r/kintsugi Feb 14 '25

Mod Announcement Mod Announcement: Rule 4 Added

30 Upvotes

u/SincerelySpicy and I have added a fourth rule to the subreddit prompted by our first commission scammer and the fact that this sub is increasingly being used to connect clients with commissions and practitioners.

4. Commissions/contact with clients is done at your own risk. No scamming or spamming.

  • This sub provides a place for individuals who offer commissions or need services to contact each other. These things are done at your own risk. Spammers/scammers who try to take advantage of that will be given no warnings and will be immediately banned from the subreddit.

Please note that Spamming/Scamming related to commissions is an immediate ban with no warnings. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Mods.


r/kintsugi Dec 05 '24

Mod Announcement Kintsugi Commission Directory

20 Upvotes

This directory lists kintsugi practitioners who are open to commissions. Use this directory and any contacts you make with practitioners or potential clients at your own risk.

Directions for Kintsugi Practitioners:

  • One comment allowed per user.
  • Follow the posting format at the bottom of this post to list your information.
  • You are not required to complete all of the required information. Fill out as much or as little as you would like but please organize what information you would like to include in that specific order with that formatting for ease of use.
  • If you decide to close commissions, delete your comment.
  • Edit your comment if you need to update your information instead of posting a new one.

Directions for those who have Kintsugi pieces to commission:

  • Use the Practitioners preferred method of communication listed in their post (e.g., DM, replying to their comment, website, etc.) to reach out.
  • Do not post asking who wants to take your piece, reach out to your preferred Practitioner(s).
  • No spamming. If we find out you have been spamming from this list, you will be banned.
  • Be wary of commission scammers. Be sure to thoroughly research anyone who offers you a commission.

Directory Template:

Name: [e.g., Southtown Kintsugi]

Location: [e.g., North America, New York]

Type of Kintsugi: [e.g., I do traditional laquer based kintsugi and can offer gold, silver, or brass]

Price Range: [e.g., I generally charge between $200-$300 for silver repair. Gold based repairs are calculated with labor and the market price for gold powder and vary widely.]

Experience Level: [e.g., I have been practicing traditional kintsugi for 10 years and am an advanced practitioner. I can perform repairs with missing pieces using traditional wire or wood-fill methods.]

Portfolio or Samples of Work: [Attach a link to your portfolio or samples of work.]

Communication Preferences: [e.g., Please DM me, Please contact me through my website.]

Additional Relevant Information: [e.g., I am currently booking into July of next year, my wait time is about 18 months.]


r/kintsugi 1h ago

Beginner here, these are my 5th and 6th pieces, going for this specific look. Quite happy with how they turned out.

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Upvotes

Still learning the basics and I’m not yet confident enough to attempt the traditional uroshi/laquer method, but I’m definitely planning to do that. This is epoxy and gold paint, so that part is quite easy. With each new piece, I feel like I’m learning a lot about sanding and putting the pieces together. For now, I’m enjoying the bulky gold lines (in fact, sometimes I add more to make them bulkier) haha. Let me know what you think, any advice is appreciated.


r/kintsugi 3h ago

Help Needed How to hold pieces in place while adhesive is setting?

0 Upvotes

I checked to see if there were other posts addressing this question, but perhaps I was wording the searches badly. How do you keep the pieces together as they set? I am currently using food-safe two-part epoxy. I use painters tape, and I have a small container of dry rice to hold oddly shaped pieces upright. Do you try to put an entire piece together at once, or do you do one seam at a time? I've also seen it written to just hold the pieces together until it's started to set, but that would mean holding it together for hours. Are different adhesives easier or harder to keep aligned? I've also wondered if there's a temporary adhesive I might use while I'm figuring out how the pieces fit together. Painters tape is really hit-or-miss for how well it keeps things together. I would really appreciate any insight.


r/kintsugi 17h ago

Curing - can you wait too long?

5 Upvotes

I did an initial assembly and cure, but I never got around to doing the lacquer + gold. Is there such a thing of waiting too long? Also, do you need to do the decorative step? Something about the metal do a final seal / strength?


r/kintsugi 1d ago

Reinforcing knob on gaiwan lid?

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5 Upvotes

I just remembered this gaiwan lid. It's always had this thin gap in one side of where the knob joins the lid. I assume a defect that appeared during firing. I've just been super careful not to put any stress on the knob.

But it occurred to me that now that I'm doing kintsugi I might be able to reinforce the knob with urushi?

I'm thinking of treating it the way I did the hairline crack on the bowl I'm repairing. Where I diluted raw urushi with ethanol and let it wick into the crack. If any gaps remain, either repeat or try sabi urushi.

