{"id":1470,"date":"2020-01-29T08:08:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T08:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/?p=1470"},"modified":"2020-02-04T21:02:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T21:02:46","slug":"if-it-isnt-broken-dont-fix-it-a-critical-review-of-new-kintsugi-a-modern-take-on-a-traditional-repair-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/if-it-isnt-broken-dont-fix-it-a-critical-review-of-new-kintsugi-a-modern-take-on-a-traditional-repair-method\/","title":{"rendered":"If It Isn\u2019t Broken, Don\u2019t Fix It \u2013 A Critical Review of \u201cNew Kintsugi\u201d, a Modern Take on a Traditional Repair Method."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After finding out about the technique of \u201cKintsugi\u201d, an ancient Japanese technique of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold powder, I was intrigued. After some further research, including reading Shan-Ying Chen\u2019s previous blog post on the technique from November<\/a>, I knew I wanted to learn more and at some point try the technique out for myself, as well as being keen to gain as much experience with joining and gap-filling of glass and ceramics as possible ready for my next main project. I must have excitedly discussed all of this with my girlfriend Si\u00e2n as lo and behold, on Christmas day I unwrapped a Kintsugi kit from her!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I knew this wouldn\u2019t be traditional Kintsugi, which is a multiple-stage technique that can take weeks to complete \u2013 for more information on the full traditional technique, see Shan-Ying\u2019s blog. This was \u201cNew Kintsugi\u201d, a term coined by Humade, the Dutch manufacturers of the kit. According to their website, \u201cNew Kintsugi is a new way of gluing porcelain based on the old Kintsugi technique\u201d<\/a>. Nevertheless, I was excited to try it out and after a trip to the charity shop for some choice smashable ceramic pieces, I was ready to experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe lab I started with the easy part \u2013 smashing the vase! Being careful to\ncreate as few pieces as possible, I took a hammer to the vase inside a canvas\nbag, and carefully checked the pieces all fit. The next step was to glue them\nback together. The method supplied in the kit was as shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\ncould see some potential issues with this method but decided to try and follow\nit as closely as possible. Mixing the gold into the epoxy worked well,\nrequiring only a tiny amount to get a strong vivid colour when applied.\nObviously with regular ceramic repairs the objective is to be as seamless as\npossible; there should effectively be no raised edges to the join in cross\nsection when done well. This take on Kintsugi however seemed to be actively relying\non doing just the opposite! The \u201cgenerous layer\u201d of epoxy referred to in step 2\nis required for the glue to be squeezed out along the length of the join and\nleft to set sitting proud of the ceramic surface, hence why the gold powder is\nmixed into the epoxy itself. I quickly gave up on step 4, brushing on the gold\npowder before the glue dries, and this is the first major flaw of the kit I ran\ninto \u2013 it is nearly impossible to successfully apply the gold powder in this\nway! Furthermore, this stage of the method seemed very wasteful regarding the\npowder itself, of which there was not a huge amount supplied. I was relatively\nhappy with how the joins looked on the first vase without the addition of any\nextra gold, and so I disregarded this stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The next problem with the kit, and by far the biggest, came when I began working on the large vase. The epoxy provided in the kit, \u201cBison Epoxy 5 minutes\u201d<\/a>, was a perfect example of a terrible choice of adhesive! The long join surfaces of the pieces of this larger vase exposed the five-minute drying time as inappropriate for this technique. As I struggled for time before the epoxy dried, I started to rush, compromising the even application of the epoxy. This showed up when the pieces were joined, leaving some areas with plenty of epoxy showing and others with relatively little. Unbelievably, step 3 of the instructions suggests that once the epoxy is applied to \u201cleave it a minute or two\u201d, whereas I barely had time to apply it and get the joint in place before it became unworkable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There was also some epoxy putty provided for gap filling. I had seen examples of Kintsugi with holes left in, presumably where large pieces were missing, and so I chose to leave the hole shown above in the large vase, partly because this is where the hammer shattered the pieces into small fragments, and partly as I like the effect. To the left of the hole you can see an area I gap-filled with the provided epoxy putty, which generally worked well. The only problem occurred when covering the exposed grey putty with the epoxy. Its viscosity was such that the additional weight of the greater amount required caused the mixture to run, which I managed to solve by positioning the vase on its side. There is however no indication in the instructions that this issue may arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall I am happy enough with the end results as a personal craft project I spent an afternoon on. Of course most people don\u2019t have the kind of time to spare that traditional Kintsugi requires, and the goal of designing an accessible \u201coff-the-shelf\u201d kit to try out a modern take on this traditional method is certainly a good idea on the part of Humade. There are however some changes I would make to this kit, which I believe could vastly improve the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst option is to retain the same method but