How to Mend Broken Porcelain Figurines

From the age of four my wife had always admired the small porcelain nativity scene her grandparents lovingly displayed every Christmas season. The set consists of ten 6 inch high, white, porcelain figures including Mary and Joseph, three Shepperd’s, three kings, two wise men plus a smaller figure of the infant Christ child in a manger.

After the passing of her grandparents my wife asked for the set and over the past five years has taken much pride and enjoyment in following the tradition started by her grandparents by displaying this set nestled in fresh green pine boughs on the family mantle piece. For the four weeks beginning with Thanksgiving and including Christmas week the set garnished much attention and many compliments both from visiting family and guests. The tiny set serves not only as a fond memory of her grandparents, but is my wife’s pride and joy during he Christmas season as she has assumed the mantle of carrying on a family tradition dating back some 75 years.

It was during the week following Christmas as my wife was carefully hand wrapping each of the pieces in bubble wrap and placing them in a Styrofoam peanut-filled carton that the accident happened. While reaching for a figurine on the mantle my wife tripped on an extension cord and while reaching out to catch herself lost her grip on figure of Mary. The small figurine crashed on the mantle where it broke in three places.

As my wife sobbed over the loss of this irreplaceable piece I promised her that I would make every attempt to repair it.

A quick examination of the figurine revealed that two small uneven perimeter holes appeared approximately two inches above the base and on the front side of the figurine. Fortunately, the broken pieces were relatively in tact consisting of two pieces for one hole and three pieces for the second, larger hole. A third and larger hole of the three was on the back of the head. Here, the broken pieces shattered into eight to ten very small pieces of porcelain and a small quantity of porcelain dust.

Gathering up the figurine and the many small pieces of broken porcelain it became obvious that while the broken pieces from the two smaller holes maintained much of their integrity and could be fitted back together for gluing the remnants from the larger hole in the head were badly shattered and even under the best of circumstances could not be fitted back together and glued without the presence of huge and very noticeable gaps as much of the porcelain had been shattered beyond repair.

After several failed attempts at repairing the figurine and after almost throwing in the towel I found one method that resulted in not only in repairing, but in restoring much of the integrity of the figurine.

Step 1: As with earlier attempts I began by laying out the broken pieces being careful to group together the pieces from the same hole in the figurine.

Step 2: Carefully fitting the pieces together I determined which pieces could be fit into their respective holes without obvious gaps. Both of the smaller holes pieces fit into this category…Pieces from the larger hole were too shattered to be pieced together with any semblance of uniformity.

Step 3: For each of the three holes in the figurine I drew on paper a rough pattern outline of the shape of the hole adding 1/2 inch to the outside edge of each pattern.

Step 4: Following the patterns I cut three equivalent shaped pieces of duck tape.

Step 5: From the back side (non sticky) of the duct tape patch I inserted a six inch length of thin metal wire bent 90 degrees two inches from the end on the back side.

Step 6: After Folding the patch enough to fit into the corresponding shaped hole I inserted and unfolded it holding the patch in place with the wire handle.

Step 7: With the patch held in position just behind the hole I ran a thin bead of hot glue around the perimeter and using the wire handle pulled the patch in place, rotating the bent wire 360 degrees on the back side of the patch to push it snugly in place.

Step 8: I allowed glue to set for a few minutes and pulled the wire out.

Step 9: I repeated steps 5-8 for the remaining two holes.

Step 10: For the two smaller holes I coated the edges of each of the broken pieces with a very thin coat of bathtub grout and carefully fitted the pieces unto the duct tape patch in each respective hole. The duct tape provides a sticky mounting service on which the pieces can be set and held in place until the grout dries.

Step 11: For the larger hole I set the larger remaining broken pieces in their respective positions on the patch and filled the rather large gaps with grout. The grout filled all the gaps and after being wiped smooth with a damp cloth blended in well both in color (white) and surface appearance with the porcelain it joined.

The end results were far better than I had ever expected. The two smaller holes are virtually undetectable. The larger hole repair is noticeable only on very close inspection. The secret ingredient to this repair is using grout to fill the gaps. On unpolished porcelain the color and surface finish are very comparable.

Added note: I have since used this technique to repair porcelain with a shiney, polished surface. On these surfaces I have found the raw grout appears dull causing the repaired surface to stand out. This can be corrected by applying a thin coat of clear nail polish after the grout has dried for 24 hours.

As a result of this repair our treasure nativity scene just completed its’ 80th year of service to our family’s Christmas tradition.

I hope this method will help you as well.