Here we show you where you can buy a traditional Kintsugi repair kit for repairing ceramics, pottery or porcelain. With such an original Kintsugi Kit or Kintsugi Repair Kit original you can make the original Japanese Kintsugi yourself, namely with real Urushi lacquer and real gold.
Why do I need a Kintsugi Repair Kit?
An original Kintsugi Kit (sometimes called original Kintsugi Set), also known as an original Kintsugi Repair Kit, with which the original Japanese repair using the Kintsugi technique is possible, should contain real gold powder, clay powder, a few tools such as a narrow brush and abrasives in addition to the original Urushi lacquer of the lacquer tree. Of course, you can also buy the materials and tools you need to make Kintsugi yourself (DIY kintsugi) separately, but it is particularly practical for beginners to buy a kit.
A Kintsugi Kit (Kintsugi Repair Kit) can also include a wooden spatula, for example, to make certain filling or adhesive masses, and a water pipette to make the right mixture of these masses. Silk wadding is suitable for applying the gold powder at the end of the Kintsugi repair, which is why this is often included in a Kintsugi Kit. In addition to gold powder, silver powder can also be included in a Kintsugi Repair Kit, for example, giving you a wider range of possible colour finishes for the repair areas. For example, some glazes of the ceramics, pottery or porcelain pieces to be repaired are better suited to a silver colour than a gold colour. When deciding on the colour, however, it is important to bear in mind that there is always the possibility that silver will tarnish over time, i.e. change colour and become darker.
Buy an original Kintsugi Kit in Japan
But where to buy a Kintsugi Repair Kit? As the Kintsugi repair technique comes from Japan, there are also many suppliers of original Kintsugi Kits or original Kintsugi Repair Kits in Japan. Kintsugi Repair Kits from Japanese suppliers can be conveniently ordered online.
Kintsugi Kit with gold for beginners
The following Kintsugi Kit with gold powder is suitable for beginners, although it is essential to read the Kintsugi instructions, which are included in the Kit in English and Japanese, before starting to work with the Kit (e.g. you must wear gloves when using the urushi lacquer as it can cause allergic reactions; others also recommend wearing a protective mask when using the metal powder):
| - Ad - Original Kintsugi Repair Kit with gold for beginners | The following is included in this Kintsugi Kit:
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Kintsugi Repair Kit with gold and silver
If you want to work with silver as well as gold, you can choose the following Kintsugi Repair Kit, which contains gold and silver powder. Before starting to work with the Kit, it is essential to read the Kintsugi instructions, which are included in the Kit in English and Japanese (e.g. you must wear gloves when using the urushi lacquer, as this can cause allergic reactions; others also recommend wearing a protective mask when using the metal powder):
| - Ad. -  Original Kintsugi Kit with gold and silver | The following is included in this Kintsugi Kit:
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Kintsugi Kit food-safe
If you want to use Kintsugi to repair objects that come into contact with food, such as a cup that you drink from or a plate that you eat from, you need to make sure that the Kintsugi Kit is food-safe. In addition to the lacquer, the clay powder, any wood powder and all other materials used in the Kintsugi Repair Kit, this also applies to the question of whether the gold and/or silver used to finish the repair is food-safe.
You should always ask the supplier whether a Kintsugi Kit is food-safe if the supplier does not state this in the offer, for example by writing ‘safe to use on tableware’ or ‘food safe’.
What can be repaired with a Kintsugi Kit?
Kintsugi is a Japanese technique for repairing ceramics, pottery and porcelain pieces that are broken or cracked. Broken pieces can be glued back together using the Kintsugi method, cracks can be repaired in various ways and missing parts can be remodelled.
The remodelled areas and the break lines are then coated with urushi lacquer and, after a short wait, the gold powder or silver powder is applied for finishing.
You can see how to carry out a kintsugi repair in a kintsugi tutorial here on YouTube, for example.
Kintsugi is a very old repair technique that probably began in Japan in the 15th century AD. You can read more about the history of Kintsugi here.
Difference between traditional and modern Kintsugi
Traditional Kintsugi (original Kintsugi) differs from modern Kintsugi techniques in that modern Kintsugi uses synthetic adhesives such as epoxy glue and gold or silver-coloured powder, for example. Accordingly, when buying a Kintsugi Repair Kit, you need to pay attention to whether you are buying a traditional Kintsugi kit (also known as an original Kintsugi Kit) or a modern Kintsugi Kit.
Traditional Kintsugi uses urushi lacquer, which is obtained from the so-called lacquer tree, and real gold or real silver powder. However, it is also possible to use other metal powders in traditional Kintsugi, such as brass powder, copper powder, platinum powder, aluminium powder or bronze powder. No plastics are used in traditional Kintsugi. Instead, a mixture of water, clay powder and urushi is used as a filler to repair missing parts, for example, and a mixture of wheat flour, water and urushi is used as an adhesive to stick fragments together. Depending on the recipe, these compounds can also be combined differently. The filler can also be based on the adhesive of flour, water and urushi and then wood flour and clay powder are added.
The advantages of traditional Kintsugi Kits or original Kintsugi Kits are not only the natural raw materials, but also the possibility of removing the protruding adhesive bead after the fragments have been glued together and the adhesive has hardened. This is because one or more layers of lacquer are then applied to these glue lines, which are then finished with gold or silver powder. With many modern Kintsugi Kits, on the other hand, the adhesive beads that emerge from the break lines are left as the final result.
If you do not want to repair your ceramic, pottery or porcelain piece yourself, you can also have your ceramic repaired by our Kintsugi repair workshop.