What’s the word for one step past kintsukuroi?

in Random Crap

In Japan there’s an art of repairing broken objects, called kintsukori.  My friend Emily McDowell explains it beautifully here:

So last night Hailey dropped one of the china plates from our wedding and there aren’t many left so I thought we could fix the plate kintsukori-style but I don’t have any extra melted gold so instead I used a glue stick and some gold puffy paint made for t-shirts and turns out it looks like shit.

But I was still really proud of it so I showed it to Victor and he was like, “It’s not even lined up correctly. And it’s still sticky” and I was like, “Yeah.  I’m not a professional ceramacist” and he pointed out that “ceramacist” isn’t a real word, but I wouldn’t know because I just said I’m not one, Victor.  Then he was like, “Why are there scraps of paper towel glued to the back of it?” and I was like, “So that I wouldn’t get puffy paint all over the bathroom.  YOU’RE WELCOME” and he was like, “WHY WERE YOU DOING CRAFTS IN THE BATHROOM?” but honestly I think he was just upset because he was bleeding.  Did I mention he was bleeding?  Because apparently I handed him “a broken plate full of sharp, jagged edges.”

And then I got mad because he didn’t appreciate my art and he was bleeding on it, and then he was like, “Maybe you should drop it again” and so I huffed out of his office and I accidentally stepped on Ferris Mewler and when he meowed angrily at me it scared me and I did drop the plate but it totally didn’t break BECAUSE I FIXED IT SO GOOD. And Victor was like, “What is happening out there?” and I yelled, “THE CAT IS UPSET BECAUSE HE THINKS WE’RE GETTING A DIVORCE, AND NOW THIS PLATE IS IMMORTAL” and then Victor decided to lock his office door for the rest of the day.

This might look classier if my wedding china wasn’t the brightest color in the world but in my defense it was the 90’s and it was on sale at Service Merchandise.

228 thoughts on “What’s the word for one step past kintsukuroi?”

Read comments below or add one.

  2. Kintsukori sounds like a nice idea, but I have a feeling it’s much like the Feng Shui ruse. Rearranging furniture and hot-gold-gluing ceramics aren’t very Zen activities, in my ‘pinion.

  3. I hate it when I don’t have any melted gold laying around. I like it, clearly Victor has no appreciation for creative genius, beauty is pain.

    (If I knew my neighbors and didn’t hate talking to people I would’ve gone next door and asked to borrow a cup of melted gold. I think that’s how neighbors work. ~ Jenny)

  4. All you need to do is fill it in with sticky tacky glue and let it dry, then paint the cracks with gold paint. It’ll be gorgeous. You’ve already done the hard part.

  12. It kind of looks like a plate full of multicolored man parts. I didn’t even notice it was broken.

    (I will never see this plate the same again. ~ Jenny)

  13. It has been a week; I really needed that laugh. Long live the immortal plate….although I guess the immortal part already implies the long life.

  16. I totally think that the repaired cracks improve the plate. Improving show love, it’s a fact, Jack!

  17. Ceramicist is totally a word. I know because I took one whole pottery class.

  20. You make me laugh out loud and please thank Victor for his blood sacrifice, and Dorothy Mewler, too, because I know being stepped on hurts, especially if you’re a cat. ❤️

  24. Service Merchandise! That’s a blast from the past.

    (RIGHT? And you couldn’t buy what you saw on the shelf. You get that piece of paper with the name of the thing you saw on the shelf to take to the front to show the cashier what you want and then they go look for it somewhere no one else can go? That was such a weird business model. ~ Jenny)

  25. I love you so much, Jenny. And i think your wedding china is beautiful and you did a lovely job fixing it.

  26. Gold paint over the cracks, or silver if you want a contrast so Victor can appreciate what made the plate immortal!

  28. Let’s focus on the important thing: YOU IMBUED THE PLATE WITH IMMORTALITY. Or maybe Victor’s life force entered it when he bled. Either way.

