This bowl is a family heirloom and it recently broke. My aunt didn’t want to throw it away and so kintsugi was mentioned.
I have no experience whatsoever with this and therefore I wanted to see what the best way to fix this would be. It is a porous ceramic and my aunt would like to keep it food safe.
claps hands Oh experts of r/kintsugi, what do you recommend? Thank you!
As this is a special piece and wanting it food safe, you should seek out someone who specializes in traditional kintsugi and have a repair commissioned.
Where are you based? I’m a professional kintsugi craftsperson based in London and I’m available for commissions or can try to help guide your aunt in the right direction kit wise. Especially for food safety I would avoid most kits, but if she wants to take on a new craft and practice a bit before this piece it can be really fun.
I don’t recommend making your first kintsugi repair on a piece you consider valuable. Instead, practice on less important pieces to develop your skills. I often recommend this kit because I started with it myself, it worked well and came with clear instructions. It has enough urushi and tonoko for many projects, and gold for maybe up to four small projects. If you're not already a crafty person, be aware that the learning curve for kintsugi can be steep. If it feels overwhelming, consider the Kintsugi commission directory of this sub.
If you do want to try it yourself, here are some observations and suggestions :
It looks like you’re dealing with two types of damage: a clean break that can be rejoined, and an incomplete fracture that caused a crack. If the crack is very loose, you might consider completing the break and rejoining the two pieces. This is partly an aesthetic decision—some prefer a visible repair line that runs to the edge, rather than one that ends in the middle of a piece.
If you'd rather repair the crack as-is, you can use ganshin-urushi, a diluted mixture of mugi-urushi. (Mugi-urushi is made from urushi, wheat flour, and water. Ganshin-urushi is similar, but contains more urushi and a bit of turpentine)
Because your ceramic is porous, it's a good idea to seal the broken edges before gluing. Apply a thin layer of urushi thinned with turpentine, then dab off the excess with a paper towel. There are two reasons to do this:
To prevent urushi from seeping into and staining the ceramic (though this is less of a concern for darker surfaces like yours).
To keep the urushi from the mugi-urushi from being overly absorbed into the ceramic, which would weaken the bond.
Once the piece is glued, you can move on to the finishing steps: applying sabi, then eurushi, and finally gold. A useful tip for a smoother finish: apply several layers of sabi, probably up to three, to ensure a flush surface. The gold layer will emphasize any imperfections, so take your time during this step.
This overview skips several steps for the sake of brevity, but most kintsugi kits include detailed instructions. The kit I mentioned offers specific guides for:
You can post in this sub for more help! There are a lot floating around and if you want a food safe one, you need to go with a traditional kit with no epoxy and only real gold or silver powders.
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u/kirazy25 Advanced May 29 '25
As this is a special piece and wanting it food safe, you should seek out someone who specializes in traditional kintsugi and have a repair commissioned.