Many thanks for this lovely tutorial. I've repaired crockery using a kintsugi kit containing modern materials but next time I'll try these traditional materials and techniques. Thanks for the inspiration!
I am so excited to have found this video!!! The cleaning steps are so clear & precise, and you've given me the confidence to finally attempt to repair my cherished items. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this content. ❤
Thank you for your comment :) I'm happy to hear that our explanation is helpful for you! Hope you enjoy kintsugi and your item becomes even more loving one :D - Yuki
Es un trabjo lleno de sensibilidad, precioso, pero veo que yo no seria capz de aprenderlo solo con este video, tendria que ser presencial, tengo un elemento a mi 27:29 fabor que es la paciencia y la perfeccion solo necesito un lugar donde pudiesr aprender, y saber donde comprar todos los elementos en España 🇪🇸, por lo demas perfecto.... Muchas gracias y felicidades por tu trabajo lleno de amor
Thank you for your comment. I don’t know where the people in Spain can learn kintsugi face to face in your counry, but I hope you know the essence of kintsugi from this video. We are selling our kintsugi kits to your country so you may be able to experience real kintsugi with our manual (written in English) and this RUclips video. Hope you have enjoyed this video, and I love to contribute to share the charm of kintsugi in your country as well! ・・Gracias por su comentario. No sé dónde la gente en España puede aprender kintsugi cara a cara en su país, pero espero que usted sabe la esencia de kintsugi de este video. Estamos vendiendo nuestros kits de kintsugi a su país para que puedan experimentar el kintsugi real con nuestro manual (escrito en inglés) y este vídeo de RUclips. Espero que haya disfrutado de este vídeo, ¡y me encantaría contribuir a compartir el encanto del kintsugi en su país también! ーYuki
Thank you so much for this wonderful tutorial! I will be following it to repair a broken soup bowl I purchased in Japan. So grateful to have a beautiful, ceremonial way to put it back together and give it another life.
We are very glad to hear that you find our tutorial useful. ;) We hope you will enjoy giving a new life to your soup bowl with kintsugi ! If you need any extra help or advice during the repair process, do not hesitate to reach out to us !
@@tsugu_kintsugi thank you! It's my 2nd week with the bowl, and I'm not sure the mugi urushi has completely hardened yet...When I went to scrape the extra off of the cracks, it looked like there was no Urushi left behind to hold the cracks together. I put it back in the box for another week and I'll check it again next Sunday. Did I do something wrong? Or is it just still too soft to scrape?
@@leighhuggins5030 Hi ! Thank you for your comment. Could you send pictures of the current state of your bowl to info(at)kintsugi-girl.com so that we can advise you ? :)
First of all, thank you very much for making a clear video on how to use the traditional material for kintsugi. It is very helpful. As I am looking into buying what's needed, I would have a few questions that other may also help other viewers : 1. Is your red bengal urushi lacquer (as well as the black one though you are not selling black lacquer) the same as using raw urushi lacquer with red / black pigments? 2. Is there a difference between using wood / polishing powders for cracks instead of tomoko / jinoko clays or is it just a personal preference? 3. Do you have other metallic powders for sale or to suggest using instead of gold and silver (which are quite expensive). I have read about ceramists using brass, copper, and pewter and others saying it's not food safe. I want my repaired dishes to be food safe. Thanks a lot for your help!
Thank you for your comments! This will be long, but I’ll answer your questions thoroughly. 1. About the red and black lacquer tubes Our red Bengal urushi lacquer tube is similar in function to raw urushi lacquer mixed with pigment, but the composition is slightly different. The bengal-red lacquer tube, also called "e-urushi," contains a small amount of Japanese urushi, which makes it smoother to apply and less likely to leave brush marks. Because of this, and the inclusion of Japanese urushi, it is more expensive. The black lacquer tube is mainly used for middle coats and does not contain Japanese urushi. Instead of adding black pigment, it becomes black through a chemical reaction with ferric hydroxide. This method differs from the more old method of adding black pigment to urushi. While tube lacquers are more expensive, they save time and effort. 2. About using wood/polishing powders vs. tomoko/jinoko clays The difference lies in particle size and characteristics. Wood powder is the coarsest and made from wood, while jinoko and tonoko are the same material but differ in particle size, with tonoko being finer. The choice of material often depends on the artisan’s preferences and training. For deep chips, I personally use kokuso (a mixture containing wood) for its slight elasticity, which helps absorb stress and prevents future cracks. I then finish the surface with sabi-urushi to smooth out any small imperfections. You can use sabi-urushi made with jinoko and tonoko instead. There are several types of jinoko and specific jinoko is currently difficult to obtain due to the 2024 earthquake in Ishikawa. To ensure consistent availability, our kits use alternatives to jinoko. 3. About metallic powders and food safety We cannot guarantee food safety for metallic powders like brass, copper, or pewter, as they haven’t been tested for food safety. However, tin and copper have been traditionally used in kintsugi. Personally, I think they are fine to use, but care is needed with brass. Cheap brass powders often contain unknown additives, and some may even pose health risks if ingested. Our brass powder is more expensive because it contains only copper, zinc, and essential additives, verified by the manufacturer. However, when we asked the manufacturer, they said that food safety tests have not been conducted, so we cannot say that the brass we sell is safe to use on tableware. For food-safe repairs, consider finishing with colored urushi or wiping urushi into cracks instead of metallic powders. Alternatively, reserve gold for your most precious items. Note that gold and silver powders have finer particles, which can highlight imperfections in repairs compared to coarser powders like brass or tin. If we worry too much, kintsugi might stop being enjoyable. Personally, I believe that as long as you are careful about the manufacturer of brass, traditional materials like tin and copper, which have been used for a long time, are fine to use. If I missed anything or you have further questions, feel free to ask! I’m considering adding this Q&A to our English website, as I think many people would find it helpful. Thank you for asking such great questions! kintsugi-kit.com/
That was my understanding. Fill little by little, day after day. I'm working on filling the bottom of a coffee cup with kokuso, because when it broke a section of the bottom completely shattered (it was a homemade piece and I didn't realize the bottom was so thin). It's taking weeks, and I also acknowledge it's going to take quite a lot of polishing and gold powder to make seamless, but I thought it would be a nice challenge.
