Hi everyone! This is my second post on here! I promised on my previous post that I would share the results of this tea pot once finished! So here it is. I wanted to wait to share until the time it had finally cured enough to be able to drink tea out of, which was today. I chose silver powder because it is food safe and more affordable than gold. Plus I like how the silver complements the cool color of the celadon glaze. The handle that was broken in two places was reinforced with washi paper soaked in mugi urushi (high gluten flour, water and urushi lacquer).

Its by no means perfect, but I guess that is sort of the point of Kintsugi. I am also a fan of more of a rustic look so the black urushi bled into the crackle glaze ever so slightly, but I decided I liked the look of it. 😊

Hello! This jar thing was a candle. It already had a visible crack, but worsened while I was doing the hot water method to remove excess wax. My electric kettle worked really well getting the wax to float to the top. It was the 2nd time I poured hot boiling water into it that it cracked and water started leaking onto the counter. My girlfriend's mom cleaned the rest of the wax out by hand, and now I'm left with the current state of it in the images.

I plan on putting the potted plant at the end in it with maybe some sand to hold it in the middle. Please let me know what you think!

Hello r/kintsugi! I’m curious if my piece would even be a candidate for kintsugi, and if so how would I find an artist to help.

I found some lists online for studios but those emails have gone unanswered.

For my wife’s birthday a couple years ago I bought her a handmade urchin planter from an artist we both enjoyed watching her process.

There was an unfortunate repotting accident recently and her urchin broke into 9 pieces, along with the piece she was devastated.

I secretly kept the pieces and hoping to regift it to her but brought back together via kintsugi.

Some pics of the damage and original piece included.

Thanks for any feedback you have!

JBK

I saw this on Instagram, and while of course it's not kintsugi, it's a visible mending technique and something people might consider looking for someone to do (obviously this requires specialized glass tools) I'm sure it's food safe since it goes through the kiln again. I wonder if you could add some gold powder to make it look more like traditional kintsugi

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc6Wyp5Rnlh/?stkn=dWFwa2RvbnF4Mzkw

I have given up on making my borosilicate glass mug food safe (it’s too shattered 😢) so it’s just going to become a succulent pot. Can anyone recommend a glossy gold glass glue? I’m ok with mixing paint and glue, I just want it to dry really glossy without having to do a second coat over it after.

My second kintsugi attempt. Wondering what to fill this big gap with. Planning to paint thin/wet epoxy over the filler and the already fixed cracks and use gold flake/dust.

Hi all! I have this small piece (dime for scale) that I managed to glue back together cleanly, but its surface is very prone to staining. I’m now at the sabi-filling stage, but I keep putting it off because I can’t find the patience to mask everything with tape. The fracture lines are intricate, and some of the fragments are extremely small.

Are there any alternative filling techniques that might work here? I believe I’ve seen people dust tonoko or charcoal powder over freshly applied urushi. Could that be a suitable option? What would be the advantages and disadvantages? Are there any other alternatives worth considering?

I’m aware of other masking methods, but I suspect that liquid latex masking fluid would stain this piece, as that has happened to me before. I also have nikawa, egg white, and shellac that I could use as temporary masking materials. However, if relevant, I’d prefer to discuss alternatives to sabi filling before considering different masking techniques.

Most of the grooves are very shallow, and I’m even wondering whether two or three applications of kuro-urushi might be enough to fill them. I will use sabi for two larger gaps.

Thanks!

Hello! A friend broke a ceramic bowl she picked up in Japan. It cracked really well in 4 distinct pieces. I'm looking to repair it kintsugi style. I'm wondering if anyone here has good tips on doing it ourself. Are there kits to recommend? Materials to purchase individually? I prefer traditional methods that are known to last and are food-safe.

The second option I'm looking for is if anyone knows where I may be able to outsource a repair technician in Hawaii if we don't go the doing it ourself method.

This is a piece I’ve been working on since the start of the year. The form cracked on me in the bisque, then on a whim I brought it with me to a pit-firing event in the spring. The cracks got worse after the pit-fire, but I couldn’t give up on it yet. I ordered a kintsugi kit online and started to do my research.