  32. Ha! I’m broken so I need gold. I’m telling my husband that. Feed me gold to fix my OCD! But in the form of jewelry, because I’m not eating gold because it’s a waste of good gold. And emeralds and other gems, just because…

  33. I had a tattoo over a damaged part of my leg that reads “more beautiful for having been broken” based on this Japanese belief!

  34. I’ve been taking pottery classes for four years now, which means I have a whole attic full of stupid, useless, ugly crap that no one wants, including little tiny ceramic models of The Marx Brothers.
    Anyway the woman who teaches the class makes a living making and selling ceramics. She’s a professional ceramacist. I’m going to share this with her and I’m sure she’ll back you up on it.

  36. The last time my son tried to ‘fix’ something he epoxied the glass dish to the centre of our furnace room floor. He didn’t even use glitter (partly because I banned it from the house after the great glitter disaster of 2006). Victor should be thankful for the paper towel and the gold. He doesn’t know how good he has it.

  37. “New” things are over-rated. Re-use! Fix! I love going to second-hand places. Stuff that was made 20 years ago is of better quality than the mass-produced stuff of today.

  39. Motherfucker I keep laughing and the entire office is going to think I’m crazy

  40. It screams the 90’s! I love it! Sorry Victor got injured on the amazing plate (I feel like that should be a reality show). Sometimes the best things in life come from some pain and sacrifice, VICTOR! At least it was paper towels and not something else like accidental cat fur or Ferris Mewler would be filing for emancipation.

  43. I fully expect that you’ll now receive crate fulls of these plates from your loyal readers.

  44. Well I certainly think “ceramacist” is a word because I take care of my plants & refer to myself as a “plantologist.”

  45. 1) The cracks and puffy gold actually somehow ADD to the beauty of the plate.
    2) How great is it that Hailey is now a part of your wedding memories?
    3) Now I’m longing for the good old days when you could walk into a Service Merchandise to get everything from engagement rings and wedding china to a chainsaw and lawnmower! Plus, if Service Merchandise was still around, I’ll bet they’d have shelves full of bottled melted gold you could buy for just such occasions!
    4) Awesome realization that my house isn’t filled with ‘broken junk’, but rather tons of Japanese culture!

  46. I think it looks great Jenny. 🙂 One step past kintsukuroi is Vision! xoxo

  47. Jenny,
    My favorite quote from ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ : From a woman who had endured a lot of trauma in her life- “Put me down easy, Janie. I’m a cracked plate.”
    We are need a bit more tenderness.
    Just discovering you. Have all your books. Sending much love.

  48. I remember Service Merchandise 🙂 Also, I think it turned out pretty well.

  50. I bought so many things at Service Merchandise. I used to wander around with that little slip of paper and just write down all the numbers and then wait for it to come down the conveyor belt. I miss that.

  52. That was a frikken hilarious and well written blog! Mahalo my beautiful cracked friend!! 😊

  54. Victor just doesn’t understand your genius. I love the bright colors of the plate. And yes, you should have knocked on your neighbor’s door to ask for a cup of molten gold. I’d have loved to see their faces when you explained why you needed it. You’re awesome and don’t you forget it.

  55. Ceramicist is a real word! And a real job! It is spelled with 2 i’s and not 2 a’s though, so spellcheck is just doing a shit job as usual.

  56. Isn’t this just part of the fashion for “distressed” décor? You’ve antiqued it, which just makes it more classy.

    Also, I haven’t thought of Service Merchandise for years. When did it go away?

  60. Can you come over and fix me, too? I don’t wanna be immortal, just put back together.

  61. I love it when people respond so positively to your hilarious blogs. Can I pretend the comments are addressed to me as well?? It must be so nice. 😄💗

  62. Oh my gosh! I had forgotten about Service Merchandise! That was such a great store, you could get just about anything there.

