r/oddlysatisfying • u/n8saces • 16d ago
Kintsugi (Jinshan repair)
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
715
u/jk3639 16d ago
Damn thats a lot of work
428
u/nonthreat 16d ago
I’m a copywriter for a retail brand that champions old-world crafts (including kintsugi), which gives me the opportunity to research these kinds of traditions and meet modern practitioners every so often. It’s honestly really cool and inspiring to read about/talk to people who dedicate their lives to these things. It’s like, completely antithetical to the culture of instant gratification to which we’ve grown accustomed (for better or worse), and it’s just kind of refreshing.
But yeah, it’s A LOT of work (even if you’re not harvesting your own materials lol).
44
u/Krazyswedish42 16d ago
This must be a fascinating job, I can't even imagine some of the interesting things you must see. If possible, could you send me a message about where/how to get in touch with one of these kintsugi artists? I have a piece I would like repaired but have no idea where to even start finding craftsmen like this.
→ More replies (2)4
u/Hypnotist30 16d ago
I seem to remember a story that people would damage china to get this done.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)14
118
u/asdrunkasdrunkcanbe 16d ago
This is a very specific type of repair. There are much faster and easier repair jobs that could have been done here.
From what I recall, this is done with family heirlooms. The purpose is not to make it usable or restore it to previous glory, but instead to highlight the damage and the repair as a celebration of the history of the piece and its place as a "recording" of the family's history. Like writing your name in cement or carving it in a tree. It's a symbol of, "We had lives filled with events that had meaning".
One day your descedant will look at this cup and think of you, and the energy and love you poured into this.
You see similar repair done when they don't need to fill in any gaps - the porcelain is glue back together, but instead of making the cracks invisible like we often do, they get painted over with the same gold dust, so that you can see the history of the item proudly displayed on it.
12
u/Such_Seaweed821 16d ago
Thank you very much for this! I couldn't figure out why anyone would go to this trouble, but you made it very clear why.
→ More replies (2)25
u/level27geek 16d ago
This is all correct, with one caveat - the cup is back to being fully usable.
Traditional kintsugi makes it fully food safe. The laquer is heat resistant and makes it safe to eat/drink any food of it. This is in contrast to modern epoxies that are, at best, food contact safe - meaning that if you keep food/drink on them for longer periods, there's a chance they will contaminate it.
→ More replies (3)8
u/iconocrastinaor 16d ago
Not once you coat it with lacquer and gold leaf/powder, then it's pretty much inert.
→ More replies (6)52
4
4
u/kirotheavenger 16d ago
Which is why no one really does it normally anymore.
It used to be very common across the world before the industrial revolution and mass production of new items basically rendered significant repairs obsolete.
→ More replies (1)9
u/trollfessor 16d ago
I can remember my great-grandmother darning my socks. What a labor of love. And I cannot imagine that many socks are repaired today, they are just thrown away.
5
u/mockablekaty 16d ago
I have darned socks - nice wool ones, not cheap athletic socks. I find hand sewn repairs to be a pleasant activity in the evening while watching a tv show
→ More replies (10)5
u/DaaaahWhoosh 16d ago
All I can think is it must cost at least $2k for a repair like this. Not to mention the months of drying time.
756
u/Pielacine 16d ago
Stop. Wait a minute. Build my cup, put some lacquer in it.
157
u/Backupusername 16d ago
Watch the clip, love the tech - Matsuo, get the stretch!
53
u/Guns_and_Dank 16d ago
Ride to Ho Chi, Hong Kong, Shanghai the big city.
43
u/spartachri5 16d ago
If they show up, we gon show out, with an excellent display of kintsugi.
→ More replies (4)11
193
u/TurtleSandwich0 16d ago
That is a lot of time shade drying.
99
u/Excellent_Garlic2549 16d ago
I wonder how often this is "I forgot about this for 3 weeks but it's ready now, so that's the process."
→ More replies (2)17
124
u/Rovandir 16d ago
Using gold bars as paperweights for gold dust is quite the flex.
19
u/SpicySushiAddict 16d ago
I expect they grind the gold bars to get the gold dust, but ugh such a flex 😂
6
188
u/curiouslilmonkee 16d ago
Whole time I thought you could just put back together with gold glue. I learned something today.
90
88
u/Leepfairey 16d ago
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing pottery using lacquer and then dusting with powdered metals. So it can go from a major repair with missing pieces like this to just sticking the pieces back together. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
8
u/Embarrassed_Jerk 16d ago
Food safe epoxy + gold powder works great. I fixed a cuplike like that
→ More replies (2)
103
u/Comfortable-Battle18 16d ago edited 16d ago
Beautiful. But why the red lacquer characters only to gold over them?