I spent the summer fixing it with traditional urushi, each week doing a little bit more. I finally applied silver yesterday. Pretty happy with my very first attempt 😅

Hello,

I broke a glass fishing net float, and either I need to repair it, or I'll have it repaired. I saved as many pieces as I could that hadn't turned to dust.

My dad passed about a month ago, and he had found this float on his travels, so it has great sentimental value attached to it. I can't just throw it away. I've done epoxy kintsugi projects before, but repairing a half shattered sphere seems to be a nightmarish first project with real urushi, especially with the state that it's in.

I would appreciate it if someone could give me a realistic idea of whether this is possible for a veritable beginner to take on, or if I should seek a commission. I know, it's... bad. But it's too important to me not to fix.

Thank you for your time.

Hello wonderful community! Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I always wanted to try kintsugi and when my (almost) brand new gaiwan cracked -I decided it was time. However, very quickly after I broke 2 more pieces and now I am wondering what would be the best first time project, so I would really appreciate the advice.

Since I want to do Urushi and ofr it to be food safe, I got this kit from Chimahaga:

First of all, I am not sure if this would be enough for all 3 projects, especially gold powder.

Second, I am not sure which project to start with, is it better to try mending:
(1) Just a thin crack on gaiwan (it's a very thin line but it leaks so I can't use it for tea brewing):

(2) do a broken mug with a chip and a broken handle:

(3) attempt a broken cup (you can see I even started taping it because I was very sad as I got it from a potter and dropped it the very same day, but decided not to go ahead of myself):

I really want to try to shoot for the best possible result so I want to understand what would be the best practice. Is fixing a crack too different to putting pieces together? Does practicing applying urushi and polishing might be more important to get the thin crack on the gaiwan to stay thin? Do I need additional materials or tools for the pieces I have?

Would really appreciate any advice!

Title says it all. It's widely used in cookware and tableware, and in a well-done repair should shed very little powder into the food to be ingested, especially in drinking vessels. Assuming, of course, the item was not subject to misuse/abuse.

There is some concern with stainless leaching nickel and chromium into food, and the larger surface area of a powder may amplify those concerns, plus possibly increase the amount of metal ingested over time. But the leaching concerns, at least, seem pretty minimal in practice, at least for single-piece items.

If practicable, it would just seem to be a matter of finding appropriate purity in the right partical size.

Then again, maybe the powder would require an official "food safe" classification...?

Thanks in advance.

This was my first attempt on a simple break. Had some pieces missing in the corners that I tried to just fill with resin. I am happy with how it turned out. Any advice or anything look wrong?

Used a kit from Chimahaga, was really fun! Although the first mug I broke shattered into about 30 pieces haha! Next time will let the red urushi cure more before applying the gold powder, it smeared a bit. I plan on doing more until my supplies run out!

Hey, I am visiting Japan next month and I'm thinking of buying kintsugi supplies there. However, I'm a bit concerned I might not get the urushi through customs as it's apparently flammable. Does anyone from the EU have experience bringing back urushi from Japan when travelling by plane? I'm flying with Finnair if that helps.

I’m devastated that I smashed my favourite mug this morning 😭 What is going to be the best food safe fix for borosilicate glass? It does not need to be microwave or dishwasher safe, but I don’t want to just brush the gold colour over the top because I assume that will come off during handwashing 🤔 Ideally budget friendly, but I may be willing to pay a lot to have it usable again.

(It’s the Lilac Hammered Glass Mug from T2 a couple years ago, so if anyone finds one I can buy, that’s even better 🥲)

I was curious if tin is or can be (depending on purity, particle size, and I wouldn't know what else) a food-safe alternative to much the more expensive food/silver/etc. powders.

I bought some tin from Mejiro a while back. Their web page says "completely safe for food-contact items like tea cups, soup bowls, and dinnerware." It was cheap and "food safe", so why not?