switch out the epoxy for a\nslower-drying alternative. This would allow for more care to be taken in both\napplying the epoxy evenly and in sufficient quantity, and a good fit to be\nfound for the join whilst the glue is still workable. A small roll of masking\ntape could be included for holding the pieces in place whilst drying, as is\ncommonplace with adhering ceramics with slow-drying adhesives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second option, and my preferred one, is to do away with the method of mixing the gold powder into the glue altogether. Instead there would be a gold paint provided, which the user would apply over the cracks after repairing them with the epoxy resin and letting them dry, replicating the effect of traditional Kintsugi in potentially a much more similar manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The splitting of the process into two steps \u2013 fixing the ceramic and then painting over the cracks \u2013 could slow the process down just enough, eliminating that feeling of being rushed I experienced whilst keeping the project achievable for the casual crafter. Indeed, slowing down is entirely in keeping with the ethos of Kintsugi; the technique is philosophically tied to ideas of self-healing. The broken ceramic is seen as an extension or aspect of oneself; we all experience hurt and \u201cbecome broken\u201d as such, and repairing this damage and embracing our imperfections should be a slow and mindful process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After finding out about the technique of \u201cKintsugi\u201d, an ancient Japanese technique of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold powder, I was intrigued. After some further research, including reading Shan-Ying […]","protected":false},"author":1785,"featured_media":1478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,9,6],"tags":[148,346,361,357],"class_list":["post-1470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-cu-conservation","category-cabinet-of-curiosities","category-objects-and-treatments","tag-ceramics","tag-gap-fills","tag-kintsugi","tag-skills"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4fDDX-nI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1298,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/kintsugi-a-japanese-traditional-ceramic-conservation-skill\/","url_meta":{"origin":1470,"position":0},"title":"Kintsugi: a Japanese traditional ceramic conservation skill","author":"Shan-Ying Chen","date":"November 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction Kintsugi, also called Kintsukuroi, is a set of traditional Japanese ceramic repairing skills that has been practiced for centuries. 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Asian lacquer is derived from the refined sap of several species of trees within the Anacardiaceae family, and different species are grown in different regions. It can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About CU Conservation"","block_context":{"text":"About CU Conservation","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/category\/about-cu-conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2021\/01\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":794,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/dissertations-abound\/","url_meta":{"origin":1470,"position":2},"title":"Dissertations Abound","author":"Stephanie Whitehead","date":"February 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Studying the Effect of Varying Silica Gel Amounts on the Relative Humidity Within a Container. Our dissertation is looking at the relative humidity (RH) changes within storage containers that have different amounts of silica gel within them so that we can see if the amount of silica gel affects the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About CU Conservation"","block_context":{"text":"About CU Conservation","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/category\/about-cu-conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2018\/02\/lab-every-day.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2018\/02\/lab-every-day.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2018\/02\/lab-every-day.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2018\/02\/lab-every-day.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":600,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/suggested-reading-list\/","url_meta":{"origin":1470,"position":3},"title":"Suggested Reading List","author":"Stephanie Whitehead","date":"August 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As A-levels Results Day has officially passed (Hurrah!) and many students are now discovering they are coming to Cardiff Uni I thought it would be fun to post a suggested reading list or useful books and resources list. 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Our degree programmes help us to master skills such as digital photography and Photoshop, we use a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About CU Conservation"","block_context":{"text":"About CU Conservation","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/category\/about-cu-conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2019\/01\/Screen-Shot-2019-01-14-at-12.04.21.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2019\/01\/Screen-Shot-2019-01-14-at-12.04.21.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/228\/2019\/01\/Screen-Shot-2019-01-14-at-12.04.21.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1079,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/conservation\/alumni-anna-dembicka\/","url_meta":{"origin":1470,"position":5},"title":"Alumni Spotlight: Anna Dembicka","author":"Stephanie Whitehead","date":"July 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to Alumni Spotlight, a blog series focused on our alums - where they've been and where they are now. 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