  63. It’s like IKEA took the Service Merchandise model and said, “Oh, hell no. You write down the little number on a piece of paper, and then you go find it your own damn self. And be sure to pick up some Swedish meatballs and a toilet brush on your way out.”

  64. You can have the word “ceramicist” actually – it’s sometimes used for an archaeologist who specialises in the study of pottery. Thought you’d like to know 🙂

  65. First, I LOVE that you have wedding China, and that it’s super bright.
    Second, I think your repair job is fantastic! I had to zoom way in to see it. Gold leaf, gold puffy paint, who cares as long as it does the job?
    Rock on with your ceramacist self.

  67. I think your China is right back in style and pretty! I forgot all about Service Merchandise, but now I miss them! 😉

  69. Aaaaand Victor is wrong — yet again. 😉

    I love the concept of Kintsukuroi. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough gold in the world. That being said, I’d totally lend you a cup of gold if you came over and asked me for one.

    P.S. I love those bright colors. Does the fruit looks a little…um…er…masculine? Ahem. 0.o Just me? Alrighty, then.

  72. Maybe the universe was trying to tell you something when the plate broke.

  73. First, Jenny, you crack me up, as does Victor.

    Second, I actually really like the plate, cracked and broken yet fixed up by you. It has character and I almost feel like it belongs in a China cabinet, you know? On one of those plate holders. And now it has a story to go with it, which makes a great conversation starter. 😉

  74. seriously, victor? you’re really sending mixed messages here. if you hate it so much why did you perform the ceramacists ritual of blood blessings over it.

  75. There’s a gold metallic polymer clay out there that would probably work if there’s a next time. And if you’re anywhere near as clumsy as I am, there will always be a next time.

  76. I am feeling so utterly broken today…thanks for lifting me up a bit;)
    *red bumms, blue bumms, every where a bummm

  77. i can’t get enough of you and i read all blogs and buy your books. i may have to come live with you. Or just move in across the street and buy binoculars and stare at your house all day. THAT’s how much i love you. (i just shared this post on the HappyCatastrophy FB page…hope all 5 of my followers find you.

  78. Hey! It’s great work!
    Actually in kintsukuroi, ceramics are repaired with lacquer mixed with gold flecks, so not that far from glue and mixed with glitter!

    Should your… unusual repair… not stand the test of time for any reason, and you still want to keep your plate, let me know. I’m an art conservator (“professional ceramic repairer”) I’ll fix it for you, free of charge (well, you’ll need to ship it), just because you are a wonderful person. Not real kintsukuroi, but close enough.

    Cheers!

  79. I think it looks great, so give that plate its rightful place of honor on the shelf. Puffy gold paint seems about right for Service Merchandise, don’t you think? Who can afford molten gold these days, anyway?

  80. Omigawd, this post made my day! And, so weird, I just heard about that art of healing broken objects last night on Man In the High Castle! Coincidence, I think not. Been feeling broken lately, and all this perspective on highlighting the fractures makes me feel better somehow. Now, time for some chocolate to go with that smile you gave me☺ Thanks, Jenny♡

  82. I just threw out all of my cracked bowls and plates. WHY, UNIVERSE, WHY? The answer is: more Jenny, and sooner.

  84. You could come to my house. I have a jar of gold leaf paint. It’s wonderful. Also I have a gold leaf pen. Also good, but it has a funny tip and I’m not as good with it as I am a tiny paint brush. You can be my neighbor and I will talk to you and share my melted gold. Paint. share my gold paint. whatever.

    I ruined my daughter’s prom dress by putting it too close to an iron. I wanted to fix it with gold paint, but she made me buy her a new one. I don’t think she understood that the gold paint would make it better. I should have fixed it so she could see, but it didn’t really fit right and I was going to have to alter it. Any dress that melts when an iron thinks about getting close has got to be a royal pain to alter so I win.

  85. Blue balls right in the middle of the plate. Totally need to tell Victor that he eats off of blue balls 😆. Love you to pieces, keep on doing what you do.

