Kintsugi Update and Alternatives

You may remember the rather disappointing attempt at repairing a broken bowl using the Japanese technique of kintsugi.

Broken bowl - Misericordia

Recently, Scrapiana posted a video from the Pitt Rivers Museum who ran a workshop on the technique (with much greater success than I had). Some very useful comments include this blog post by Carys Davies with an alternative technique.

I realised that I had never posted an update on the bowl, so I thought this would be a good opportunity.

I got some really useful comments, especially from Laura who had bought a kit to play with prior to stocking them in her shop. She said that she had had some success in using nail varnish remover to tidy up spills and extra glitter. The next time I was in the same country as the pot, I had a go.

This was how I had left it, rather tearfully, on the way to the airport.

Kintsugi Repair before - Misericordia

This is how it turned out with a careful swab of nail varnish remover.

Kintsugi repair after - Misericordia

Kintsugi repair after - Misericordia

Where does it leave me?

I’m still interested in the technique (I’d really like to try it in a guided way, that workshop looked great), but I think maybe the kit isn’t the way forward.

Perhaps the materials didn’t suit my way of working, or I’m not experienced enough with glue (this isn’t facetious, I don’t use liquid glue very often and I struggle with not having a feel for it the way I do with thread or even nails and screws), or even that the formulation sacrificed adhesive quality for ease of use.

I think I might look into some of the techniques in the links above, but part of me really wants to try to lacquer to see if the rhythm suits me better.

Categories: Mending, The Work of My Hands, Uncategorized

3 Comments

  1. Thanks for the mention. I think a workshop with experienced practitioners is probably the way to go; then you can quiz them on the materials – there’s really no substitute for that kind of guidance.

  2. I experimented with real Kintsugi using Urushi, but had a bad allergic reaction, much like poison ivy. Sadly, I can not work with Urushi again! Do you know of an alternative to creating Kintsugi that is hypoallergenic and get the same professional results. Epoxy resin videos don’t seem to achieve the best results.

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