I've mended a lot of porcelain and earthenware but I use the modern art of epoxy resin. The tricky bit is letting it set just enough so you can cut the excess off cleanly without smearing but not too much so you can't cut it all the while keeping it under enough tension.
I like the string tensioning in the video - think I'll try that on my next mend. I normally use a set of small clamps but it is difficult to get them very tight.
I watched the video at the expecting one thing and finding something completely different. Remarkable — [0] watch the video in its entirety. Not what I thought when I read “staples to repair porcelain”.
Beautiful work, but the cup can't hold water (or tea, or wine) now I assume? So a partial restoration. It does make me wonder if you could do a mechanical repair like that and then reglaze and refire it (but I suppose that'd melt most metalwork soft enough to hammer onto a delicate cup...)
Ju Ci: The Art of Repairing Porcelain
(thesublimeblog.org)109 points by lawrenceyan 21 March 2026 | 11 comments
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I've mended a lot of porcelain and earthenware but I use the modern art of epoxy resin. The tricky bit is letting it set just enough so you can cut the excess off cleanly without smearing but not too much so you can't cut it all the while keeping it under enough tension.
I like the string tensioning in the video - think I'll try that on my next mend. I normally use a set of small clamps but it is difficult to get them very tight.
[0] intentional human use of an em-dash
> Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi