alt.hn

3/21/2026 at 3:07:29 PM

Ju Ci: The Art of Repairing Porcelain

 https://thesublimeblog.org/2025/03/13/ju-ci-the-ancient-art-of-repairing-porcelain/

by lawrenceyan

3/23/2026 at 11:55:18 PM

Wow - beautiful.

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.

by nickcw

3/23/2026 at 11:46:11 PM

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”.

[0] intentional human use of an em-dash

by numlocked

3/23/2026 at 11:49:26 PM

For others interested, perhaps a more straightforward example is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGHkigtPcIA

The one in the article is the same essential technique (structurally speaking), but with a lot more decorative flourish.

by interroboink

3/23/2026 at 11:49:03 PM

"intentional human use of an em-dash" LOL

by flyrain

3/24/2026 at 12:22:16 AM

Somewhat related is Kintsugi

> 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

by x13pixels

3/24/2026 at 9:54:21 AM

It used to be a lot of them roaming in the residential area, out of necessity since household items were precious. Related is also the profession of a tinker to mend woks and pots and the scissor sharpener https://donwagner.dk/tinkers/tinkers-Zhongwen.html

Used to hear their shout in the street but largely disappeared in the 90s.

by dumb1224

3/24/2026 at 12:28:40 AM

The article mentions it -

>> But Ju ci is more than a technique; like its close cousin, Kintsugi (the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics using lacquer and gold), Ju ci embraces a profound philosophy: that of celebrating “beauty of the imperfect.”

by silisili

3/24/2026 at 9:58:38 AM

This practice also describes coding in legacy applications, but instead of a silver leaf you have // TODO: fix

by fedeb95

3/24/2026 at 2:30:44 AM

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...)

by blacksmith_tb