Yes, you need to apply kokuso (max 1 mm) then let it harden, and then repeat the step until the chip is fully filled. ;) If you have other questions, do not hesitate to contact us !
Hello, can we really use the repaired pottery to eat (it's really food safe) ? Are there any restrictions (no hot food, hot liquid, or vinegar... for example) Thanks
Yes, you can use the kintsugi-repaired vessels to serve food (urushi and genuine gold are food safe). You can serve hot drinks but it is told that urushi coating may get damaged when you directly pour boiled water over 95℃ directly onto the repaired part. Please wait a little to cool down before pouring into your mug. Please avoid using it in a microwave, a dishwasher, an open fire. Hope it helps! -Yuki
Thank you for amazing tutorial! May I ask why you layer black and then red laquer? May I use any colour or even uncoloured urushi for painting step before gold? Or do these powder colourants have any special purpose?
Hi ! We are very glad to hear that you find our tutorials helpful. :) Thank you for your questions ! The choice of the colors and the order of the layers of pigmented urushi depends on the finish you want. For a golden finish, gold powder should be dusted on red bengal urushi for an optimal result. If you were to dust silver or platina powder, it should be dusted on black urushi to obtain the best result. In the video, the black layer is used to smoothen the surface of the repaired parts. This step can actually be repeated several times (you need to let urushi harden - it should take at least a day - before adding another layer). For this step, you can actually use bengal red urushi or natural urushi (it has to be mixed first). The last layer of urushi is used to apply gold powder. For the cracks to be beautifully highlighted in gold, you need to make sure that you cover completely the black layer (smoothening layer) with red bengal urushi lacquer. We recommend to use a color different from the previous step because it is easier to cover the previous layers completely if you use another color. If you use red on red or black on black you cannot see clearly if the previous layers are completely covered. If they are not covered, the gold powder will not cover them either. For a silver finish, you would ideally use red bengal urushi for the smoothening layer(s) and then use black urushi for the last urushi layer before dusting silver powder. If you have other questions or if something remains unclear, please let us know ;)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Oh thank you so much for your explanation! Now I understand clearly. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your time and knowledge. Have a wonderful day and hopefully one day I can visit you at your workshop (since I live in the middle of Europe :) )
We are glad you have found our explanation helpful ! Do not hesitate to contact us if you have other questions. Japanese borders are currently still closed for non-residents, but we hope that they will reopen soon and that you will be able to visit our studio. :)
Hi! thank you for the video! i have a question: doesn't the gold powder come off? i noticed that there is no product applied on top of it, doesn't it come off when washed, used etc?
Thank you for your question ! If you let the finishing layer harden properly, the gold powder should not come off. However, if you scratch the finishing powder with knives, hard sponges, or forks, the finishing layer may in fact get damaged (it can be fixed by reapplying the finishing layer). Objects restored with traditional kintsugi can be used in your daily life, but they should always be handled with care. You should never put them in an oven, a dishwasher, a microwave or over an open fire. When you wash them, you should always make sure not to scrub the repaired parts too harshly and avoid letting the objects soak for long periods of time in water. If you have any other questions, please feel free to let us know ! We will be more than happy to help !
Hi, great video! I have a question, it would be great if you could answer it! I worked on a broken white plate and when sticking the pieces together, the white ceramic got stained. How can I clean the brown stains from the glazed ceramic surface? Thanks!!
Thank you for asking! For glazed ceramic; before the urushi lacqucer is dried, you can wipe the stain off with ethanol & tissue/cotton swab. After the urushi lacqucer is dried, you can scrape the stain off with utility knife, but if the stain is everywhere, you can sand off with the waterproof sandpaper with water which you will use it in the later step (step 3, sabi-urushi). Hope this helps! -Yuki
I'm excited to use your Tsugukit to repair my favorite plate! I had one question before I get started. The plate is in 7 pieces. Is it okay to stick all the pieces together during the same session and then let the Mugi Urushi harden? Or is it best to stick the pieces together one at a time or in pairs over the course of a couple months? Thank you!
Thank you for your interest in the TSUGUKITs! For an optimal result, we would advice to avoid sticking the pieces together all at once. There is a much higher risk of having gaps and shifts between pieces if you stick everything in one go. That being said, you can stick 2-3 pieces together at a time. We would recommend putting smaller pieces together first in order to have pieces with similar sizes to stick together at the end. It is also very important to secure the pieces with masking tape after putting the pieces together so that they do not move while mugi-urushi hardens. ;) If you have other questions, feel free to contact us anytime !
In all of the kintsugi videos and directions, no one, even this excellent instructional video, adresses how to know when the red urishi is ready for the gold coating without touching it. . Sometimes I take ithe piece out of the box after the alloted time and it is still wet, sometimes it takes weeks or never dries. What am I doing wrong. Also directions say never to touch the red urishi with the gold puff directly but all of the videos show the puffs or brushes actually passing over the red. What am I missing. Please clarify. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for your comment. I know how difficult it is to know the right timing to start dusting gold. Honestly, it is very difficult to tell even in videos and I wish I could check yours in front of me (this is what we are doing in our actual kintsugi lessons..) As I read your comment, I come up with two reasons. First, you applied red urushi too much so that it take long time to dry. But "Taking weeks and never dries" may lead to the other problems such as that urushi or your utensils/tools may contain oil or salt so that urushi never dries. Please clean all the tools with ethanol thoroughly before you use urushi. For us also it is difficult to know when is the right timing, so we apply red urushi very very thinly so that the surface of red urushi starts drying within 10 mins. I have never waited more than 10 mins but beginnes tend to apply too much so I sometimes mention to dry longer than 10 mins. The amount of red urushi should be right before fading (but not faded). When I apply red urushi on a clear pallete, the line of red urushi looks a little transparent. "never to touch the red urishi with the gold puff directly but all of the videos show the puffs or brushes actually passing over the red." You are right. What we wanted to say is that don't press red urushi to hard and don't let silk ball directly touch urushi because silk smears it. Especially when red urushi applied is thick, there are higher risks to smear it with silk ball. Only the area which has powder should gently pass the surface of red urushi. Hope it would help some. -Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugiIf I'm understanding, what you are saying is that the silk ball shouldn't touch the resin without the gold powder or else it might smear or stick? The gold acts as a barrier between the resin and the silk?
