Kintsugi - The Golden Repair

Kintsugi is a Japanese method of repair, typically for pottery, where you fill chips, cracks, or even rejoin full breaks with gold. Not only does this allow the piece to be in service for years to come, but rather than trying to hide the repair, it is highlighted and celebrated as a part of the history of the piece. Here is an example:

The Japanese have multiple methods of visible mending in their culture; in addition to kintsugi for pottery, they also have sashiko (embroidery) and boro (patching) for textiles. I love this concept to extend the life of my items, while adding character and color. 

Having learned about kintsugi years ago, I was just waiting for an opportunity to try it out myself. Despite my reputation for klutziness, I surprisingly break few dishes! However, I do have a large wooden salad bowl that has a crack through the side of it. It's a fairly small crack that will be easy to experiment with. The offender:

I'm starting with a food-safe silicone. You can choose a product that matches the material you're working with. There are plenty of choices out there, from silicones to epoxies to resins. Just make sure if you're working on dishes that you choose something labeled as food-safe, and that you work in a good space. Most of these products will have an odor and require ventilation. If you're working on something that is just decorative, you could even use a nail polish.

Next, you'll need pigments. I had these leftover from previous craft projects - you should be able to get them where you get your medium. I have a few different shades of gold, so I'm mixing a shade.

I mix the pigments with the silicone, and then apply to the crack with a small paintbrush. This crack goes all the way through the bowl, so I work from both the inside and outside to make sure it's entirely filled. Remove any extra that lands on the surface of the bowl with a clean paper towel.

Here's how the outside now looks:

And the inside:

Now it looks more like a scratch, and when it hits the light right, you can see the gold. The main benefit here is that now I don't need to worry about food or moisture getting inside there and damaging the bowl more, or being hard to get clean.

What are some of your favorite methods for visible mending?