lieuz
Chumono
I have quite a few small pots break on me through the years. IKEA was the last straw and pushed me off the fence and into action. I got some dinnerware delivered and a good 20% of the plates that came were broken. I got them replaced, they sent me more than what I ordered, but some still broke. That was when I said, OK, I need to try to repair these pieces, bonsai pots included. My pots that are broken range in value but they all have sentimental value.
I have done some research and I'm a traditionalist and wanted to go the route of lacquer over epoxy. It definitely takes a ton of time, much longer than epoxy; but, I want it to be a natural approach.
Here's the broken piece, you can see the hairline break.
The two pieces side by side.
Cross section of one piece. The sides were sanded down and the edges were filed down to allow for better infilling for structural support.
Cross section of the other.
The piece put back together with mugi-urushi (adhesive lacquer).
Bottom view.
Note the oozing out of the mugi-urushi. Oozing is good at this stage.
3 weeks later, the mugi-urushi is removed. I have learned, I should probably mask the area around the break point as the lacquer left a stain.
Side view, note how the oozed out lacquer left unfilled cracks. The next step is to infill those spaces with sabi-urushi.
View of the other side. The the joinery line is quite faint because of the scraping off of the mugi-urushi.
A week later, I applied the joined area with sabi-urushi to infill the small cracks. Note the stain, I will need to test sanding to see if I can remove the stain.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** A few days after the sabi-urushi was applied, I cleaned off the infill with sand paper and a utility knife. It seems the sandpaper does remove stains. Note the clean surface afterwards.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** Note how much darker the fault line is and how the cracked/chipped locations took so much more of the infilled lacquer.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** View from the other side, fault line is much darker.
I'm getting closer to the finishing steps. I will perform 1 more application of the infilling of sabi-urushi. Then I'll polish/sand with a piece of binchotan.
For those who are more knowledgeable, is it generally OK for kintsugi bonsai pots to be put back into use if lacquer is the choice of adhesive? I know that for dinnerware, plates are encouraged to not be put in the dish washer or be submerged for prolonged periods of time. Thoughts?
I have done some research and I'm a traditionalist and wanted to go the route of lacquer over epoxy. It definitely takes a ton of time, much longer than epoxy; but, I want it to be a natural approach.
Here's the broken piece, you can see the hairline break.
The two pieces side by side.
Cross section of one piece. The sides were sanded down and the edges were filed down to allow for better infilling for structural support.
Cross section of the other.
The piece put back together with mugi-urushi (adhesive lacquer).
Bottom view.
Note the oozing out of the mugi-urushi. Oozing is good at this stage.
3 weeks later, the mugi-urushi is removed. I have learned, I should probably mask the area around the break point as the lacquer left a stain.
Side view, note how the oozed out lacquer left unfilled cracks. The next step is to infill those spaces with sabi-urushi.
View of the other side. The the joinery line is quite faint because of the scraping off of the mugi-urushi.
A week later, I applied the joined area with sabi-urushi to infill the small cracks. Note the stain, I will need to test sanding to see if I can remove the stain.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** A few days after the sabi-urushi was applied, I cleaned off the infill with sand paper and a utility knife. It seems the sandpaper does remove stains. Note the clean surface afterwards.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** Note how much darker the fault line is and how the cracked/chipped locations took so much more of the infilled lacquer.
**TOP PICTURE IS AFTER, BOTTOM PICTURE IS BEFORE** View from the other side, fault line is much darker.
I'm getting closer to the finishing steps. I will perform 1 more application of the infilling of sabi-urushi. Then I'll polish/sand with a piece of binchotan.
For those who are more knowledgeable, is it generally OK for kintsugi bonsai pots to be put back into use if lacquer is the choice of adhesive? I know that for dinnerware, plates are encouraged to not be put in the dish washer or be submerged for prolonged periods of time. Thoughts?