There's something very elegant and spiritual about the Japanese art of Kintsugi. I used to live in Japan and that's the first time I i saw this. The idea that when fixing something ceramic, rather than hiding the crack to actually accentuate it with gold, brings joy from an accident. It brings new life out of destruction. It's a little bit complicated to use and make sure the room is well ventilated. There is enough here for a few small repairs. It's also a good way to try the process out without spending a lot of money. If you find these kinds of rituals to everyday things - like Japanese tea ceremony, repair, even the martial arts, I think you'll find this a new way to approach things that are broken. Read more
My first attempt came out pretty good. There’s some things I’ll do differently on the next attempt. First, I can’t find anything that specifically says “FDA Compliant” so I wouldn’t use this product for heat or even over night food storage. Here’s how I’ll do it differently next time: use a file to bevel the edges in order to widen the surface of the crack. Just putting the pieces back together without beveling will cause the epoxy to squish out of the crack and create a raised blob. This can be remedied with a scalpel but it really makes the line thin and screws up the finish though so hit it with 2000+ grit sandpaper plus polish. Once beveled, use masking tape to hold everything straight. Once cured, remove the tape and sand down the crack in an attempt to make room for an additional THIN layer of epoxy. Go back over it with new epoxy using a fine tip brush. Because the pieces will be joined back together at this stage, you won’t have to wait until the epoxy is tacky to apply. This will allow the epoxy to settle out all of the brush strokes. Just make sure to do this on a flat level surface otherwise the epoxy will run. When the final surface layer has mostly cured but is still tacky, dust on additional gold and smooth it out with a makeup applicator. YouTube search “chrome UV nails”. This is a good product with a very secure bond but the instructions don’t set you up for a perfect, traditional style finish. If you look up traditional Kintsugi, the surface is perfectly flat and smooth with a wide enough band of gold that can be polished. This product gets you close enough but can be dramatically improved with a few additional steps and incredibly close attention to detail. Best of luck! Read more
Easy to use. I don't have much patience so I have made a gold mess situation out of some projects. Maybe I'll get better but I also don't care enough. The gold flack add in is just a fine gold sparkle which I guess my expectations were a bit to high but for the price its great Read more
A little bit of a set up process but very easy to mix and apply once you’ve cleaned and set everything up. Tip: be sure to apply only small amounts of the glue to the surface. It’s not as viscous as Elmer’s glue, it’s far more runny and takes longer to dry so be careful not to over apply. Read more
This product is messy and not easy to control in a way where you could get clean, effective results (expect smudges and big glue clumps, maybe pieces sliding around as the glue takes longer to set than the instructions suggest). The color of the glue is not great looking (they tell you a ratio to use but without anyway of measuring the epoxy or pigment). Moreover, the epoxy can be really irritating and dangerous to get on your skin or even worse your eyes or mouth, yet the gloves included are not great for the detail work required. For the very subpar results, not worth messing with actually kind of dangerous material that you need to be so fragile with. Read more
The kit is good. There’s plenty of glue, gold powder and clay powder for filling holes. I did 6 large bowls as a project and ordered 3, but only needed 1. There is a 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱 between when the glue mix is ready and when it dries up! What I did was mix the glue, then sanded and wiped all the pieces, then and went for it. There was a YouTube video by a Japanese woman that I wish I’d remembered. She suggested using just the glue/hardener by itself (they’re in tandem syringes which I had to stand up to push out!) to put the pieces together. Then once it dries (30 min), use the thin brush to go over the lines with fresh glue and use the little spoon provided to sprinkle the gold flecks onto the glue both on the inside and outside. That would’ve been A LOT cleaner! ChatGPT told me I could get off the excess gold glue spread with rubbing alcohol, but I really had to scrub, and it still wasn’t great unless I did it when the glue was still wet. I also used painters tape to hold the pieces together while they dried. Also, it’s EXTREMELY messy, sticky and glittery if you do it their way, so make sure you put covering down to work on! If you are going to break your own stuff, I suggest FLAT! The bowls were really difficult to align perfectly. I was hoping they’d be usable, but now I doubt it. I wrapped the object in an old tshirt and used a hammer to hit a screwdriver into the side of the bowl. Again, plate would’ve been MUCH better! I was surprised by how hard I had to hit it, but start easy until you figure out your strength and it’s durability. Anyway, it’s the thought that counts and the meaning behind kintsugi makes it worth the mess! Read more
I have done numerous projects and love the extent the gold powder stretches to. I'm not even being frugal with it! It's such a great meditation practice to do these repairs on things that I break (usually on purpose) :) Can't wait to re-up. I get better with practice! Read more
I have to take responsibility for this lower rating. Delivery was quick, and the product is as shown.However, for some reason, I expected a much larger box. This is part of a wedding present. And it does not feel like a wedding present Again I accept responsibility for this. The product is exactly as shown. My faulty expectations were larger. Read more
