Chinese tea cup of Ms N

Ms N is one of my tea mates who has a deep knowledge of Chinese tea. I fixed her tea cup that she bought in China.

I failed in finishing it again and again. Finishing it with wrong color, having some particles on the surface, touching it by a finger when it was not yet dry, drawing a crooked line and so on. But thanks to these repeated failures I think I'm better now.

saucer of Ms Ma

Ms Ma is a friend of mine who lives in neighborhood. Once I asked her to bring her broken cups or plates for my practice of kintsugi. But she said she had nothing broken at that time, because she never kept broken things. A few months later, however, she handed me this saucer saying ' When I have split this in two, I was so happy that I've got something to give you finally!'

our kyusu in daily use

This is the kyusu we use everyday especially when having tea after lunch or dinner. Its lid had been broken again and again, and every time my husband fixed it with adhesive agent. But as adhesive is weak against heat, the lid soon broke apart again.

Anyway, my husband likes this kyusu. Though I don't remember at all, he says about 10 years ago he went to buy a kyusu somewhere with his second daughter and got this one which both of them liked.  I'm not sure but it seems to be Mashiko-ware (益子焼）。

In the end I’ve fixed it with kintsugi technique 2 years ago. At first I boiled the lid for a while to detach all the parts joined with adhesive, pulled together again with lacquer and finished it with white gold powder which is real gold but has silver color. 

kyusu of Kutani-ware

I’ve just begun learning skills of kintsugi and I’m going to take notes on what I practice.

‘kintsugi (金継ぎ)’ or ‘kintsukuroi (金繕い)’ means repairing broken ceramics using lacquer (漆). The technique has developed since medieval period in Japan.

This kyusu (Japanese tea pot)  is one of my first kintsugi work. It’s technically far from satisfaction, but I was very glad to be able to fix its lid for myself.

This is antique Kutani-ware(九谷焼). I bought it from an antique seller with a broken lid at bargain price. I finished it with gold powder that suits with this kyusu very well.