How to repair broken ceramic with gold keshi powder
Process Stick the pieces, fill cracks, apply lacquer, sprinkle metal powder
- Day 1: Apply a coat of basic lacquer as foundation, stick the pieces together with mugi-urushi
- Day 2: Remove extra mugi-uruhi, fill cracks or gaps with sabi
- Day 3: Polish sabi, apply a coat of basic lacquer
- Day 4: Apply bengara-urushi (red lacquer)
- Day 5: Polish with water and sand paper, apply tame-uruhi (black lacquer)
- Day 6: Polish with water and sand paper, apply bengara-urushi, sprinkle metal powder
- Day 7: Finish
(Day1)
- Use masking tape to cover any area that might get dirty during the process.
- Cut a piece of #400 sandpaper into a square around 1cm in size, fold it in 3 and polish the chipped area. Apply a layer of basic lacquer to the chipped area with a brush and gently press with a piece of tissue paper to remove extra lacquer.
- Make “Mugi-urushi”(flour & lacquer mix, used as an adhesive)
- Apply plenty of mugi-uruhi to both side of the broken piece with a toothpick or a spatula so that it squeezes out a little when the pieces are fit together.
- You can set the fitted pieces with masking tape or set it in a box with sand.
- Set the piece aside to dry for around 2 to 3 weeks.
*Left over mugi-uruhi can be kept in food wrap.
(Day2)
- When the mugi-uruhi is well dried, remove extra mugi-uruhi with a cutter or a carving knife.
- Apply sabi over the seam with a toothpick or spatula, let dry.
(Day3)
- After letting the sabi dry for over 24 hours, remove extra sabi with a cutter or a carving knife. To check if the sabi is dried, slightly scratch it with your nails and if white marks are left that means it is dried.
- Once you arranged the shape with a cutter, sand down the sabi with #800 sandpaper and water until the surface is smooth.
- When the shape is neatly arranged, apply a layer of basic lacquer to the sabi with a brush and gently press with a piece of tissue paper to remove extra lacquer.
(Day4)
- When the basic lacquer is dry, gently polish the surface with water and #800 sand paper.
- Apply bengara-urushi with a brush and let dry in a urushi-buro.
(Day5)
- When the bengara-urushi is dried, polish the surface with water and #1500 sand paper.
- Avoid discovering the sabi under the lacquer while polishing. Apply tame-urushi with a brush and let it dry.
(Day6)
- When the tame-urushi is dried, polish the lacquer surface with water and #1500 sand paper.
- After nicely polished, let’s get ready to sprinkle gold keshi powder. Apply bengara-urushi uniformly in a very thin layer.
- After applying the thin layer of lacquer, let it sit for 5-30min, when the surface of the lacquer begins to dry, sprinkle the gold keshi powder with the sprinkle brush (ashirai-kebo).
(Day7)
- When it is well dried in the urushi-buro, clean the extra gold powder and gently polish with a piece of silk cotton.
- Arrange the outline with a toothpick and the process is completed.