Kintsugi means "golden joinery" is the centuries-old Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics. The artisans use lacquer dusted or mixed with precious metals such as gold, silver or platinum. Contrary to our modern throw away lifestyles, the Japanese embrace the imperfect and regard the breakage and repair as part of the object's history.
There are some awesome modern day kintsugi pottery designs. However, you can also find kintsugi inspired jewelry designs!
Shown above and below are porcelain kintsugi pendants by by OeiCeramics which is based in The Netherlands. These ceramic pendants are not actually broken - 24K gold luster is added and the pieces were refired.
This clever Japanese tea bowl kintsugi inspired brooch below is by UK designer Kate Rowland of kateslittlestore. It's made from laser cut wood and acrylic.
Atrio's Portuguese Azulejo tile inspired polymer clay jewelry is amazing. Here is their version of kintsugi jewelry with this elegant pair of blue Minton's Willow pattern earrings :
This minimalist African Black Wood and Resin ring by Canadian wood ring designer Brett Griffin of BCGD rocks kintsugi too!
TUTORIAL
Want to make your own kintsugi jewelry but not up to ceramics or metal work? Check out this kintsugi inspired polymer clay tutorial . The designer and instructor is Samantha Burroughs of JessamaDesign (she has many unique tools, tutorials in her store).
She deliberately breaks the polymer clay pieces and fixes them with gold colored liquid polymer clay. But you can also fix actual broken polymer clay pieces too!
H/T to Aims of BigBlueBarnDesigns for inspiring this post.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Fascinating. Reminds me of a temple in Bangkok where the dome of the temple was covered with 100's if not 1,000's of pieces of English pottery that had apparently been broken during shipment from England.
ReplyDeleteWas that in the Royal complex? I have been to Bangkok but don't remember the pottery bits.
DeleteIt's across the river from the Royal complex very close to the river's edge. You could see the Royal complex from one of the higher terraces.
Deletehttps://maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/a-giant-recycling-project-the-temple-of-dawn-in-bangkok/
Ah. We didn't visit that particular temple which is why I don't remember it.
Deletelovely!
ReplyDeletePearl, thank you for all the work that you do throughout the year, day in and day out, and for keeping us inspired through this very difficult year! Best wishes for a happy, healthy and creative new year!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome. It's my pleasure and happy new year to all!
DeleteThis year I sat down with two boxes I had stored away for years. Inside were broken pieces of ceramics - one of them broken before I was born. One was a vase and the other was a gravy boat that belonged to the McIntosh collection of dishes my great great grandmother owned. I painstakingly reassembled both pieces over a month and used the Kintsugi approach on the gravy boat. There are pieces of it missing but the outlines of gold on all the joins and around those missing areas makes it look quite stunning.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend trying this for anyone who has broken a favourite piece.
I used a gold paint pen to do my Kitsugi and I love the results!
That is a wonderful idea to hide the glue joints!!
DeleteVery interesting. I've created polymer clay canes with this same look!
ReplyDelete