coffee cup of Ando Masanobu

I bought these coffee cups of Ando Masanobu (安藤雅信) at his gallery 'Momogusa (百草)' in Tajimi (多治見) which is in a restored old Japanese house.

I only drink coffee when my husband makes coffee grinding coffee beans in the weekend. And as I don't drink it so much, I chose a smaller cup for me.

About a year ago, I was shocked to discover the bigger one had been chipped. I didn't know how this happened.

I repaired it and my husband began to use it soon without waiting the lacquer become hard enough in half a year. So when washing it, we treat it carefully, not touching the repaired part.

mug of Stony Brook University

I got this mug several years ago when I went to see my second daughter who was studying at the Stony Brook University taking a local train from Manhattan. While she was attending a class, I walked around in the campus in a cold wind and bought this mug at a University shop as a souvenir.

I carelessly broke its handle recently. Ｉ can't remember how much was it, but it was not at all expensive, and I bought it at a reduced price because it was older version.

But I couldn't dump it because it makes me remember a lot of things about my travel to New York.

So I fixed it with kintsugi. I left it without finishing it with gold powder because when I use it routinely handling it rather roughly,the finish gold line would be gone sooner or later.

bowl I did break myself

The first thing I did at the professional kintsugi workshop was to break a bowl into more than 40 pieces.
I put together them again just like doing a puzzle,filled in the lack of pieces with a kind of clay consisting with lacquer and aggregate and finished it with silver powder.

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.