u/level27geek

While I'm still working on my first synthetic kintsugi, I'm reading up on traditional methods for the future.

It seems that at different stages the urushi is mixed with different powders (iron oxide for black and clay for red). I'm wondering is there a reason for it?

Of course, one of the reason would be visibility. You can see where you have or have not applied the new layer, but I wonder if urushi properties change with each mix?

I'd assume that raw urushi would be the most "sticky" so that's why it's used first. Adding iron oxide would thicken it to make it easier to brush on perhaps? Maybe is has another quality that I'm not seeing? What about red? Would it mixing clay make the finish closer to ceramic? Does it make it food safe?

I'm just curious if there's science behind the tradition.

I recently was gifted a ceramic piece, that sadly got broken during shipping. I would like to repair it, and I'd like to add to its history by highlighting the mending. This is made me look into kintsugi (which I was vaguely aware of through learning of wabi sabi years ago), and eventually lead me here.

I did some more research on the practice, and I think I'll go the modern/epoxy route for this piece. The price and availability of traditional materials are a factor, of course, but I also feel it fits the piece which is a mass a produced western good with a bit of its own flair and history. The piece is ornamental, so I'm not concerned about food safety.

My current plan is to use one of the cheap epoxy kits, but replace the gold mica finish with gold chrome powder. I do, however have a few questions before I begin:

How to keep the lines thin when using epoxy?

When you look up images or videos of people using those kits, they usually show thick blobs of epoxy seeping out from the cracks. I know that a lot of that will be either user error or personal preferences, but this is not the right look for this piece. Are there any good practices to make an epoxy kintsugi have a more traditional look (thin lines, flush with the original piece)?

Should I just scrape the excess using razor/exacto knife (if so, when - before it dries, after it cures)? Or should I add minimal epoxy at first (just enough to glue it back) and go back over with extra layers of epoxy?

Best/proper way to use chrome powder?

I decided to try gold chrome powder because its finish is closer to actual gold powder than what mica pigments offers, and that finish will work better with the piece than the glittery sheen of mica. However, there's really no info I could find on using it in kintsugi.

Would I mix it into the epoxy like I would mica? Would I use clear epoxy and sprinkle the powder afterwards (on a final layer of epoxy)?

I've seen the latter method mentioned on here, but I'm concerned about loosing some of that finish after final steps (steel wool pass or other buffing/burring).

Should I get few practice pieces before?

The piece that lead me to giving kintsugi a try is somewhat important to me, but I don't expect it to come out perfect (again, a bit of that wabi sabi mentality). Also, I would really want to start working on it as soon as I can... but I know that it goes against the standard advice on here.

What works in my favor is that I do come from an art background and have some experience with gluing small/intricate bits to make larger forms, small scale painting, and redoing it when it's not quite right from working in miniatures/dioramas (example here or here).

Not to mention I don't even know where to get practice pieces? Would I buy some cheap ceramics and just drop them to make one? Are there any special ways of breaking them?

Thanks for reading this far. I'm excited to start this adventure and curious of the answers to those questions.