Restoring broken dishes | part 2

  - What are the most interesting things you have ever revived? (For example, I saw a restored antique Christmas tree decoration in your group.)

“The important thing is that an“ interesting ”thing does not mean“ expensive ”or“ old ”at all. I had a lot of them, and each is good in its own way. For example, in the "most labor-intensive" nomination, let the bowl from the excavations, as they say, of the 12th century, with which I varnished a little more than a third of the side and painted it to my taste, win. It was painful, meditative, but beautiful. Months of sculpting, which had to be broken, then re-sculpted, then endless layers of varnish and, finally, painting. If you need a solid illustration of self-education through labor - then here it is. On one subject, I gained life and craft experience as in ten ordinary repairs.

Let there be a Starbucks mug in the Strange and Funny nomination.

It would seem, what could be more commonplace than a coffee mug with the logo of the icon of mass consumption? But her owner decided that he wanted renovation. What drove him? Caring for reasonable consumption or love for a particular item? In any case, it turned out quite ironic - a golden seam across the green mermaid.

And so was old England, XVIII-XIX centuries:

And China is old:

And Japan is relatively modern:

And France during the Paris Commune:

And the tips are varied:

Standing apart is the New Year's competition, in which people send me stories about their broken objects.

- Why dishes? Have you ever been attracted to the restoration of old dolls or house facades? Cut a sisu or a hoot?

- I think from the story of how I came to this craft, it is more or less obvious that I did not really choose. I had to fix the item for myself - and it started spinning. But working with varnish involves more than just fixing dishes. And, in general, I am already building up my repertoire: I am gradually making jewelry using the technique with shells and mother-of-pearl rankaku, raden, experimenting with lacquered wood - in fact, I only lack a woodworking machine for a full step in this direction.

- Kintsugi slowly penetrates the culture and fashion of European countries, dishes in urushi lacquer can be found in the Chichvarkin Hide restaurant or in magazines about brands and trends. What do you think, will the plastic disposable cup be replaced by something more sophisticated, practical and beautiful in the future?

- A very difficult question. On the one hand, we see a clear tendency towards a feasible rejection of plastic - a progressive coffee shop makes discounts for purchases "in its own container", it is fashionable to have a beautiful coffee mug or water bottle with an individual design. To be honest, I am already thinking, looking at my Japanese colleagues in the workshop, whether I should make such mugs out of bamboo with painting and inlay for the joy of myself and my fellow-thinkers. Water dispensers appear in cities, in some places even free ones - VkusVill announced that it will temporarily pour water up to one liter for free.

It's all awfully cute. But now we survived a pandemic (not a super-long one, I must say), and as a result, billions of disposable masks flew to the ground and into the water. What does this mean? When the question of safety arose, no one remembered about the environment.

I say “nobody” because the few who wash their reusable Chinese neoprene masks wash them with powder, which falls into the same anti-ecological piggy bank.

You can hardly take into account the disappearing minority of people who are ready to sew a mask from an old T-shirt and wash it with natural fat soap or other eco-friendly alkalis.

Or here is the blessed Japan, which so cleverly developed the Chinese kintsugi technique, the birthplace of wabi-sabi and other pink elephants. People who are obsessed with great service, cleanliness and every convenience. But what ugly forms do these good intentions take? How many different polymers do they use per unit of product? Check out the blog plasticobsessedjapan on Instagram, a photo of a strawberry in three layers of protection from there is my favorite.

Summing up the above, I see the problem as follows: plastic, like everything else disposable, is a big plus for "quick" hygiene, cleanliness and convenience. If something more environmentally friendly and just as quick comes to replace - the plastic will go away, if an analogue does not appear - the decline of the plastic era is not expected. But expecting a massive slowdown from humanity for the sake of environmental friendliness is akin to hoping for the Tiktok audience to leave for LiveJournal.

- Could you tell us about Japanese ceramics, iron and ash glaze, stapling restoration, lacquerware and Chinese fine arts?

- I can't say anything special about Japanese ceramics, except that it developed according to natural laws, like any craft. Japanese ceramics are what they are, due to the alloy of many factors - the tradition of drinking tea, the quality of clays in different regions of the country, the presence of glazes and the ability to handle stoves of varying degrees of complexity. Well, specific concepts about aesthetics have left their mark.

If you like traditional items from museums, the good news is that many private workshops in Japan still practice making the aforementioned tableware - using ash and iron glazes, as well as raku cups and the like. Thanks to the law on the protection of cultural property and the initiative of conservative artisans.

A lot of Japanese objects, both factory and private workshops, old and new, pass through my hands.

Undoubtedly, the feeling of beauty among the Japanese is very characteristic, and, despite globalization, it has been fully preserved to this day, it is pleasant.

On the question of lacquerware and not only dishes. This is a sphere adjacent to kintsugi, so to speak. The same varnish is used for the manufacture of objects, and here it has the widest range of applications. For example, purely utilitarian - you can varnish bamboo or wooden chopsticks so that they do not get wet. Of course, my wands have been varnished long ago.

It is possible to form any shape from the fabric impregnated with varnish, and, layer by layer, varnishing this structure, as a result, get the lightest and most usable vessel. There are no restrictions here - trays, armor, jewelry, dishes, furniture and everything that just comes to mind was covered with varnish. Until now, this craft is alive in its various forms. The varnish protects natural materials from decay and has excellent aesthetic properties. The traditional colors are black and red, plus metallic powders. But today, with the help of dyes, it is possible to obtain varnish of absolutely any color.

If we talk about me - yes, I do this little by little, mostly jewelry, and also varnish wooden pieces.

From this question very logically follows repair with clamps as a method of restoring ceramics. Most importantly, it is very difficult.