. Thin Clay Mender is just expensive water.

  4. 4

    Press and hold

    Firm pressure for ten to twenty seconds, until it stops wanting to move. Then stop fiddling with it.

  5. 5

    Dry it all the way

    All the way. Then sand and smooth the repair before you decorate it.

A wider crack or a hole

Thicken it. Stir in a pinch of your own clay until it is about the consistency of spackle, then fill the gap slowly and let each pass dry before the next one. Support the back of a hole with a scrap of cardboard while you work.

A hairline crack

Open it up first. Widen the crack with a needle tool so there is somewhere for the mender to go, then fill it. Packing Clay Mender onto the surface of a crack you cannot get inside is packing it onto nothing, and hairlines are still the hardest thing on this list.

What it will and will not do

The good version of this product page is the one that stops you losing a piece you cared about, so here is the unflattering half.

ONE BOTTLE LASTS

Because it is only ever meant for small fixes, a 2 fl oz bottle lasts most members a very long time. If you are burning through one, the repair is probably bigger than Clay Mender was built for.

It is slip, not glue

Clay Mender works because it is clay. That means greenware is where it shines. It will join bisque, and people do it all the time, but a bisque joint is always the weaker bet.

It may not match your clay

It often dries a slightly different shade than the body you are using, and glaze does not always sit down over a repair the way it sits down everywhere else. A coat of underglaze over the mend usually evens both problems out.

Rated low fire, and it still holds

Mayco rates Clay Mender to cone 04, which is below the temperature our glaze firings run at. In practice most of our members have had pretty good success with it anyway. Small cracks, fissures, patched holes and small lightweight reattachments have come through the second firing at full temperature holding fine. Anything bigger or heavier is where it gets unpredictable, so ask a staff member if you are unsure about a particular piece.

Big structural repairs are a gamble

Small cracks, fissures, patched holes and small lightweight reattachments: that is the job, and it does that job well. A piece that is currently in three pieces is a different conversation, and one worth having with us before you buy a bottle.

Worth knowing

  • In-studio purchase only. We do not ship any of this. If you are not a member standing in the building, this one is not for you.
  • No refunds.
  • One 2 fl oz bottle of Mayco AC-306. Yours to keep, and it lasts most members a very long time.
  • Mayco rates it to cone 04, below our glaze firing temperature. Most members have still had good success with small repairs holding through the second firing at full temperature. Ask a staff member if you are unsure about a particular piece.
  • Keep the cap on between repairs. It dries out in the bottle just as happily as it dries on your pot.
  • It is not food safe on its own and it is not a substitute for a glaze. It is a repair that then gets fired and finished like the rest of the piece.
  • It will not save everything. Nothing does.

Buy it before you need it. Nobody has ever needed Clay Mender at a convenient moment.