This is awesome! The handle on my favorite mug broke off recently. I tried super gluing it back on, but it broke off after a few trips through the dishwasher (hand washing got old). I was gonna try epoxy next, but I try to avoid that stank whenever I can. Maybe I'll give this a shot.
Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
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Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#22I recently broke a piece of glassware that had been with me for over a decade. I have all the pieces and I'm wondering if it's possible to stick it in a kiln and run a heat cycle that will cause all the cracks to flow together without deforming the shape, and barring that if there's a thin gold glue I could use to do some approximation of this technique but with cracks that are essentially zero width.
The BBC “repair shop” show recently (last year?) had an episode repairing a shattered vase with some specialist glass repair glue, so you can probably find some for this.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#23> These days, some hobbyists opt for modern epoxy instead of the traditional and expensive Urushi lacquer. Epoxy probably yields a more robust bond and certainly allows for quicker repairs, but I question its safety for food-related use, especially at the temperatures found in a steaming cup of coffee. People opt for epoxy because Urushi lacquer is traditionally made from poison oak sap and is a potent skin irritant…
I spent a few years messing with different approaches with epoxy but I never found anything that could replace urushi. It's really hard to get foodsafe epoxy to cure as hard as urushi, though I did eventually get one I was happy with. But the wheat flour in the traditional material pulls the shards together as it dries, and gives just an incredibly tight and strong bond that can really hold up to actual use of the restored vessel. Epoxy always weakens and fails after a while, while I have urushi/wheat/clay pieces that have been in daily use for years.
Depending on your goals though non-foodsafe epoxy can work well. Thickened marine epoxy, for under-the-waterline boat repairs is rock solid for decorative items. I'm sure it's toxic af and I wouldn't want it anywhere near my food but it would be fine for a lot of the things people want to do kintsugi for.
Cashew lacquer is also pretty cool. It's nowhere near as nasty as urushi and doesn't require a special environment for curing. If I were just getting into it now I'd probably start with that.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#24I tried to order a kit with urushi powder from Japan recently and they had to cancel the order, saying it was now illegal to import into the US
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#25wow it's beautiful. Amazing job. Can you still use it in a dishwasher or microwave?
I have a bunch of kintsugi stuff in regular use so I can answer. Microwave is a definite no! It arcs, kind of like gold-rimmed plates would I guess.
Dishwasher you can. The repair is really two parts: the bond that holds it together and the gold dust that covers the lacquer. The join bond can handle the dishwasher. The gold layer needs touchup every few years anyway, but it will need it a lot more often if it goes through the dishwasher regularly. Gold is expensive.
There are some other ways of applying the gold that can hold up better, but they're less common.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#26I had no idea it was done with a resin.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#27aside from 'the craft' and tradition of the process, is there any real benefit to using legitimate urushiol? there are lots of bonding agents and epoxies out there that are not urushi based , actually food safe, and just as easily doused in gold dust, and completely compatible with prepared ceramics.
What's food-unsafe about cured urushi?
I don't think the GP was implying that urushi isn't food safe, but rather that some epoxies aren't food safe
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's food-unsafe about cured urushi?
I don't think the GP was implying that urushi isn't food safe, but rather that some epoxies aren't food safe
The author of the peace also mentioned that while there are food safe epoxies they were worried that they may be less food safe than expected when used with high temperatures like tea or coffee as opposed to being used in a simple serving dish.
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#29Danger!!! Urushi is basically poison oak/poison ivy sap. Not quite the same, but in that family and with the same effects. Not to scare you off, but if you are interested in this, imagine all the things that can go wrong from if you were to get a tube of poison ivy sap and then do things with it. That said, Urushi is great and the number of things you can do with it is truly amazing. Just don't do it rashly.
> rashly
Good one!
Re: Repairing my mug with Kintsugi
#30> I knocked it off the kitchen counter and, giving into the idiotic reflex of trying to catch it with my foot, kicked it into the wall instead Not idiotic! I've saved more things than I've further damaged by doing this.
Unless you are dropping a knife ;)
I’ve done this with a new and thus terribly sharp knife. I’d bought it for my mate, so when I knocked it off the bench my reaction was oh no! damage! catch!
The kitchen looked like a scene from Kill Bill. Perfect blood spray in an arc across the wall.
This mate lived with me at the time. And he was a nurse. He came home from his shift about half an hour later and I told him, sorry man, but you’re driving me straight back to the hospital.
I’m lucky to still have total use of my right middle finger.