The art of precious scars.

Wabi sabi ,  the Japanese art of imperfection inspired the beautiful idea of repairing broken ceramics with golden lacquer.  First done in the 15th century the practice recognizes the history of an object and creates an enhanced beauty with careful repair using precious materials, most often gold but also silver or platinum.

To repair the broken vase I used glue and gold leaf paint.  It took a very thin layer of glue.   A steady hand for the painting would have been a plus. 

The mended scars of this simple vessel make it more a more interesting container for a bright bouquet.  The  flowers are combined with smoke bush and chartreuse spirea from the garden.  

My first time using kintsugi came out of necessity.  I had taken a few vases to Honolulu for a demonstration and this one arrived in two pieces.  We glued it together and then used gold nail polish to cover the scars.  It looked perfect with a mix of temperate and tropical  flowers.  The beautiful pink tulip anthurium are from Green Point Nursery.

A white vase is painted with gold for a kintsugi look and holds chicken wire and 12g aluminum wire covered with white stem wrap and midollino extenders covered with gold paper.

The final design holds daffodils and hellebores.  The gold paper and wire forms continue the golden painted lines. 

My kintsugi vase with the golden accents worked very well with spring flowers.    Here a line of yellow spray roses continues the golden line.

The same vase holds a tall arrangement of chrysanthemums and grevillea.

Yellow roses at the top of the gold lines emphasizes the golden repair.  

What I have learned from kintsugi  applies to more than just flowers

Wabi sabi. Embrace imperfection. 

Recycle. Use what you have.

Repair.  Mend and restore existing objects.

Learn. Take life’s challenges and learn from them.  It is these experiences that make each person unique and precious.