Kintsugi
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Two weeks ago my sleeve brushed against one of my favorite pots and knocked it onto the tile bathroom floor. It was one of those pieces I loved even more for the fact I found it for $3. The glaze was matte and the colors perfectly blended. It was a Frankoma piece so it was mass produced but the company's quality and colors have collectors looking high and low to complete their sets. I selected this pot for its color. I collect green pottery of varying hues and this went well with my overall collection from a variety of potters.
I set the shards aside and finally attempted to piece it back together this weekend with a thin coat of glue. The repair was a disaster. Too much of the color had chipped apart so the seams were not only visible but off-putting. Still, I could not part with it.
The idea of Kintsugi came to mind but I initially dismissed it as I had no gold. Hours later it dawned on me that I had a small container of acrylic paint in a flat gold color. What was the harm in trying? Using the tips of toothpicks I began to fill the cracks. It took four layers to fill the holes. Working with acrylic paint meant a fast drying time. But the advantage was the plastic like consistency of the acrylic paint against the finished glaze meant mistakes could be peeled away when dry. It isn't the ideal repair medium but it worked for my purposes. I can keep my pot and there is a wabi sabi beauty in its imperfections and incompleteness with a reminder of its impermanence.
Below: The work in progress after two layers of paint applied.