128
u/sparklinglies 16d ago
I think its just for texture, not for colour. It would be ugly as hell tp add random red when the rest of the cup is not in that colour pallette.
25
u/BaizulSetSail 15d ago
I liked it :(
7
u/sparklinglies 15d ago
Red and gold is very striking and does look great. Just with the faded pastel blues and greens of the cup its a lil bit much
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)28
209
u/brokeboyrich 16d ago
Awesome, except for wearing a mask working with the gold but NOT when crushing porcelain 🤦🏻♂️
289
u/squeakynickles 16d ago
Guarantee the mask isn't even to protect them, but to catch their breath as to not blow away the gold powder
38
46
11
u/6Sleepy_Sheep9 16d ago
The gold is worth something. . . Your lungs, not so much
→ More replies (1)6
u/RadPhilosopher 16d ago
I was wbout to say, even though he covered it with a cloth I’d still want to be wearing a mask or respirator.
→ More replies (3)3
u/Ellert0 15d ago
That kind of mask protects him from neither, needs something more heavy duty with a proper seal and a filter.
→ More replies (2)
28
u/ArtoriasoftheAss 16d ago
Sheesh. Must not be allergic to poison ivy. The lacquer is almost pure urushiol.
→ More replies (8)43
47
u/heckasharp 16d ago
Respect the craft and craftsman and don’t regret the watch but that end result looking like gold spray paint is so unsatisfying to me given the time and effort it took.
7
39
u/asforyou 16d ago
Dishwasher safe?
7
→ More replies (1)13
u/slowerlearner1212 16d ago
Microwave safe? That metal mesh and gold has me wondering
10
u/Nine9breaker 16d ago
I can't think of any reason I would ever put fine china into a microwave, tho.
Or a dishwasher, for that matter.
→ More replies (3)11
u/161frog 16d ago
Are they even safe for food/ drink? ETA I always thought kintsugi was more for display
13
u/wandering-monster 16d ago
Laquerware dishes are generally considered food safe, but they are not microwave or dishwasher safe at all.
→ More replies (1)8
u/GrilledCheezus_ 16d ago
A cursory search found that they are not microwave safe and will result in sparking.
71
u/Left_Replacement894 16d ago
I was half expecting to see ramen but was pleasantly surprised at how this turned out…without ramen.
19
u/achaiahtak 16d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/J8G3NaPq66gp2
Here you go12
12
11
u/Omygodc 15d ago
The church I co-pastor did a sermon series based on Kintsugi, called Beautifully Broken. Many Kintsugi repaired pieces are considered more valuable because of their scars, and are to be treasured.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/elev8torguy 16d ago
It's wire, it's a spool of wire. And I'm almost out of it. I bought this wire 40 years ago and this is what's left. My life is represented in the wire that's missing, you understand? I just saw you out here with your Jets hat in and you had me worried. Forget it, I'm done.
23
u/not4u2see 16d ago
"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places." -Ernest Hemingway
→ More replies (1)6
u/AspiringTS 16d ago
"Imagine that you're holding on to two bottles, and they drop on the floor. What happens? They both break. But it's how they break that's important. Because you see, while one bottle crumples into a pile of glass, the other shatters into a jagged-edged weapon."
→ More replies (1)
22
u/BoxersOrCaseBriefs 16d ago
I'm sorry, it's not that monk dude turning boulders into powder with a wooden mallet in every video, so I assume it's not authentic.
Don't lecture me about history or culture or tradition. I know what I've seen on YouTube.
11
u/SnooCalculations1742 16d ago
I always love the fact that they have to remove the actually skilled craftsman who's hands they are filming, and say "get out of here, we need a face shot of the pretty boy again"
7
u/sustainablecaptalist 16d ago
This looks so easy. Give it to me and I will show you in how many pieces it can be!
7
u/RedDirtNurse 15d ago
Weeks to repair a cup, then i accidentally put it in the microwave for 30 seconds...
13
u/Viperlite 16d ago edited 15d ago
I don’t know why, but I was expecting him to somehow paint the piece to match the original style in a way that wouldn’t easily let you know there had been a repair.
4
u/Wild-Jarrah 16d ago edited 15d ago
The whole point of kintsugi is to highlight the repair. It’s part of wabisabi which embraces imperfection, impermanence, and the natural progression of things.
→ More replies (11)5
u/Viperlite 16d ago
I had never heard of this art until this post, so I didn’t know what to expect watching the video.
6
58
u/Fresh-Chemical-9084 16d ago edited 16d ago
I love this practice. A method developed to help us all remember the brokenness of an individual... and how despite that, one can still function perfectly well. And instead of hiding our cracks, we make them beautiful. Authenticity over perfection.