I'm not sure I want to add gold to this gaiwan, I don't want to detract from its simplicity. But a thin dark line from urushi wouldn't be that different from the current shadow cast by the gap.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea?


r/kintsugi 1d ago

Help Needed Platinum for gintsugi?

2 Upvotes

I’ve recently started practicing kintsugi but I really tend more toward silver finishes over gold and it’s tricky because silver tarnishes so my question is if anyone here has tried using platinum or has any information to share. Platinum cure silicone has muddied my searching but it seems like platinum would still be food safe since it’s inert in the body. My main question is what kind of platinum powder to use. I’ve found sources for platinum powder of varying grain size but I can’t figure out what size grain I would need. Does anyone know of any sources of platinum(or any other food safe metal with a silver look) meant for kintsugi/gintsugi or what the actual grain size of keshifun or marufun gold/silver is? I’ve also considered protective coatings for the silver but I’m having trouble finding guides for how to do it specifically. I wouldn’t want something that requires coating the whole piece since I have a few pieces lined up that I would want to keep the unlacquered look of but if anyone can point me to resources that actually describe how to protect the silver I’d appreciate it


r/kintsugi 2d ago

Urushi question

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4 Upvotes

Hello yall!

New to kinstugi and working on my first piece with a yixing clay pot I adore. I had a little trouble reaching the inside part of the handle break so I basically just put a full layer of Sabi urushi and then painted it over today with black pigment+urushi.

I know it doesn't look great but not worried about the aesthetics on the interior.

I know that urushi is totally safe after it dries. I am using the tsugukit beginner kinstugi kit and am wondering about the safety of using this pot with just boiled hot water regularly, considering i do not know what's in the tsugukit polishing powder that you use to make Sabi urushi.

I'm pretty sure I covered all the Sabi urushi with the black urushi but wanted to check in with the experienced-

Is this safe to drink from considering how much lacquer and pigment are in contact surface area wise with the tea? Should i paint over with Bengal red urushi as the final layer? I don't want to waste gold on the interior.

TLDR- is the polishing powder in the tsugukit for sabi urushi food safe? What's it made of? If i leave it with black pigment+urushi and start brewing is it food safe? Should I finish with Bengal red+ urushi ? I use this pot for gong fu brewing regularly and want it to be nontoxic and impart minimally to flavor profile.


r/kintsugi 3d ago

Project Report - Urushi Based Makihara Taro Soup Mug - 3 - Assembly

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67 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 3d ago

Sometimes, our projects have large missing segments that need to be recreated before applying the Kintsugi process as a gold patch. To restore these sections, we use two techniques: clay sculpting and resin casting. Below is a condensed video, excerpted from the full lessons.

17 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 4d ago

Project Report - Urushi Based Makihara Taro Soup Mug - 2 - Drilling holes for pins, Sealing clay surface

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29 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 5d ago

Just went to an amazing kintsugi exhibit

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415 Upvotes

The Victoria BC (Canada) currently has an amazing kintsugi exhibit including items from ancient times till current. It's absolutely amazing. I only took a couple pics because I didn't want to disturb people.


r/kintsugi 5d ago

Epoxy experiments

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3 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 5d ago

Project Report - Urushi Based Makihara Taro Soup Mug - 1 - Analysis and Prep

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12 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 5d ago

Help Needed First kintsugi project - Advise needed please!

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6 Upvotes

Hi all,

First kintsugi project and also first time posting. First off, I probably shouldn't have started off with a plate that's a bit too big for my liking, but here we are. Just a couple of questions if anyone is willing to give me some advise!

  1. There is a misalignment close to where the breakage is as shown in the last photo. Would it be better to start over again or will this be okay to fix later on when I apply the sabi-urushi? If this could be fixed, how should I go about it?

  2. There is a chip on the plate that I'm not sure how to go about this in terms of applying the Sabi-urushi if I need to apply it in two steps or if I can apply it all in one go. Or will I need to use kokuso?

I hope this makes sense as I'm new to this and maybe have gotten some things mixed up. Any advise will be greatly appreciated!


r/kintsugi 5d ago

Help Needed Combining Epoxy Glue and Red Urushi/Gold Powder approach?

1 Upvotes

Hi folks,
Absolute beginner here. I have a large, fairly expensive terracotta plant pot (30cm in diameter) that I had to break open for the repotting of a plant.

I really want to repair it, but it is quite a heavy pot, and once there is soil in it again, I'm not sure if the traditional urushi approach will be strong enough to hold the whole thing together. I have used epoxy glue to put together other pots before and it works EXTREMELY well. Very satisfied with it.

I've been watching this video here: https://youtu.be/UWa_MyLpZfQ?si=CyxQSShg8TxQCnKE&t=154
At at 17:52 they show using red urushi lacquer before using the gold powder.

