And I’m proudly sharing it with you. Not because it’s a bad review by Darlina Chambers Eichman, but because of why we received it. See the review and my response below.

The reviewer criticized us for bringing politics into the arts, which raises a larger art-historical question that I think is worth discussing.

Throughout history, artists have responded to the political and moral crises of their time. Goya documented the brutality of war, Picasso created Guernica in response to the bombing of civilians, Käthe Kollwitz confronted war and human suffering, and countless artists have used their work to challenge injustice and power.

So my question for this community is: Do artists have a responsibility to speak out when they believe serious injustice is taking place, or should artists and their work remain politically neutral?

And historically, has “keeping politics out of art” ever really been possible?

This video demonstrates our complete Kintsugi Gold Effect process using brass metal powder, from controlled breakage and bonding through filling, metal application, and completion.

Our Gold Effect uses brass metal powder to create an appearance closely comparable to genuine gold. It is simpler to implement than the 23.5K gold Kintsugi process and uses more accessible tools and materials.

The complete 23.5K gold Kintsugi process is demonstrated in a separate video.

Safety: If your hands may come into contact with uncured epoxy, wear nitrile gloves and work in a well-ventilated area. Follow the manufacturer's safety instructions.

See how we implement our 23.5K Gold Kintsugi process:
23.5K Gold Kintsugi Process

This enamel dial is from an 1860s animated "moving eyes" clock, where the portrait's eyes move every second with the clock's mechanism. The dial came in with missing enamel, chips around the winding holes and center arbor, and damage through the Roman numerals and minute track.

The restoration included rebuilding the missing enamel and recreating the original printed details. The biggest challenge was the graphics. The black lines in the Roman numerals were only 0.3 mm wide, and the spaces between them were also just 0.3 mm. The minute marks around the edge of the dial measured only 0.2 mm wide. A fine tape mask was used to create a template, and the black color was airbrushed so it was applied only to the exposed areas.

More examples: https://lakesidepottery.com/Pages/before-and-after.html

Passed down through generations, this Thai Lucky (Blessing) Ceramic Elephant, inspired by the royal elephants of Southeast Asia, has long been displayed in the family's children's room. In Thai tradition, elephants symbolize protection, wisdom, strength, good fortune, and strong family bonds. After suffering extensive damage, this cherished family heirloom was restored so it can continue watching over future generations.

More before and after project examples

These were not created using our typical 23.5-karat gold Kintsugi process due to the limited budget and exceptionally short turnaround time. Instead, we used a brass-alloy metal powder mixture to mimic the appearance of gold. The metal powder is encapsulated in our proprietary lacquer to ensure oxidation and preserve its gold appearance.

This 18th-century vase has been passed down through generations and bears the history of its journey. Its inscription suggests it was likely commissioned for a Sephardic Jewish family during a period when many Sephardic communities were rebuilding their lives and preserving their traditions across Europe and the Mediterranean. Over the centuries, it underwent several repairs, sustained the loss of a segment, and had its original gold decoration repeatedly repainted. Multiple layers of overpainting gradually obscured the original gilding, while in many areas the gold had faded away completely. At the owner's request, our goal was to restore the vase as closely as possible to its original appearance while preserving its historic character.

More examples: https://lakesidepottery.com/Pages/before-and-after.html

#lakesidepottery

Religious statues are a regular part of our restoration work. We restore pieces from many faith traditions for churches, institutions, and private individuals. Many of these sculptures have been passed down through generations and carry deep spiritual, historical, and family significance.

Restoration lessons: https://lakesidepottery.com/Pages/Repairing-restoring-ceramic-porcelain-china-pottery-lessons-tutorials.html

This project had several requirements. The customer wanted the sculpture, titled Time, restored using Kintsugi with 23.5K gold. They also requested that the entire piece be refinished in black with a durable satin surface using the epoxy cold-glaze process we typically employ for seamless repairs.

The restoration was nerve-wracking because the gold application comes after the black finish is complete. Any mistake during the Kintsugi process could have damaged the finished surface and required starting over.

The sculpture's winding form reflects the passage of time. Life and relationships rarely move in a straight line. Along the way, we encounter twists, obstacles, setbacks, and fractures.

The Kintsugi repair adds a second layer of meaning. The gold-filled lines are not meant to hide those breaks, but to honor them. They remind us that the challenges we encounter become part of our story and can contribute to something stronger and more beautiful than before.

Presented as a gift to a partner after a difficult chapter, the sculpture became a reminder that healing and resilience can transform life's fractures into something meaningful and beautiful.

More examples

I wake up every morning with a sense of dread, wondering what new suffering I will witness in Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon as a result of Israeli actions. I watch the images, the videos, and the reports, and often find myself in tears.

The deepest pain is knowing that this is being done in my name, by people who are my own. The soldiers could be people I once knew. They could be my cousins, my nephews, my former neighbors, the children of friends. That reality is heartbreaking.

I was born and raised in Israel. I served in the IDF for years as a young man, believing I was defending my country and protecting innocent people. I carried that belief with pride. Over time, however, I came to a painful conclusion: that much of what I had been taught was incomplete, distorted, or false. I began to see a different reality. I came to believe that Israel is not merely engaged in occupation, but that the occupation itself has become a central organizing principle of the state. What I once understood as a temporary security measure increasingly appeared to me as a long-term project of control, expansion, and domination.