Great video. I've followed all of the steps. After sanding off the black urushi, I added the red urushi and later added the gold powder. I am not a good painter and the red lines are thicker than the black urushi. Will the excess red and gold come off of the plate?
I'm happy to hear that you did final step! After drying the item, the excess red and gold on the surface of the plate will be come off easily when you scratch the excess part. We scratch off the excess part with an utility knife to make the line finer. You don't have to do this but you can see where you have exceeded when you closer look at the line. Hope my explanation is clear to you...! Yuki
Yes, it is possible, but wood is different material from porcelain and earthenware, so there are some more cautions you need to think about. Wood absorb urushi lacquer and gets stain easily.
@@tsugu_kintsugi one last question. will it be a good idea to clamp the pieces together during the drying process, like I would do if using normal wood glue? or should I avoid doing that?
@@OGRE_HATES_NERDS I didn't understand what your "clamp" means. If you stick metal into wood pieces, it makes holes. You mean, you will insert metal stick into two joints? If so, some people do so for not only wood but also ceramic pieces.
Thank you for your question ! Kintsugi can also be used to repair glass but the type of urushi used for glass is different. We usually recommend to start with ceramic pieces first because glass is trickier to repair.
Hey there! I wanted to ask, because my teapot is dark, i'm not so keen to do the finishing part. Is it food safe to just leave it after gluing it with the urushi,flour and water? As it seems to end up drying the same color as my clay teapot. If not, could it be considered food safe after the black urushi? I have a roiro tube i'm not sure if its the same
Hi ! Thank you for your question. You can stop the repair process at the stage just before dusting golden/silver powder and have urushi (pigmented in black and red in the video) as a finishing layer. However, we would NOT recommend stopping right after gluing everything together with urushi, flour and water because the repair is still unfinished at that point. In order to have a neat result and ensure that your teapot does not leak, you should add extra layers of urushi (pigmented in black and red in the video). Roiro urushi is matte black so it really depends what type of finish coat you want for the repaired cracks. If you want to make them glossier, you need to polish it. If you have other questions, please let us know ! :)
Hi ! Thank you for your question ! Cups and bowls repaired with traditional kintsugi (method based on the use of urushi) are completely food safe and they can be used to drink hot beverages such as tea. However, repaired items should be handled with care. You should avoid to pour boiling hot water straight into repaired cups when drinking tea. It is best to wait for tea to cool down a little bit in a tea pot before pouring the tea in a restored cup. Please note that for most types of tea, the ideal brewing temperature is between 65ºC and 85ºC (150ºF-185ºF), which is below the boiling point of water. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have other questions. :) - Salome
Generally speaking, the order for the restoration is the following: pre-treatment (crack check) > broken pieces > chips > step 3,4,5. During the pre-treament step, you should check how deep each crack is. If a crack is deep, it is actually better to apply force on it, make it break and treat it as broken pieces. If it is shallow / impossible to break, you should use raw urushi to make the crack leak-proof and leave the object in the urushi box for a week. You can actually apply the urushi on the cracks and stick broken pieces together around the same time and then put the vessel in the urushi box. Once the cracks are made leak-proof and the broken pieces are stuck together and the chips are filled, you can apply sabi-urushi and follow all the steps until the dusting of gold. :) Please keep in mind that each repair is different. If you wish to have more precise instructions, please feel free to send us pictures of your vessel at info@kintsugi-girl.com. We will be glad to help !
You can use any box which can keep warm temperature and humidity! Please be careful that the humidity may go higher than 85% when you close the cooler box completely. It's better to open the lid or door a little bit if the door close too tightly. Best condition is 70-85% humidity and around 25 degrees Celsius. Hope it helps :) -Yuki
Thank you for your question. You can use red urushi instead of black. It is told that the gold powder shines better on bengal-red, so we usually apply bengal-red urushi for the last layer. One step before, the underneath of the red urushi should be different color in order to see the color contrast to avoid leaving remaining paint. On the contrary, to finish with silver poweder, we usually use black urushi for the last layer, and we apply red urushi one step before. Bengal-red and black powders are both made of iron oxide. Hope this explanation is cleat to you! - Yuki
Hi! Thank you for your comment. You can purchase the kits on our website. Here is the link: tsugu-tsugu.shop-kintsugi.com/ Feel free to contact us if you need any additional information relating to the TSUGUKITs or kintsugi. :)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you.Just the final info in the web for the payment format is in Japanese and I did not undertand the leanguage. Additionaly, to know if you delivery to Mexico Country.
Hi ! Thank you for your response. May we ask which payment method (credit card or Paypal) you tried to use ? If it you picked Paypal, you can change the language setting of the page at the bottom of the page. Also, we have already shipped orders to Mexico. We use DHL for all international orders. Do not hesitate to let us know if you experience again any trouble when trying to place an order. We will do our best to help you.