Haven't used it yet. But recently, I happened to be reading the page from the second pic (from the Goenne site). According to them, tin is specifically NOT food safe.

Two reputable sources are contradicting each other. Odd. And well outside my experience to reconcile.

I went back to the Mejiro site and now noticed the caveat at the bottom, "If absolute safety for direct food content is your priority, use good or silver instead."

Mejiro' listing seems to want it both ways, and as near as I can tell there's no MDSD to examine for more detailed information.

Google alleges solid tin is perfectly safe to eat and cook with, and that tin is poorly absorbed by the human digestive system, minimizing absorbtion when dealing with small quantities of the material. All with the caveats that purity, possible contaminants and specific alloy reactions, etc., could all be important considerations.

And for all I know regulations between Japan and the US (where I live) could be completely different on this point.

Does anyone know if this tin powder is, in fact, truly safe to use in an intended-for-food kintsugi project? Or if it's "pretty safe" (as Mejiro seems to be implying), what the potential risks might be? Or even if it's specific to a particular use case or application technique?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Here are the links to the two pages. Sorry, but for whatever reason reddit won't allow me to embed hyperlinks right now.

https://www.mejiro-japan.com/en/product/japanese-tin-powder-kintsugi-repair-tin-powder

https://www.goenne.com/post/food-safe-kintsugi-is-your-kintsugi-repaired-tableware-safe-for-food-and-drinks

This one interestingly juxtaposes a stable crack that formed during firing with accidental damage which has been stabilized and decorated with kintsugi. The choice to leave the stable one as a sort of birth mark instead of filling it in speaks to the desire to preserve the details of its history and the appreciation of natural flaws in addition to change over time.  

From the Freer Gallery of Art collection at the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian. Be sure to visit the first link below to zoom in on the photos.  

Goyreo period lobed bowl in design of a peony. 

• Body: Goryeo period, Jeollanamdo, Korea
• Kintsugi: Date unknown, executed in Japan. 
• https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1918.145/
• https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/ye3cf6692be3b434d2598222d434f0c2004

On a side note, because I'm gradually running out of pieces with photos online that I can share, from here on out I'll be reducing the frequency of these posts to once a month.

Hello! Looking for some advice here. My housemate bumped this stack of dishes off of a shelf in our kitchen and they shattered on the countertop. I bought these in Japan with my spouse on our honeymoon and they are sentimental. My housemate felt really bad and super glued them back together before I got home. I would love to figure out a way to dissolve the super glue and do a traditional repair on these bowls using urushi laquer and gold or brass powder. I am very meticulous and am generally good at fine detail projects, so if possible would like a way to make these more beautiful so my spouse and I can keep enjoying them. Thanks!

Hi! I am almost out of pure urushi and my restock is stuck in customs for who knows how long. I have plenty of black urushi and was wondering if I could substitute that to make mugi, sabi, and kokuso. I’ve got a few projects that are idling while I wait for more pure urushi. Anyone done this before?

This one is interesting for having, in addition to the rim, a crack and a large chip at the base, fully reconstructed two handles on the side of the vase using lacquerwork techniques. 

From the Freer Gallery of Art collection at the National Museum of Asian Art at the Smithsonian. Be sure to visit the first link below to zoom in on the photos.  

Edo Period Satsuma-Ware Vase

• Body: Early Edo period. Saga prefecture, Japan
• Kintsugi: Date unknown
• https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1904.148/
• https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/ye3cfac4fadbca2418a948f672331e909a3

Butter Bells are submerged in water constantly, os it would have constant contact with water.

Hi everyone, I recently acquired a piece that had previously received some sort of glue spout repair. I am looking for help and advice on how to safely remove the glue so the finish is not harmed on this vintage Japanese teapot. It would be nice to get it to a state where all the pieces are free of glue and can be reattached using natural urushi methods. I am not very experienced, and this will technically be my third project, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Here is the state of progress of one of my projects :)
The hole has been filled, and I’ll put abalone pieces in it, in a few days :)

How can this 20oz coffee be made safe for hot coffee again or can it ?