Occasionally I break a ceramic piece, especially when I transport it to an art show. That is what happened to this berry bowl. 

I used to toss broken pottery into the garbage. Then I discovered the Japanese art form of Kintsugi.

Kintsugi is a 5th-century practice meaning to join with gold. It is the Japanese way of reminding us to stay optimistic when things fall apart and to celebrate the flaws and missteps of life which is an extension of the Japanese philosophy of Sabi. It follows that beauty is complete and the breakage and repairs form part of the history of the object. Flaws should be shown and not hidden, including ours. Scars strengthen and beautify an object much like our scars strengthen and beautify us.

How I Mend Using Kintsugi

Two pieces of this bowl broke cleanly off the top rim, therefore I could repair the bowl using Kintsugi.

I mixed a two-part epoxy with a fine gold powder, stirring it a lot to blend the epoxy so it would harden.  I also have silver powder. I put a generous amount of epoxy on the edges of the broken pieces, then fit the pieces onto the bowl. Epoxy hardens in 5 minutes, which makes for quick work before the pieces are firmly set in.  I ended up getting epoxy on the glazed sides of the bowl, fortunately, I could easily clean it off with a knife and a damp sponge, leaving the beautiful gold seam.

Watch this YouTube video on mending this bowl.

This berry bowl has had a knock in life, much like we do, yet it has come back showing the beauty of its flaws instead of perfection.

No one is perfrct and the world would be a better place if we learned to accept differences and imperfections in everyone.

I sell my handmade pottery on Etsy, orange button and The Butler’s Pottery, blue button.

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My pottery journey, my passion, didn’t start until my 40’s. Creating pottery is my happy place, especially decorating, vases, cups, bowls, trays, and creating sculptures. The more I create, the more my imagination is spurred on. I will be sharing how I make pottery here.