A real life experience with PasteMaker by Kelly Renaud…
Sherri Haab's PasteMaker gets the job done!

First of all, I don't use water, I always use Sherri's PasteMaker™ when working with silver, bronze and copper.  I find that it is much more versatile.

I was creating QuikArt Christmas tree ornament samples and with copper clay that was only 4 cards thick.  I dried everything and handled the pieces ever so gently as I refined and finished them.  Even so, a tip of one of the delicate "branches" broke off due to the texture that I had applied making it actually less than 4 cards thick.

I reached for my PasteMaker and put a drop in a teaspoon along with a few bits of copper clay and used a match stick end to make repair paste.  I placed the broken halves on wax paper and with a small paint brush applied the paste to both thin edges and moved the halves together.  I used a damp brush to remove the excess from the top side only.  I then thoroughly dried the piece and fired it.  Still thinking it might be delicate I began to gently scratch brush the surface but had to work the piece pretty hard to get the finish I was after.  I decide not to worry about the joint coming apart and began aggressively finishing the piece.  No breaking!  I then decided to really test it.  Being only 4 cards thick and copper being flexible I bent the leg several times with no issues!  It repaired as strong as the original piece!

- Kelly Renaud