Hi Irene！Thank you for reaching out to us. You can use kokuso to fill the empty place, it is not too large. Just make sure that you do not apply too much kokuso in one go. You should apply several thin layers of kokuso until the space is completely filled. Each layer should be maximum 1 mm thick. If it is thicker, it will not harden as well. If you have any other questions, please let us know ! :)
Hi Irene ! Yes, you should wait for kokuso to harden completely before applying another layer. If you have other questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us again. :)
Yes, we don't mix urushi and water directly (I think urushi repels water) but we mix water with flour first to make mugi-urushi, and in the later step, water with polishing powder (Tonoko)first to make sabi-urushi. There is a fact that some artisans don't add water into flour. So, it is possible to make mugi-urushi without water as you stated. However, please note that urushi hardens by combining with water in the air (therefore we keep lacquered items in a humid box to dry). This means, we believe that water mixed with flour will accelerate urushi to harden fast. Then you may have the other question: why some artisans don't add water? -> Because raw urushi it self has high consistency of water so mugi-urushi without water will also harden some day. I'm afraid if my explanation is clear or not. Hope it helps! -Yuki
We use rapeseed oil which is used traditionally. But you can replace it with canola oil and vegetable oil and so on. (Oil which is low viscosity) Hope it helps! - Yuki
This is the best tutorial of kintsugi I'm have seen thus far. Other people's explanations, usually white people, is "break pottery, super glue it and paint gold..." I hate how they are destroying something so sacred and meaningful.
@@xyz7572 no but 99.9 percent of those I found selling kintsugi or "teaching kintsugi" on RUclips who are obviously just trying to make a quick buck or doing "crafts" are white. I found at least a dozen that are all white people. When it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. It's not about calling every white person bad, it's about telling people to do ur research, respect other cultures, stop making preventable, ignorant mistakes. It's not about "ooo pretty!", read and understand. BTW my wife is white and she agrees with me...haha. She tries very hard to be respectful and she is. I just call it like I see it. Maybe u should make sure to teach people why kintsugi exists and how to respect it instead of being defensive. The person I learned it from in Japan actually happens to be white...haha. She is the one that taught me to respect it for what it is. So no, not all white people but it sure seems like they are the ones that culturally appropriate with ease and trample all over the sacred. We all screw up, it's just just the staggering ways I see white people trample the sacred with blissful ignorant confidence.
@@xyz7572 that's a comment with such poor interpretation, please. quit it with the martyr complex. the comment is about usually white people taking a very traditional process and "westernifying" it, disregarding its meaning (for kintsugi, including a step of breaking the piece to put it back together with gold just because it's pretty, when the process is about how broken and fixed things are just as valuable as new ones). so yeah. very much a "white" thing to take things from other cultures, throw its meaning in the trash and claim to be super interested in "exotic/traditional" practices. i agree 100% with Daniel, it makes my skin craw when all tutorials i could find from western tutorials involved breaking the piece first
@jacqueito5700 thanks. I have found that the hardest part of practicing kintsugi is finding the broken ones. I have contacted many pottery places and they just toss them away. I have been abke to make a couple relationships through this endeavor. This search to me is as much kintisugi as the fixing portion. Breaking pottery is competely antithetical to the practice. I mean, make a pottery with gold lines if you want to but that is not kintsugi. What is worse is when people do this to simply sell them. There is nothing wrong with selling you pieces but not if you are just manufacturing them out of perfectly fine pottery.
You realize this is an instructional video that is step-by-step right? Cleaning and carrying for tools is literally part of the process in most art forms and including this is demonstrating each step start to finish. That said, there's this thing called an option to advance the video at your leisure. 🙄
@-kintsugitsugukit-7112 I found the pace of your instruction in this video quite perfect. Calming actually. The camera work, lighting, instruction, and explanation - even the tone of voice is lovely; very well done. Thank you for making and sharing this process. True to the traditional art form and beautiful as always.
I AM SO GRATEFULL FOR SHARING THIS TUTORIAL🙏❤😍I was on workshop with professional Artist in kintsugi traditional method- Joanna Koryciarz-Kitamikado-really great 🙏🏵in it but I wanted to remember it and Your video tutorials help me so much to order this knowledge step by step!In internet are many courses with false kintsugi with epoxid glue,not safe with eating from repaired bowls...so Your professional,beautiful video with perfect sound and photography rescue this traditional ancient japanese art.DOMO ARIGATOU🙏🌺🌺🌺🏵🏵🏵🪷🪷🪷
Thank you for your comment :) I'm happy that this video helps you and many people! I'd like to spread the charm of real traditional kintsugi from Japan! Bests, Yuki
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Many thanks for this lovely tutorial. I've repaired crockery using a kintsugi kit containing modern materials but next time I'll try these traditional materials and techniques. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for the message :) I believe it's nice to try traditional kintsugi with real urushi although it takes time and effort :D - Yuki
I am so excited to have found this video!!! The cleaning steps are so clear & precise, and you've given me the confidence to finally attempt to repair my cherished items. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this content. ❤
Thank you for your comment :) I'm happy to hear that our explanation is helpful for you! Hope you enjoy kintsugi and your item becomes even more loving one :D - Yuki
Finally I found a proper video about kintsugi art! Thank you very much!
I'm happy to hear that! Enjoy kintsugi :) Yuki
Es un trabjo lleno de sensibilidad, precioso, pero veo que yo no seria capz de aprenderlo solo con este video, tendria que ser presencial, tengo un elemento a mi 27:29 fabor que es la paciencia y la perfeccion solo necesito un lugar donde pudiesr aprender, y saber donde comprar todos los elementos en España 🇪🇸, por lo demas perfecto.... Muchas gracias y felicidades por tu trabajo lleno de amor
Thank you for your comment. I don’t know where the people in Spain can learn kintsugi face to face in your counry, but I hope you know the essence of kintsugi from this video. We are selling our kintsugi kits to your country so you may be able to experience real kintsugi with our manual (written in English) and this RUclips video. Hope you have enjoyed this video, and I love to contribute to share the charm of kintsugi in your country as well! ・・Gracias por su comentario. No sé dónde la gente en España puede aprender kintsugi cara a cara en su país, pero espero que usted sabe la esencia de kintsugi de este video. Estamos vendiendo nuestros kits de kintsugi a su país para que puedan experimentar el kintsugi real con nuestro manual (escrito en inglés) y este vídeo de RUclips. Espero que haya disfrutado de este vídeo, ¡y me encantaría contribuir a compartir el encanto del kintsugi en su país también! ーYuki
A great video, very detailed. I’ve been wanting to fix the lid of my kyusu.