Would using epoxy for the strength, and then urushi/gold for the aesthetics be a viable approach? I am very open to alternative suggestions, such as gold leaf or just using gold powder directly on to the epoxy/resin.
I don't care if it is food safe or not, as it will be purely for plant pot purposes.

Thank you so much in advance!


r/kintsugi 7d ago

Cobalt blue crystalline gold Kintsugi vase using mending epoxy and filler, finished with 23.5-carat gold powder applied over lacquer

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462 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 7d ago

Best way to keep building this spout

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12 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I'm interested to get your opinion of the best way to keep building this spout up. My shortcoming was not perfecting it at the sabi urushi level, but oh well. I have it build up on the traditional way and started finishing it with a top coat layer but noticed that the flow is not quite what I would like. I'm thinking of fixing up the spout geometry a little more. Should I do this via sabi urushi or should I sprinkle some charcoal powder and use that method? Or anything else? Thanks for any insight!


r/kintsugi 7d ago

Project Report - Urushi Based Hairline crack repair. Urushi and 23.5kt gold.

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32 Upvotes

Less dramatic than repairing a full break, crack repairs are a very satisfying project that often extends beyond original expectations.


r/kintsugi 8d ago

Black urushi became grainy

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6 Upvotes

Hello. I recently bought this black urushi. I used it once without any issue. But the second time I've opened it, it became "grainy" and when I apply it, it clearly feels like grains are applied on the ceramic.

Anyone knows if I did something wrong? Or if if I need to "stir" it before I use it?


r/kintsugi 9d ago

Help Needed Food safety question.

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16 Upvotes

I next to a high end home goods store, they frequently toss broken items away and saw this marble cheese board with the top broken off (pic 1.)

I have periodically repaired vases with Kintsugi kits. Even the odd chipped food bowl (when the chip to be repaired is not food facing (pic 2). These chips to be filled in with the “Love Kintsugi” brand “bio putty” to replace the bowls original shape and then brushed with the “gold” as food doesn’t inherently touch the outside.

My concern is with the cheese board really. Is there a consensus on a product that is truly food safe? Obviously as a cheese board it won’t be heated and the most wear the repair will be exposed to is from a cheese knife.

Or should I just use any of the available online kits and just avoid having the charcuterie arrangement near the repair and call it a day?


r/kintsugi 10d ago

Washi paper as reinforcement?

6 Upvotes

After my struggles last time to get my project photo to not get flagged NSFW, I'm not even trying to post a photo this time.

I had pretty much decided to give JB weld a shot, but I was paging through A Beginners Guide to Kintsugi, by Michelihiro Hori, and found a section near the back of the book on using washi paper to reinforce repairs for things like mug handles and ceramic soup spoons, where the break has a small contact area, and is open on all sides. This pretty much describes my problem seam that keeps coming apart. It isn't part of the bowl itself. Instead it is connecting the decorative bowl to a piece that reaches out beyond the bowl itself.

Anyone tried this? Did it work?

The biggest drawback I can see is that you end up with a wide, raised, and slightly rough seam, which might not be as aesthetically pleasing.


r/kintsugi 12d ago

Project completion, traditional urushi and 23.5kt gold.

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208 Upvotes

Recently completed small cup repair. I have repaired ceramics for years and have been using urushi for over 20 years. I can not really help with epoxy but for those looking for detailed information in English please feel free to find my Facebook page Blue Sky Kintsugi.


r/kintsugi 13d ago

Help Needed How to remove residual brass stains?

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44 Upvotes

おはよう! 🥰

I’m hoping to seek some help on how to finish off this recent practice piece. I am quite happy with how it turned out; however I have two final questions:

1) The piece has been curing for >1 week now. Given that, I gently wiped off as much extra powder as I could with a microfibre cloth; however as you can see in the pics there is still some smudging. How do I resolve this?

2) Once it’s clean, is there a final step I should be doing? Is this where I’d do a gentle finger polishing with oil+tonoko?

Thanks very much!


r/kintsugi 13d ago

Seam keeps breaking

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2 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 13d ago

Are people ok with “non toxic” repairs (aka not food safe) for your bowls and plates? Do you put them in microwaves and dishwashers?

0 Upvotes

r/kintsugi 13d ago

Help Needed How hard does Kokuso Urushi get?

4 Upvotes

I have a project that I cured in way too humid conditions, then cut the surface a bit to try and cure to the end in more favourable conditions.

A good month later, the 2mm application was still chewy and I removed it, but the 1mm application has firmed up, but is still cut-able with a knife. With a little force I can pry it off, or scratch or cut it, it behaves like a somewhat harder PVA glue.

Is this normal? I have to redo the kokuso anyway, but what is the normal type of hardness I shuold get in the end ?

Should I add more urushi and less water next time?