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 ?

So,theres this gap there i filled with epoxy and mica,idk really how to remove it all since with a razor blade its hard as hell and i allready cut half my finger lol,i tjought maybe sand it,do you guys any better allternstive?

I recently bought this hand made ruyao celadon shiboridashi. Sadly, it dribbles no matter how carefully I pour. It occured to me it might be possible to use kintsugi to reshape the spout to stop the dribbling. Only I'm not sure what is wrong with the current spout? Any idea how tricky that might be?

As background, I have been doing traditional kintsugi repairs for about a year and a half, mostly just chip repairs, hairline cracks and simple breaks. Nothing as technical as trying to fix a pour.

My other option, I guess, is to aquire a tea tray to contain the spillage, and let my shibo dribble away with gusto.

Sorry, this is probably absolute hearsay or maybe not even the right topic, but can I use B6000/B7000 with gold mica for a quick tiny fix? I have a very small clay figurine and the foot cracked off…so no need to be very strong or food safe. Just hold together and look pretty.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a traditional Kintsugi project on a 9 broken-pieces japanese ceramic cup (5" tall x 3" wide). Due to the narrow dimensions and high piece count, I’ve glued a few parts into sub-assemblies using mugi-urushi (currently cured for 2 weeks in my muro).

Before I do the final assembly, I’d love your input on two questions:

1. Sabi-urushi on sub-assemblies: Can I apply sabi-urushi and do the wet sanding on these partial sub-assemblies now (keeping raw joint edges clean) to make inner access easier before final gluing?
2. Inner sanding & finishing: What are your favorite tools or techniques for sanding and applying urushi deep inside a narrow cup to ensure a clean result inside the cup.

Thanks for your tips! 🤗

So, for some context, my family has a massive bowl that's been passed down (more or less) from generation to generation, recently, it's developed a hairline crack at the bottom that goes all the way through, I did some research and I THINK Urushi should be the way to go? However I'm worried about its heat safety, this bowl is what we use to cook bread/make pizza dough so it goes into an oven regularly at 150 or so.

All that is to say, what should I use to fix it? Not using it anymore isn't an option as my parents (the generation who currently own it) don't like keeping useless cookware around.

This is a pretty old bowl made by my father used for my cats. A friend accidentally shattered it while watching them. I have seen kintsugi before and thought it could be a neat thing to try to repair it. I’m looking for some advice on whether this would be possible. The bowl is quite thin but I do have all the pieces minus the visible chip in the glaze and a tiny pinhole on the right side. There is also a hairline crack at the edge of the largest piece where it meets the bottom. Any advice/ suggestions would be appreciated.

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 Porcelain Jar

• Body: Late Edo period. Kagoshima prefecture, Japan
• Kintsugi: Date unknown
• https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1899.59a-b/
• https://collections.si.edu/search/record/ark:/65665/ye332f481e53da8442b86cde5f77ac23ecc

Has anyone had any experience dismantling ceramics that have been poorly joined with mugi-urushi in the past? If so, what method worked best? The item is old (a Chinese Ming bowl), but reasonably robust. The kintsugi work is very poor and I'd like to redo it.