Thank you! Enjoy kintsugi!!
Thank you so much for this wonderful tutorial! I will be following it to repair a broken soup bowl I purchased in Japan. So grateful to have a beautiful, ceremonial way to put it back together and give it another life.
We are very glad to hear that you find our tutorial useful. ;) We hope you will enjoy giving a new life to your soup bowl with kintsugi ! If you need any extra help or advice during the repair process, do not hesitate to reach out to us !
@@tsugu_kintsugi thank you! It's my 2nd week with the bowl, and I'm not sure the mugi urushi has completely hardened yet...When I went to scrape the extra off of the cracks, it looked like there was no Urushi left behind to hold the cracks together. I put it back in the box for another week and I'll check it again next Sunday. Did I do something wrong? Or is it just still too soft to scrape?
@@leighhuggins5030 Hi ! Thank you for your comment. Could you send pictures of the current state of your bowl to info(at)kintsugi-girl.com so that we can advise you ? :)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you! I figured it out, it just needed more time to dry. Onto the black urushi!
Is isopropyl alcohol a suitable substitute for ethanol?
Yes, you can also use isopropyl alcohol instead of ethanol! - Yuki
First of all, thank you very much for making a clear video on how to use the traditional material for kintsugi. It is very helpful.
As I am looking into buying what's needed, I would have a few questions that other may also help other viewers :
1. Is your red bengal urushi lacquer (as well as the black one though you are not selling black lacquer) the same as using raw urushi lacquer with red / black pigments?
2. Is there a difference between using wood / polishing powders for cracks instead of tomoko / jinoko clays or is it just a personal preference?
3. Do you have other metallic powders for sale or to suggest using instead of gold and silver (which are quite expensive). I have read about ceramists using brass, copper, and pewter and others saying it's not food safe. I want my repaired dishes to be food safe.
Thanks a lot for your help!
Thank you for your comments! This will be long, but I’ll answer your questions thoroughly.
1. About the red and black lacquer tubes
Our red Bengal urushi lacquer tube is similar in function to raw urushi lacquer mixed with pigment, but the composition is slightly different. The bengal-red lacquer tube, also called "e-urushi," contains a small amount of Japanese urushi, which makes it smoother to apply and less likely to leave brush marks. Because of this, and the inclusion of Japanese urushi, it is more expensive.
The black lacquer tube is mainly used for middle coats and does not contain Japanese urushi. Instead of adding black pigment, it becomes black through a chemical reaction with ferric hydroxide. This method differs from the more old method of adding black pigment to urushi. While tube lacquers are more expensive, they save time and effort.
2. About using wood/polishing powders vs. tomoko/jinoko clays
The difference lies in particle size and characteristics. Wood powder is the coarsest and made from wood, while jinoko and tonoko are the same material but differ in particle size, with tonoko being finer. The choice of material often depends on the artisan’s preferences and training.
For deep chips, I personally use kokuso (a mixture containing wood) for its slight elasticity, which helps absorb stress and prevents future cracks. I then finish the surface with sabi-urushi to smooth out any small imperfections. You can use sabi-urushi made with jinoko and tonoko instead. There are several types of jinoko and specific jinoko is currently difficult to obtain due to the 2024 earthquake in Ishikawa. To ensure consistent availability, our kits use alternatives to jinoko.
3. About metallic powders and food safety
We cannot guarantee food safety for metallic powders like brass, copper, or pewter, as they haven’t been tested for food safety. However, tin and copper have been traditionally used in kintsugi. Personally, I think they are fine to use, but care is needed with brass.
Cheap brass powders often contain unknown additives, and some may even pose health risks if ingested. Our brass powder is more expensive because it contains only copper, zinc, and essential additives, verified by the manufacturer. However, when we asked the manufacturer, they said that food safety tests have not been conducted, so we cannot say that the brass we sell is safe to use on tableware.
For food-safe repairs, consider finishing with colored urushi or wiping urushi into cracks instead of metallic powders. Alternatively, reserve gold for your most precious items. Note that gold and silver powders have finer particles, which can highlight imperfections in repairs compared to coarser powders like brass or tin.
If we worry too much, kintsugi might stop being enjoyable. Personally, I believe that as long as you are careful about the manufacturer of brass, traditional materials like tin and copper, which have been used for a long time, are fine to use.
If I missed anything or you have further questions, feel free to ask! I’m considering adding this Q&A to our English website, as I think many people would find it helpful. Thank you for asking such great questions!
kintsugi-kit.com/
Just to clarify, when filling chips with kokuso, do we apply 1 mm and let dry one day then fill another 1 mm and dry > repeat?
That was my understanding. Fill little by little, day after day. I'm working on filling the bottom of a coffee cup with kokuso, because when it broke a section of the bottom completely shattered (it was a homemade piece and I didn't realize the bottom was so thin). It's taking weeks, and I also acknowledge it's going to take quite a lot of polishing and gold powder to make seamless, but I thought it would be a nice challenge.
Yes, you need to apply kokuso (max 1 mm) then let it harden, and then repeat the step until the chip is fully filled. ;) If you have other questions, do not hesitate to contact us !
Hello, can we really use the repaired pottery to eat (it's really food safe) ? Are there any restrictions (no hot food, hot liquid, or vinegar... for example) Thanks
Yes, you can use the kintsugi-repaired vessels to serve food (urushi and genuine gold are food safe). You can serve hot drinks but it is told that urushi coating may get damaged when you directly pour boiled water over 95℃ directly onto the repaired part. Please wait a little to cool down before pouring into your mug. Please avoid using it in a microwave, a dishwasher, an open fire. Hope it helps! -Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you, it's really helpful :-)
Thank you for amazing tutorial! May I ask why you layer black and then red laquer? May I use any colour or even uncoloured urushi for painting step before gold? Or do these powder colourants have any special purpose?
Hi !
We are very glad to hear that you find our tutorials helpful. :)
Thank you for your questions !