  89. Good news – I have a ring from Service Merchandise and it’s gold. If you were my neighbor and knocked on my door, I’d let you have it but you would have to molten it yourself.

    Bad news – You’re not my neighbor.

    I think the plate looks lovely. Art appreciation is clearly not Victor’s strong suite.

    I miss Service Merchandise.

  91. You might check Replacements(dot)com for your pattern if you need to replace broken dishes. You’d be surprised what they carry. I got a replacement salad plate for a Dillard’s pattern that’s been discontinued since 2012 and it didn’t cost all that much.

  92. E6000 or Goop glue from Home Depot or Amazon plus gold leaf from a big hobby store like Michaels will do it. I use the glue for a lot like fixing a toilet seat, gluing back my rear view mirror that I whacked off to nailing down my lizards hammock

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

  99. It looks AMAZING! You truly are an artist and actually give a shit about good memories even if Victor doesn’t!
    Beautifully broken, Jenny! Beautifully!

    (We’ll be married for 27 years in a few short days and that doesn’t seem to mean all that much to the Hubs. I don’t think he really likes me very much. : (

  100. My daughter gave me these beautiful, tall African Women dolls that I totally loved but then The Viking knocked them off the Shelf of Beloved Items and both of them lost their heads. Both. Like they were Guillotined. Once I finished crying because they were just the latest Beloved Items The Viking accidentally killed (I was only barely over my Toadal Yoga frog massacre), I tried Supergluing their head(s) back on but that looked like shit so I stuck some beads on and they look….well…..not Pre-Guillotine awesome, but pretty close. I made The Viking put my Shelf of Beloved Items up very high so he won’t accidentally hit it when he’s swinging his damned battle axe.

  101. If it got broken it means it was getting used and enjoyed! It’s even better with the puffy paint because: story! 🤘The

  102. So if Beyoncé ever breaks, she needs to be kinstukori’d to knock fucking gold knock motherfucker again at Victors door. Art is beauty Victor, art is beauty.

  104. I want immortal dishware! Plus, the idea of preserving the history of an item as part of it’s inner beauty is such a wonderful way of looking at it that I hope I haven’t killed so many brain cells with gin and tonic that I can remember this next time I break something!

  105. I love the way you think Jenny. This gave me a smile today when I needed it. Thank you

  107. I friggin LOVED Service Merchandise. Saved up forever to buy myself an opal pendant when I was like 11.

  113. and I see somebody’s blue-jeaned butt, while they lean over to pull a weed out of the garden. You invented a damned rorshak test, however you spell that.

  114. Geoff and I are driving in the car and I read this post to him. I think it speaks to how much we love Game of Thrones and how old we are that we both had the same thoughts in roughly the same order:

    1) Melted gold can be really useful to keep around the house, especially if you have to deal with a pesky brother in law. Also good for ceramic repairs.
    2) An Immortal Plate that Victor bled on? Totally Blood Magic. And Jenny has that red dress…
    3) Service Merchandise, oh yeah. So weird but oddly satisfying.

    I think it looks great. Tell Victor that since it is now a family heirloom and possibly a prop from an HBO show that he’s not allowed to use it.

  115. My husband’s friend has a tendency to break stuff. After my husband told him about kintsukori, he now says “I’m not clumsy, I just have a Japanese aesthetic!” Apparently his wife isn’t very impressed by this though.

  116. Haha. I worked at Service Merchnadise for 8 years. The only one in Vermont. We were swamped all the time.
    I love how you and Victor fight. And that you allow us to be amused by it. Thank you! Xoxo

  118. The comments here are not BETTER than your blog but a pretty close second! Both always make me smile! 😀 Thank you all!!!

  119. Gluing should be an art form in and of itself. Gold glue guns are the future!

  121. The plate is even prettier now (although I can’t unsee a plate of man parts). It now has a story that Hailey can pass on to her children, who will be amazing just like her.