What troubles me most is not simply the actions themselves, but the system that makes them possible. Here I am reminded of the work of Nurit Peled-Elhanan, who spent years studying how Israeli children are taught to view Palestinians. She argued that many educational narratives erase Palestinians as a people with equal humanity, history, and rights. Her warning was that a society can normalize injustice when it teaches one group to see itself as entitled and another as an obstacle.

The system she described is larger than any individual. It includes schools, media, politics, religious nationalism, military culture, and collective trauma. It is a system that often rewards conformity and discourages moral questioning. It teaches citizens that security justifies almost anything, that criticism is betrayal, and that empathy for the other side is weakness.

I do not rely on social media or outside commentary alone. Often I read two major Israeli newspapers and regularly watch one of Israel's most popular television news channels. I want to understand what Israelis themselves are seeing and hearing. What troubles me is not only what is reported, but also what is often missing. Palestinian suffering is frequently pushed to the margins, explained away, or presented in ways that make it easier to look past the humanity of those enduring it. The more I watch and read, the more concerned I become about the gap between what is happening and how it is being discussed.

Over time, I came to see a pattern that I can no longer ignore: less of them, more of us; less Palestinian presence, more Jewish control; less Palestinian land, more settlements; less Palestinian freedom, more Israeli authority. Whether carried out through military force, settlement expansion, land confiscation, movement restrictions, unequal legal systems, home demolitions, or economic pressure, the direction has often seemed to move toward the same goal: maximizing control of land while minimizing the presence and political power of the people already living on it.

No society is immune from this. History is filled with examples of nations convincing ordinary people to support actions that, when viewed from a distance, are morally indefensible. The tragedy is that those carrying them out often believe they are doing the right thing.

This recent video from NPR is not merely about what happened to the people shown in it. It is about all of us. It is about what we choose to see, what we choose to ignore, and what we are willing to justify.

If you are not as angry watching this video as you were when Russian forces bombed Ukrainian cities, or when Syrian civilians were buried beneath the rubble of their homes, then you should examine your conscience. Ask yourself why the suffering of one child moves you more than the suffering of another. Ask yourself whether nationality, religion, ethnicity, politics, or tribal loyalty have clouded your moral judgment.

A human being is a human being. A dead child is a dead child. A grieving mother is a grieving mother. Moral consistency demands that we respond to the suffering of innocent people with the same compassion and outrage, regardless of who commits the violence or who the victims happen to be.

If our empathy depends on the identity of the victim, then it is not empathy at all. It is tribalism disguised as morality.

If you do not feel the same anger, the same sorrow, the same sense of injustice when Palestinian families suffer, then it is worth asking why. What assumptions are you carrying? What narratives have you accepted? What fears have been cultivated within you? What loyalties have become stronger than your commitment to universal human dignity?

The true test of our morality is not how we respond to the suffering of people who look like us, pray like us, or belong to our tribe. It is how we respond to the suffering of those we have been taught to see as "other."

When we excuse the suffering of innocent people because of who they are, we do not merely fail them. We diminish ourselves.

I say this not as an outsider, but as someone who was born there, raised there, served there, loved that country, and still carries its people in my heart. Precisely because I care, I refuse to remain silent.

As Nurit Peled has often suggested, the greatest danger is not hatred itself. The greatest danger is a system that makes domination appear normal, inequality appear necessary, and the suffering of others appear invisible. When that happens, the first casualty is truth. The second is our shared humanity.

The question is not whether history will judge these actions. It will.

The question is whether we will find the courage to judge them honestly while they are still happening.

We’ve significantly updated our Kintsugi Questions & Answers page, based on nearly two decades of hands-on work and the most common questions we receive.

It goes beyond basic tutorials, covering how to get started, materials, finding studios, multi-break sequencing, alignment, lacquer control, gold vs gold-effect, surface continuity, and common mistakes.

The goal was to turn real-world questions into a clear, practical reference.

https://lakesidepottery.com/Pages/Pottery-tips/kintsugi-repair-questions-and-answers.htm

#lakesidepottery #kintsugi #kintsugirepair #ceramicrepair #potteryrepair #kintsugiart #goldrepair #artrestoration #kintsugitechnique #kintsugiart #goldkintsugi #kintsugihow

• Cementing Complex Multi-Break Pottery Vessels

When a ceramic vessel breaks into many, or more than a few, pieces, the repair becomes much more than simply “gluing it back together.” This applies whether the goal is a typical restoration or a Kintsugi repair. You’re dealing with alignment, sequencing, gravity, surface continuity, correct projection, and the risk of locking yourself out of the final fit if pieces are attached in the wrong order. Multi-break repairs require planning, working in sub-sections, and controlling how each joint cures before moving on to the next. We put together this lesson (click link above) in a practical way, based on decades of restoring 3D art objects, to walk through these challenges step by step and show a structured approach that helps preserve the form, fit, and final surface.

• Cementing Complex Multi-Break Pottery Vessels

When a ceramic vessel breaks into many, or more than a few, pieces, the repair becomes much more than simply “gluing it back together.” This applies whether the goal is a typical restoration or a Kintsugi repair. You’re dealing with alignment, sequencing, gravity, surface continuity, correct projection, and the risk of locking yourself out of the final fit if pieces are attached in the wrong order. Multi-break repairs require planning, working in sub-sections, and controlling how each joint cures before moving on to the next. We put together this lesson (click link above) in a practical way, based on decades of restoring 3D art objects, to walk through these challenges step by step and show a structured approach that helps preserve the form, fit, and final surface.