The choice of the colors and the order of the layers of pigmented urushi depends on the finish you want. For a golden finish, gold powder should be dusted on red bengal urushi for an optimal result. If you were to dust silver or platina powder, it should be dusted on black urushi to obtain the best result.
In the video, the black layer is used to smoothen the surface of the repaired parts. This step can actually be repeated several times (you need to let urushi harden - it should take at least a day - before adding another layer). For this step, you can actually use bengal red urushi or natural urushi (it has to be mixed first).
The last layer of urushi is used to apply gold powder. For the cracks to be beautifully highlighted in gold, you need to make sure that you cover completely the black layer (smoothening layer) with red bengal urushi lacquer. We recommend to use a color different from the previous step because it is easier to cover the previous layers completely if you use another color. If you use red on red or black on black you cannot see clearly if the previous layers are completely covered. If they are not covered, the gold powder will not cover them either. For a silver finish, you would ideally use red bengal urushi for the smoothening layer(s) and then use black urushi for the last urushi layer before dusting silver powder.
If you have other questions or if something remains unclear, please let us know ;)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Oh thank you so much for your explanation! Now I understand clearly. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your time and knowledge. Have a wonderful day and hopefully one day I can visit you at your workshop (since I live in the middle of Europe :) )
We are glad you have found our explanation helpful ! Do not hesitate to contact us if you have other questions. Japanese borders are currently still closed for non-residents, but we hope that they will reopen soon and that you will be able to visit our studio. :)
Hi! thank you for the video! i have a question: doesn't the gold powder come off? i noticed that there is no product applied on top of it, doesn't it come off when washed, used etc?
Thank you for your question !
If you let the finishing layer harden properly, the gold powder should not come off. However, if you scratch the finishing powder with knives, hard sponges, or forks, the finishing layer may in fact get damaged (it can be fixed by reapplying the finishing layer).
Objects restored with traditional kintsugi can be used in your daily life, but they should always be handled with care. You should never put them in an oven, a dishwasher, a microwave or over an open fire. When you wash them, you should always make sure not to scrub the repaired parts too harshly and avoid letting the objects soak for long periods of time in water.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to let us know ! We will be more than happy to help !
@@tsugu_kintsugi thank you so much!!
Hi, great video! I have a question, it would be great if you could answer it! I worked on a broken white plate and when sticking the pieces together, the white ceramic got stained. How can I clean the brown stains from the glazed ceramic surface? Thanks!!
Thank you for asking! For glazed ceramic; before the urushi lacqucer is dried, you can wipe the stain off with ethanol & tissue/cotton swab. After the urushi lacqucer is dried, you can scrape the stain off with utility knife, but if the stain is everywhere, you can sand off with the waterproof sandpaper with water which you will use it in the later step (step 3, sabi-urushi). Hope this helps! -Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugi thanks so much!!
I'm excited to use your Tsugukit to repair my favorite plate! I had one question before I get started. The plate is in 7 pieces. Is it okay to stick all the pieces together during the same session and then let the Mugi Urushi harden? Or is it best to stick the pieces together one at a time or in pairs over the course of a couple months? Thank you!
Thank you for your interest in the TSUGUKITs! For an optimal result, we would advice to avoid sticking the pieces together all at once. There is a much higher risk of having gaps and shifts between pieces if you stick everything in one go. That being said, you can stick 2-3 pieces together at a time. We would recommend putting smaller pieces together first in order to have pieces with similar sizes to stick together at the end. It is also very important to secure the pieces with masking tape after putting the pieces together so that they do not move while mugi-urushi hardens. ;) If you have other questions, feel free to contact us anytime !
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you so much! I can't wait to start the project next weekend.
In all of the kintsugi videos and directions, no one, even this excellent instructional video, adresses how to know when the red urishi is ready for the gold coating without touching it. . Sometimes I take ithe piece out of the box after the alloted time and it is still wet, sometimes it takes weeks or never dries. What am I doing wrong. Also directions say never to touch the red urishi with the gold puff directly but all of the videos show the puffs or brushes actually passing over the red. What am I missing. Please clarify. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for your comment. I know how difficult it is to know the right timing to start dusting gold. Honestly, it is very difficult to tell even in videos and I wish I could check yours in front of me (this is what we are doing in our actual kintsugi lessons..) As I read your comment, I come up with two reasons. First, you applied red urushi too much so that it take long time to dry. But "Taking weeks and never dries" may lead to the other problems such as that urushi or your utensils/tools may contain oil or salt so that urushi never dries. Please clean all the tools with ethanol thoroughly before you use urushi. For us also it is difficult to know when is the right timing, so we apply red urushi very very thinly so that the surface of red urushi starts drying within 10 mins. I have never waited more than 10 mins but beginnes tend to apply too much so I sometimes mention to dry longer than 10 mins. The amount of red urushi should be right before fading (but not faded). When I apply red urushi on a clear pallete, the line of red urushi looks a little transparent. "never to touch the red urishi with the gold puff directly but all of the videos show the puffs or brushes actually passing over the red." You are right. What we wanted to say is that don't press red urushi to hard and don't let silk ball directly touch urushi because silk smears it. Especially when red urushi applied is thick, there are higher risks to smear it with silk ball. Only the area which has powder should gently pass the surface of red urushi. Hope it would help some. -Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugiIf I'm understanding, what you are saying is that the silk ball shouldn't touch the resin without the gold powder or else it might smear or stick? The gold acts as a barrier between the resin and the silk?
@@JenIsHungry You are right! Thank you for explaining better!
@@JenIsHungry Yes, your understanding is correct!
Thank you!
If you have any questions regarding kintsugi, feel free to contact us anytime ! ;)
Great video. I've followed all of the steps. After sanding off the black urushi, I added the red urushi and later added the gold powder. I am not a good painter and the red lines are thicker than the black urushi. Will the excess red and gold come off of the plate?