  122. I bought 2 copies of your new book by accident because I did something wrong when I ordered what I thought was one. However, this has worked out beautifully for me. I am coloring in the one book, and I keep the other in the basement. That way when I rest when I am working out, I can read a page or two and exercise my mind. My mistake turned into a good move after all!

  123. Okay, I don’t know what Victor’s problem is here. You can use this possibly toxic and definitely stabby plate for guests you don’t like now. YOU’RE JUST HELPING.

  128. Omg I’m laughing so hard. I really think Farris mewler was just mad because Victor was so mean. Come on bleeding on your work is mean. That plates like you broken but tuff and indestructible with a little shiny gold that will cut a bit** if their mean.

  129. In the Christian tradition, God doesn’t fix brokenness so that it never happened, but transforms the broken one so that it is better than it was. That’s what you did with the plate. It ain’t easy, but you’re the Bloggess and you rock!

  131. I remember that Service Merchandise was the provider of all the “lovely” prizes that Wheel of Fortune winners had to spend their winnings on, way back in the day, and that there was always a ceramic dalmatian about three feet tall among the prizes, because who wouldn’t want to go on TV and win a ceramic dalmatian? Then the SM stores started popping up and they were awesome too, but they weren’t the first in our area to do that whole “take the tag number to the counter” thing; we had Best stores for that first where I grew up. So that was old news by the time SM came around.

    And I will never be able to look at your plates the same way again either after reading the comment about the man parts.

  132. A story to tell the grandkids, for certain! I love that instead of fussing at your baby for breaking that plate, you turned it into a creative family memory. And since it is now IMMORTAL, it will be treasured for generations!

  133. Damn, Jenny. I have been so broken the last couple of days. And this is so what would happen if someone was dumb enough to give me a…um…THINGEE of gold puffy paint. What does gold puffy paint even COME in? I’m crying here. And now I want some gold puffy paint and to break things.

  134. Oh yeah, I would totally do that. I needed the laugh! Good boss left the company. misogynist aspergers boss is left, trying to activate a damn phone that needs to be off but is updating it self – I feel old and useless, as my Mom would say. But the laugh made my day!!

  135. Are you aware that the center of this plate features a navy blue butt? Because that seems significant to me, and it is totally overlooked here. Just sayin’.

  137. I especially like the blue scrotum in the middle of the plate. But the orange butts aren’t bad.

    Am I the only one seeing this?

  138. They don’t actually use real gold to repair things in Japan, just gold paint to make it look like gold. And, of course, every person in Japan who breaks something doesn’t bother to repair it at all, let alone with gold-looking stuff. HOWEVER the concept is very, very Japanese, and it is a really good concept.

    I think the plate looks cool. Just maybe add a little more gold (paint) and you are good to go.

    AND thanks for reminding me of this very cool concept, which I remember loving when I learned about it a few years ago but had forgotten, so good to be reminded once again that
    BROKEN DOES NOT MEAN UGLY OR USELESS. (I am now going to repeat this to myself several times, because I am so broken that I tend to forget).
    And, I love you very much for reminding me of that, just about every time that I come to your lovely blog. Thank you, Jenny. ♥♥♥

  139. Service merchandise WOW… I just had a flash back of waiting for that conveyor belt to bring my box around. Pure magic!

  140. I think the Japanese need to start using puffy paint too. Tell Victor he’s just jealous that he’s not a ceramicist but you’d be happy to teach him, as long as he doesn’t bleed on you when he screws up. I hope Ferris Meowler is okay and over the trauma of possible divorce. Thanks for a great laugh Jenny!

