Gracias!

Hola friend. Quick question, if we only glue the pieces using Mugi urushi and we do none of the other steps, would it still be food safe?

@@lrjasso Yes, it is safe. Flour, water, and urushi, the ingredients of mugi urushi, are all harmless to the human body, and their safety does not change even after curing.

How do you know when the urishi is ready for the gold powder? Mine is always too wet or too dry so the powder smears or doesn't stick? Using the puff always smears the urishi for me.

@@lindarose61 I think smears is not due to waiting time, but rather due to the following. Too much force when applying gold powder. Cotton is too fluffy. The amount of gold powder in the cotton is too little. Gold powder needs to be added to the cotton more frequently. Need to apply urushi more thinly. There are two important things to consider when applying gold dust. One is to keep in mind that only gold powder touches the urushi. In other words, the surface of the cotton should ideally always be covered with gold dust so that the cotton does not touch the urushi directly. Once the gold powder adheres to the seam, there is no problem even if the cotton slightly touches the seam after that. Second, be careful not to spread the urushi coated underneath. For example, if the force applied to the cotton is too strong, it will spread the urushi coated underneath. Also, if the urushi is not applied thinly, even a small amount of force will cause the urushi to spread easily. If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please send us a photo. Kintsugi is not easy, but I will support you as much as I can.

This process is very much about being in the moment, it is not something you do because you are tasked with doing it, it's a job you do because you want to, because you enjoy it. Everything has it's time and it's moment.

Ok, I was wondering this exact same thing. I kept thinking….surely I’m wrong. I swear my skin melts from urishiol exposure.

@@nataushalight1684 Traditionally its harvested from a species of poison oak ie the Urushi (lacquer) tree. Yeah its nasty stuff, but the allergic reaction varies person to person. Main issue is over sea's sellers have a bad tendency not to include a warning.

Sooo its not food save…. I have a very nice ramen bowl that just got broke and i have been looking online on how to glue it back. And now seeing this video is all nice and beautiful but the question I am asking myself is, is it food safe….

@@hazehat2121 once hardened its fairly inert. Just dont get any of it on you during the process.

thank you for this comment because i’m already extraordinarily allergic to the poison ivy family, i can’t even eat mangos, so bringing this into my home would probably take me out lmao

And flour, don't forget the flour

Let us know which new plate you ordered.

Traditional Japanese people would love nothing more than your head on a pike. I suggest you end your love with it before it's too late.

Hahaha 😂that’s exactly what I thought too! 😂

On one of the other channels I watched, they used silver powder on a piece and it worked fine.

The same method cannot be used for glass. Kintsugi on glass is quite challenging and it will be difficult to repair it beautifully unless you are a professional.

It is possible that urushi will not work on slippery materials like stone or glass. As for heat resistance, I know that it can withstand hot water, etc., but I have never repaired a lampshade, so I am not sure. Sorry I can't help you.

​​​@chimahaga The boiling point of water is at 100° C. I doubt most lampshades get that hot, especially with the new LED bulbs. If a lampshade gets so hot that it can melt or burn stuff, or that you can hurt yourself by touching it, then this defeats the purpose of a lampshade, IMO.

High humidity does not reduce waiting time. Rather, too much humidity may deter normal curing, so if possible, it is better to store the ceramics in a slightly less humid place.

I mean, the important thing about kitsugi is the idea and philosophy of the technique rather than the material. So I think being too picky about the material kinda defeats the purpose.

​@@Eren______kintsugi isn't just about the philosophy tho, sure the philosophy is important but it's an artisanal technique that needs to be respected.

Urushi (lacauer made from tree resin) and epoxy (completely synthetic) do the same job, and their appearance mostly depends on the powder that's mixed in- mixing pure gold powder into epoxy will look mostly the same. The only difference is organic vs synthetic, and unless you're eating them... there's really not much difference. The video also uses anhydrous ethanol, that's pretty synthetic too.

It's just a different type of "epoxy". No need to get overly puritanical about it

​@@Goma19Chaineusing modern materials doesnt disrespect the artistry.

I have never broken a repaired item myself, so this is hearsay, but I hear that the new part breaks. It is glued on quite strongly. However, I think it also depends a lot on the shape and material of the repaired item. Basically, porcelain is harder for urushi to work than pottery. It also withstands alcohol and acid better. As for heat, hot water and the like are relatively safe, but open flame and microwave ovens are not good.

Basically, it cannot be substituted. Raw urushi is not suitable for coating because it is not sticky.

@@chimahaga I see. So bengara urushi main purpose is to stick the gold powder, isn’t it? If we only use raw urushi then we can’t have the finish result in gold lines?

@@datinintanbaktara2493 That's not all. The most important thing with Kintsugi is to make the substrate as flat and smooth as possible before finishing. In other words, it is important to fill in the fine grooves by applying layers of bengara (or black) urushi during the coating process. Since raw urushi has low viscosity, it cannot be applied thick enough to fill the grooves.

@@chimahaga understood, thank you so much for the explanation!

Yes, it can withstand hot drinks. However, please note that it may break if it is placed over an open flame and kept boiling.

Yes, it is okay. The higher the concentration as much as possible, the cleaner the dirt will be wiped off.

There is a possibility that you can repair it by applying work only on the outside. If you can show me a photo via Instagram DM, etc., I can give you more specific advice.

Would you be able to do the repair in stages in order to repair both outside and inside seems?

No, throughout the video he shows that the bengara urushi only dries in high humidity environments, hence the towel in the box for later steps.

@@TheTetrapod That makes no sense whatsoever. Explain how something dries faster in a high humidity environment rather than a low humidity environment. What is the mechanism that explains this?

@@Nashvillain10SE It's not actually "drying" but polymerizing, and the water in the air triggers that reaction.

@@t3hgr8gabbo The gold in kintsugi doesn't polymerize as there's no chemical reaction involving cross-linking of molecules. Instead, the gold powder is embedded in the lacquer, and the lacquer hardens to create a bond between the broken pottery pieces. The lacquer itself undergoes a curing process as it dries. So, I'm still confused.

Since you have powdered bengara, I assume it is not my kit that you purchased, so I think it would be best to contact the distributor from whom you purchased it. The workflow for kneading urushi and pigment depends on which urushi you use, so it is difficult to give accurate advice unless the one who supplies that material. I'm sorry.

@@chimahaga oh nooo, I got a lot off Amazon that looks SO similar to yours, I’m sorry. Thank you for your help though, I’ll contact the distributor for directions

There’s like maybe $20 worth of ingredients here… not expressive at all and the technique was developed mainly for use on expansive China and Porcelain.

The time put into it is certainly expensive of you were doing it for a living.

I also want to know this! Can we work without gold or other metals and just leave it as it is?

It is food safe without coating with gold powder. Of course, if you are finishing with a different powder other than gold, you need to make sure that the powder is food safe. For example, pure silver powder and brass powder are food safe.

This is great to know!! I have bowl that might look better without the gold powder. Thanks for asking, and thank you Chimahaga San for the great tutorial and answer!

Depending on your location, I may be able to ship from my online store.