I'm happy to hear that you did final step! After drying the item, the excess red and gold on the surface of the plate will be come off easily when you scratch the excess part. We scratch off the excess part with an utility knife to make the line finer. You don't have to do this but you can see where you have exceeded when you closer look at the line. Hope my explanation is clear to you...! Yuki
Does your kit include urushi used for glass?
Our Tsugu kit doesn’t include urushi for glass. It includes raw usushi. We sell the urushi for glass separately.
can I use this kit to repair a split piece if wood?
Yes, it is possible, but wood is different material from porcelain and earthenware, so there are some more cautions you need to think about. Wood absorb urushi lacquer and gets stain easily.
@@tsugu_kintsugi but if I take precaution against over-staining, the mixture will bond two pieces of wood together?
Yes, urushi (mugi-urushi) will bond two wood pieces!
@@tsugu_kintsugi one last question. will it be a good idea to clamp the pieces together during the drying process, like I would do if using normal wood glue? or should I avoid doing that?
@@OGRE_HATES_NERDS I didn't understand what your "clamp" means. If you stick metal into wood pieces, it makes holes. You mean, you will insert metal stick into two joints? If so, some people do so for not only wood but also ceramic pieces.
Hi, can this be used in glass? Or just ceramic?
Thank you for your question ! Kintsugi can also be used to repair glass but the type of urushi used for glass is different. We usually recommend to start with ceramic pieces first because glass is trickier to repair.
Great Video !!!!
Thank you, we are glad to hear you like it ! :)
Hey there! I wanted to ask, because my teapot is dark, i'm not so keen to do the finishing part. Is it food safe to just leave it after gluing it with the urushi,flour and water? As it seems to end up drying the same color as my clay teapot. If not, could it be considered food safe after the black urushi? I have a roiro tube i'm not sure if its the same
Hi ! Thank you for your question.
You can stop the repair process at the stage just before dusting golden/silver powder and have urushi (pigmented in black and red in the video) as a finishing layer. However, we would NOT recommend stopping right after gluing everything together with urushi, flour and water because the repair is still unfinished at that point. In order to have a neat result and ensure that your teapot does not leak, you should add extra layers of urushi (pigmented in black and red in the video). Roiro urushi is matte black so it really depends what type of finish coat you want for the repaired cracks. If you want to make them glossier, you need to polish it.
If you have other questions, please let us know ! :)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Understood!
After the piece is repaired with this beautiful method, is it safe to drink hot tea with it again?
Hi !
Thank you for your question !
Cups and bowls repaired with traditional kintsugi (method based on the use of urushi) are completely food safe and they can be used to drink hot beverages such as tea. However, repaired items should be handled with care. You should avoid to pour boiling hot water straight into repaired cups when drinking tea. It is best to wait for tea to cool down a little bit in a tea pot before pouring the tea in a restored cup. Please note that for most types of tea, the ideal brewing temperature is between 65ºC and 85ºC (150ºF-185ºF), which is below the boiling point of water.
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have other questions. :) - Salome
For repairing cracks, does that come before or after putting pieces back together using Mugi urushi?
Generally speaking, the order for the restoration is the following: pre-treatment (crack check) > broken pieces > chips > step 3,4,5. During the pre-treament step, you should check how deep each crack is. If a crack is deep, it is actually better to apply force on it, make it break and treat it as broken pieces. If it is shallow / impossible to break, you should use raw urushi to make the crack leak-proof and leave the object in the urushi box for a week. You can actually apply the urushi on the cracks and stick broken pieces together around the same time and then put the vessel in the urushi box. Once the cracks are made leak-proof and the broken pieces are stuck together and the chips are filled, you can apply sabi-urushi and follow all the steps until the dusting of gold. :) Please keep in mind that each repair is different. If you wish to have more precise instructions, please feel free to send us pictures of your vessel at info@kintsugi-girl.com. We will be glad to help !
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you! I sent you an email :)
Is it wise to use a drink/lunch cooler box for it? I'm interested in alternatives to a cardboard box
You can use any box which can keep warm temperature and humidity! Please be careful that the humidity may go higher than 85% when you close the cooler box completely. It's better to open the lid or door a little bit if the door close too tightly. Best condition is 70-85% humidity and around 25 degrees Celsius. Hope it helps :) -Yuki
Hello! I wonder if any difference between black urusi and red urusi? Could I use red instead black?
Thank you for your question. You can use red urushi instead of black.
It is told that the gold powder shines better on bengal-red, so we usually apply bengal-red urushi for the last layer. One step before, the underneath of the red urushi should be different color in order to see the color contrast to avoid leaving remaining paint.
On the contrary, to finish with silver poweder, we usually use black urushi for the last layer, and we apply red urushi one step before.
Bengal-red and black powders are both made of iron oxide.
Hope this explanation is cleat to you! - Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugi thanks for the answer, and for the tutorial!
Hi. Where page I found the kits? Thank you so much.
Hi! Thank you for your comment. You can purchase the kits on our website.
Here is the link: tsugu-tsugu.shop-kintsugi.com/
Feel free to contact us if you need any additional information relating to the TSUGUKITs or kintsugi. :)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you.Just the final info in the web for the payment format is in Japanese and I did not undertand the leanguage. Additionaly, to know if you delivery to Mexico Country.
Hi ! Thank you for your response. May we ask which payment method (credit card or Paypal) you tried to use ? If it you picked Paypal, you can change the language setting of the page at the bottom of the page. Also, we have already shipped orders to Mexico. We use DHL for all international orders. Do not hesitate to let us know if you experience again any trouble when trying to place an order. We will do our best to help you.
Hello! I have a bowl that has a missing piece about 3x5mm large, and about 3mm thick. Can I use kokuso to patch this, or is it too large?
Hi Irene！Thank you for reaching out to us.
You can use kokuso to fill the empty place, it is not too large. Just make sure that you do not apply too much kokuso in one go. You should apply several thin layers of kokuso until the space is completely filled. Each layer should be maximum 1 mm thick. If it is thicker, it will not harden as well. If you have any other questions, please let us know ! :)
@@tsugu_kintsugi Thank you for the quick response! Do I need let let the kokuso dry each time I apply the 1mm layer?