  141. This reminded me of our own smashed plates, but a different ending and a different kind of glue. My husband was having a psychotic episode. His pain goes so far back into his childhood that we can’t even trace it anymore. The paths are too dark to see clearly, peripheral terrors. Sometimes now his anxiety and pain gets so high he tips over the edge into no-man’s land. A place I can’t reach or understand, and he is so alone. This was one of those times. I desperately searched for a magic word, something to break through. I’ve learnt to scan the room in case there is anything near him that he might hurt himself with impulsively. This time he pushed all the plates off the bench and they smashed onto the floor. There was a quiet moment, a hush. I could see it in his face, so. much. pain. He wanted me to react, to push him away…begging me silently to say that’s enough…to give up and leave him so that he could just die. So you know what I did?
    I opened the drawers and got out more plates and smashed them on the floor too.
    It was unexpected, to say the least.
    He smiled. We both cracked up laughing. The magic worked, he came back to me.
    I’d smash all the plates in the world for him.
    We just had our 14th wedding anniversary, and daughter’s 4th birthday.
    I think we have some invisible molten gold.

  142. (I forgot to mention, they were dirty plates on the bench so we also didn’t have to wash them anymore. Score!).

  145. OMG, I needed that laugh so bad! Thank you through my tears (of laughter, not sadness, cuz you are so awesome and the best non-ceramicist I know.) ❤

  146. I think it’s awesome! BTW tonight was my last therapy session. I gave a copy of “You Are Here” to my therapist as a Thank You gift. She loved it and plans to purchase some for her friends!

  147. I thought it looked kind of amazing. And I like the bright colours. They’re happy colours 🙂

  153. I love you and the newly immortal plate. Although, when I first read it, I thought you’d written that it was now an immoral plate, and although I was confused by that, I accepted it as a plausible thing. I’m glad it’s immortal and not immoral.

  158. When I left work this afternoon, I was annoyed and slightly miserable because I had to deal with condescending nitwits all day. Like, I couldn’t even sing in my car. Then I read your post. Then I wasn’t miserable anymore. Thank you for this. For you. And for the level of fucking awesome, you always manage to maintain no matter what you are going through. Goddammit, I love you.

  160. I am a new reader sent my Doesn’t Speak Klingon. I love this. I think I would have just hurled it close to his head!!

  161. Reading the post, imagining white bone china with gold edges..that was a pleasant twist ending.

  162. (A) Pretty sure “ceramicist” is a word, and (B) you just described my marriage in a nutshell. Hugs.

  163. I saw this on twitter, and thought you’d written “the of knitsukoroi” and thought you’d taken up Japanese knitting, and I want to know all about it.

    WHERE IS MY JAPANESE KNITTING, JENNY?

  164. Ceramicist IS a word! (I used to work with archaeological ceramics, and sometimes at sites they call the ceramics expert “the ceramicist”).

    I just finished Furiously Happy and have been lurking on your blog for quite some time. I just want to say, thank you. That book got me through some really bad days (I’ve been in the middle of a depressive episode since June of last year, and still in it, unfortunately). I’m reading Let’s Pretend This Never Happened now, and my only wish is that I found out about your blog and your books sooner.

  166. I love things that have stories and history imbued in them. I’ve often thought of how to do the same thing without using gold. I have a kit that includes glue with gold leaf that sticks to it to use on furniture. I’ve also thought about using my embossing powder that melts with the heat gun. Puffy gold paint looks like it works to me.

  170. I like the broken things. They have more potential backstory.
    I bought a wooden lizard years ago, that had a couple of his claws snapped off, and I felt bad for him because everyone else would look and just see the broken claws and buy the more “perfect” figures, whereas I saw something unique.

  172. Jenny,

    I was up early doing paperwork and I had a punctuation question. So I looked it up on line. Found my answer but also found at the bottom of the page a link to a song that I think you may enjoy. The website is The Oatmeal and the song is “The Mother-Fucking Pterodactyl.” New concepts abound in this song and video. I hope you read this, find the video and enjoy it immensely.
    Enjoyed your plate. For some reason it was comforting to see your picture. I hadn’t thought about Service Merchandise in years. Are they still around?

    Maureen

  173. “Ferris Mewler”! (Thank you, Jenny, for posting this cat name!) (And I posted this on F@rtbook, too!)