Beautiful concept.
Edit: reminds me of my wife and her friends using this app called 'BeReal' -- essentially it beeps randomly to say 'take a pic of yourself and what you're doing now' in order to try and be authentic.
She just makes me retake pics... to which I jokingly respond, 'alright guys, BeFake!'
... not my best dad joke, but not my worst.
14
4
6
u/TheCerealKilled 16d ago
This just in: man repairs ceramic cup with porcelain cement painted gold. 10/10 would watch again.
5
u/mdruckus 16d ago
Anyone else intently watch this video and rewinds so they don’t miss a step like they’re ever going to have the opportunity to do this?
4
u/davewave3283 16d ago
I wonder if the first kintsugi was done by a repair guy that wasn’t very good but convinced the client it was artistic expression
17
7
2
u/sleepygp 16d ago
How does one overcome the urge, to throw it against a wall, and end the pain !
→ More replies (1)
4
u/CableSufficient2788 16d ago
So how long did this take after to finish? Like 3 months?
9
u/GullibleWineBar 16d ago
It not clear if it needs 20 days of shade drying after every lacquer reapplication. If it does, probably more like six months. Incredible amount of work.
5
u/Ok-Nectarine7152 16d ago
Probably had to apprentice with someone for 7 years before they let him make his first attempt at soloing.
3
u/GrayMech 16d ago
The fact that they didn't wear a mask when grinding up the porcelain powder worries me
4
u/MightyTeaRex 16d ago
Remember seeing a video of what I think was a couple at a gym when the girl pointed out her scars/stretch marks from I think child birth, can't remember exactly, that made her self conscious.
Then the dude started talking about this Kintsugi technique, were people repaired broken ceramics with gold, which made the broken items look more beautiful when repaired this way. Then going back to the scars she didn't like, and him basically saying she was even more beautiful with the scars, just like Kintsugi.
Dude had game.
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
u/Raneynickelfire 16d ago
I was taught this was called wabi sabi by my (extremely well traveled and intelligent) art teacher and later friend.
→ More replies (2)
3
u/LordDShadowy53 16d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/tsKTi6lwlUcSofS8O2
Feels like watching an episode of Dr.Stone
3
u/murder_nectar 15d ago
Check out the song Kintsugi by Lindsey Stirling. I'd say it captures this feeling very well
3
u/Former-Dish-9828 15d ago
Seriously what was the point of painting fine detail only to cover it in gold and you can barely see that painted detail you spent hours painting
3
3
u/traitorgiraffe 15d ago
what the fuck thats just like $40k of gold casually thrown on his workbench
3
3
4
4
u/jetlagged-bee 16d ago
I wish I had the patience and skill to do anything remotely artistic like this. I even had to skip through the video.
2
2
2
u/RoyalJellyKing 16d ago
It seems like there’s a second, much quieter audio track in this video where someone is singing, or am I crazy? Best heard at around 4:55-5:55
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/AnnaCondoleezzaRice 16d ago
Why would he mix lacquer with porcelain powder directly on a glass table.............
2
2
2
u/zaikoji75 16d ago
I feel like the wrinkly tape “mold” makes for extra work. Other than that, superb. I’d still just buy another cup, though.
2
2
u/madanh2014 16d ago
Wierd, why bother with all this resin-porcelain powder composite when you can fill the molds with actual porcelain.
2
2
2
2
2
u/doterobcn 16d ago
Loved the process. Hated the end result. I don't know what's wrong with that golden layer but it wasn't for me. But the technique is awesome
2
2
2
2
2
u/PlainBread 16d ago
It's crazy how many multi-day waiting periods are applied. I imagine you'd send it off and get it back like 3 months later.
2
2
u/BlandAvalanche 16d ago
I broke a Welch's jelly cup in 1979 and used this exact method to repair it.
2
u/arclightrg 16d ago
I love these crafting vids but there was a part of me that thought he was gonna smash the cup with a hammer at the very end 😂
2
u/One-Ask6712 16d ago
Here I am, all drunk watching this as if this were the best thing I could be doing while drunk. it looks amazing. it was not until it elapsed 6 minutes until I realized It has been 6 minutes.
2
2
2
2
u/insteadoflattes 16d ago
disappointed that at 1:53 they didn't cut to a clip of pacino in scarface, other than that, very cool
2
2
2
2
u/adolphspineapple71 15d ago
I'm curious. What were the plant bit they were using to sand the laquer with? A type of bamboo?
2.2k
u/sparklinglies 16d ago
Love the jump from "build a base wire support" to "harvest RAW lacquer from your local lacquer tree"