Hi Irene ! Yes, you should wait for kokuso to harden completely before applying another layer. If you have other questions, do not hesitate to reach out to us again. :)
Thanks for the explanation!
@@tsugu_kintsugi Hello! How long should the kokuso dry before adding another 1 mm layer? One day?
Raw urushi does not mix with water. But you mixed flour with water than added urushi ? Is it better if i mix flour with urushi (without water) ?
Yes, we don't mix urushi and water directly (I think urushi repels water) but we mix water with flour first to make mugi-urushi, and in the later step, water with polishing powder (Tonoko)first to make sabi-urushi.
There is a fact that some artisans don't add water into flour. So, it is possible to make mugi-urushi without water as you stated.
However, please note that urushi hardens by combining with water in the air (therefore we keep lacquered items in a humid box to dry). This means, we believe that water mixed with flour will accelerate urushi to harden fast.
Then you may have the other question: why some artisans don't add water? -> Because raw urushi it self has high consistency of water so mugi-urushi without water will also harden some day.
I'm afraid if my explanation is clear or not. Hope it helps! -Yuki
@@tsugu_kintsugi Yes, it makes sense. Thank you for explaining. Also, thank you for the video, very helpful. Mustafa........
@@mustafakocabasi3387 Thank you for your comment.If you have any questions regarding kintsugi, feel free to contact us anytime ! ;)
what kind of oil is she talking about? cooking oil?
We use rapeseed oil which is used traditionally. But you can replace it with canola oil and vegetable oil and so on. (Oil which is low viscosity) Hope it helps! - Yuki
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This is the best tutorial of kintsugi I'm have seen thus far. Other people's explanations, usually white people, is "break pottery, super glue it and paint gold..." I hate how they are destroying something so sacred and meaningful.
Oh everything is always “white” people’s fault, isn’t it 🙄
@@xyz7572 no but 99.9 percent of those I found selling kintsugi or "teaching kintsugi" on RUclips who are obviously just trying to make a quick buck or doing "crafts" are white. I found at least a dozen that are all white people. When it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. It's not about calling every white person bad, it's about telling people to do ur research, respect other cultures, stop making preventable, ignorant mistakes. It's not about "ooo pretty!", read and understand. BTW my wife is white and she agrees with me...haha. She tries very hard to be respectful and she is. I just call it like I see it. Maybe u should make sure to teach people why kintsugi exists and how to respect it instead of being defensive. The person I learned it from in Japan actually happens to be white...haha. She is the one that taught me to respect it for what it is. So no, not all white people but it sure seems like they are the ones that culturally appropriate with ease and trample all over the sacred. We all screw up, it's just just the staggering ways I see white people trample the sacred with blissful ignorant confidence.
@@xyz7572 that's a comment with such poor interpretation, please. quit it with the martyr complex. the comment is about usually white people taking a very traditional process and "westernifying" it, disregarding its meaning (for kintsugi, including a step of breaking the piece to put it back together with gold just because it's pretty, when the process is about how broken and fixed things are just as valuable as new ones). so yeah. very much a "white" thing to take things from other cultures, throw its meaning in the trash and claim to be super interested in "exotic/traditional" practices. i agree 100% with Daniel, it makes my skin craw when all tutorials i could find from western tutorials involved breaking the piece first
Racist
@jacqueito5700 thanks. I have found that the hardest part of practicing kintsugi is finding the broken ones. I have contacted many pottery places and they just toss them away. I have been abke to make a couple relationships through this endeavor. This search to me is as much kintisugi as the fixing portion. Breaking pottery is competely antithetical to the practice. I mean, make a pottery with gold lines if you want to but that is not kintsugi. What is worse is when people do this to simply sell them. There is nothing wrong with selling you pieces but not if you are just manufacturing them out of perfectly fine pottery.
Am I the only one hear for the ASMR?
We would have never thought that our tutorials could be used for ASMR. It's good to know ! ;)
@@tsugu_kintsugi I watched the whole thing and don’t even own one of your kits! 😍😅
There is a start for everything haha ;)
@@Lilliput__ ME TOO! :)
Not only do I love this video for the tutorial, but I also love it for the ASMR, too! Have fallen asleep two times already. It’s so peaceful. 😊
Redundant and unnesesary the explanation on how to clean the spatula. Next time go to the point .
Thank you for your comment ! We will keep it in mind for upcoming videos !
Unnecessary comment, next time go to watch another video or make your own.
You realize this is an instructional video that is step-by-step right? Cleaning and carrying for tools is literally part of the process in most art forms and including this is demonstrating each step start to finish. That said, there's this thing called an option to advance the video at your leisure. 🙄
What's with the long pauses between sentences. Extremely annoying. It takes about twenty times as long to get through. Dammit!!
Thank you for your comment ! We will keep this in mind for upcoming videos !
When the whole craft requires so much patience and time, getting annoyed by too long pauses in the video seems that your might be at the wrong place.
@@sigaq7208
Thanks for your comment!
@-kintsugitsugukit-7112 I found the pace of your instruction in this video quite perfect. Calming actually. The camera work, lighting, instruction, and explanation - even the tone of voice is lovely; very well done. Thank you for making and sharing this process. True to the traditional art form and beautiful as always.
I AM SO GRATEFULL FOR SHARING THIS TUTORIAL🙏❤😍I was on workshop with professional Artist in kintsugi traditional method- Joanna Koryciarz-Kitamikado-really great 🙏🏵in it but I wanted to remember it and Your video tutorials help me so much to order this knowledge step by step!In internet are many courses with false kintsugi with epoxid glue,not safe with eating from repaired bowls...so Your professional,beautiful video with perfect sound and photography rescue this traditional ancient japanese art.DOMO ARIGATOU🙏🌺🌺🌺🏵🏵🏵🪷🪷🪷
Thank you for your comment :) I'm happy that this video helps you and many people! I'd like to spread the charm of real traditional kintsugi from Japan! Bests, Yuki