Here's one I bet you haven't heard...

[babbo]

I have a big terracotta flower pot – 32" tall – that got a hole about 5" in diameter knocked into the side. I want to patch it, and I have some of the original pieces, but rather than try to make the patch nearly invisible I want to use some broken bits of colored crockery to fill it in and I need advice.

My uninformed idea was to get some stiff hardware cloth and some thinset, mortar the hardware cloth inside the pot and then insert the colored pieces into the thinset from the outside like a mosaic. Does this sound workable, or what do you recommend? Many thanks.

[Davy]

I'm not sure I'm understanding you. If you're asking if you can piece/glue it back together using thinset mortar, I'd say yes. Hopefully you have all the pieces. I would probably try to piece it together without the cloth at first and once you have the pieces in place, let it set and then add the cloth with a layer of thinset to help strengthen it.

[babbo]

Yes, you understood me, the only difference being I don't have all the pieces so I'm going to add some other ceramic fragments mosaic style. BTW, do you think stucco patch would work? Advantage being that I have some.

[bellabella]

I think any kind of mortar would work. Just make some kind of backing even if temporary. Also wet down the pot so it does suck all the moisture out of the mortar.

[Davy]

Yep, what Jim said. And since you don't have all the pieces, it might be best to glue the fabric on first like you mentioned. Let that set and then fill in with the rest of the pieces.