How do you repair a large terracotta vase?

Answer 1

Many people use all kinds of glues to stick broken terracotta back together, but fail to consider chemicals leeching into the soil killing their plants. You must remember there are specific Glues for specific jobs, here is a site that explains. (excerpt and the site):

It is unprecedented for a glue to be Glue of the month twice, but Weldbond proved its worth. For May's Glue of the month we wanted to address the many questions we have had about terra cotta. For those who live in more northern climates, May is the month to uncover the garden, only to find that all that winter freezing and thawing has taken its toll on your terra cotta pots. After many requests, we have done a test with a variety of adhesives on terra cotta, and our laboratories found that Weldbond worked best. It is virtually invisible, water proof, and solvent free so it won't leach any dangerous chemicals into the soil. The only real disadvantage of using Weldbond to repair your terra cotta pots is that it does take 1 hour to set under pressure (clamping) which is not always an easy task, and 24 hours to completely cure. For this reason people often turn to a speedy alternative such as cyanoacrylates, and are unfortunately disappointed. This is usually where we come in. Here's the answer, use Weldbond on your terra cotta. * Check out Weldbond's new site at www.franktross.com * Regular Weldbond page * Weldbond's last time as Glue o'Month * http://www.thistothat.com/gom/2001.05.shtml