    Hahaha! Love it, and I’m just laying this one out there in a public fashion for the next cat. No, we’re not getting a second cat because Teeny-Tiny Tiger doesn’t get on with her own species, and nothing’s wrong with Moxie that requires her replacement.

    But, somewhere down the line, another cat will come to us, and it might be male, and I’m just guessing that Per won’t want me to name the cat Testicles. No, not pronounced the way you’re thinking, unless you’re thinking of the Roman version: test-i-KLEES.

    Yeah, this also serves as just one teensy reason for my feeling relieved to not have kids.

  174. You did an outstanding job. Victor just can’t see the beauty because he was blinded by the shine of the gold puffy paint.

    I totally bought a kintsukori kit off of eBay a week or two ago. It’s shipping from overseas, but I can’t wait to give it a shot. So I bought something JUST FOR THE PURPOSE OF BREAKING IT and I AM SO EXCITED.

  175. Once again, you make me laugh and tear up (the sorta crying kind, not like the rending a garment kind) at the same time. We you Jenny! xo

  176. Good job! Can’t even tell where it broke, mostly. I remember Service Merchandise. I loved that place. Before you could get Amazon to drone drop a package at your door it was the only place you could go, pick out what you wanted from the floor and enter it in one of their green screen computers and watch it come out on a conveyer belt. And why am I talking about this like anyone would care? Oh well, I’m going to click Post Comment anyway.

  177. So I made my previous comment before I read the others. Apparently I’m not alone in my fondness for Service Merchandise. So there’s that.

  179. Actually, ceramcist is a word. It’s what you call those folks in who make crowns & stuff for your teeth.

  181. From a male perspective:
    Do they not make gold duct tape? Perhaps that’s why he was upset.

  182. Pingback: What’s the word for one step past kintsukuroi? – Whiskar Wilde

  183. I haven’t thought of Service Merchandise in years. I used to love that place! I like your china pattern.

  184. That plate just screams “Balls! It’s what’s for dinner!” Glad you’re back, Jenny!

  185. Oh Jenny! I can’t count the number of times your posts make me laugh! Thank you for reaching out despite your brokenness to the rest of us broken plates in the set. Sending you love!

  186. If Kintsukori actually worked, I’d look like freaking Shirley Eaton from Freaking Goldfinger. Only fatter….and not naked. Well, I’m occasionally naked, but only in the shower. And James Bond never shows up…even when I’m not naked and painted gold. Damn, my life sucks.

  187. I think it looks JUST GREAT. And puffy paint was an inspired choice. I have a smile on my face…also the news that my dogs did NOT eat the lunch I made to take to work which I left on the counter and my friend next door went over and saved it and now I can eat it for dinner instead. It’s a good morning after all. I too remember Service Merchandise. There were at least two in Memphis.

  190. Wow…Testicle China. That would be bloody awesome.

    The whole repairing cracked ceramics with gold stuff idea is a LOT harder than it sounds. And I think the china has to be pretty thick for it to work, but I could be wrong. Usually it’s more satisfying and worth your time to smash it up into smaller pieces, then wire it all together with some bent up forks and other silverware to make a classy wind chime. You can hang it next to that wine bottle tree that everyone thinks looks so cool but just loudly proclaims that you lack the ability to turn down that third glass of chardonnay.

  191. You could try using hot glue and faux gold leaf, or just even glue it then “paint” over the glue with gold nail polish. LOL

  192. I study chado – Japanese tea ceremony – and there is one month in the year in which we can use broken and repaired pieces like this (also known as kintsugi) (I believe it’s February, it’s been blur of a year so far…)The idea behind use of these items is appreciation of the fact that something can be broken, repaired, and still both beautiful and useful. There are highly valued kintsugi items that are hundreds of years old and are still in use today. If done correctly, the repair can be stronger than the original piece.

    BTW, you can buy kintsugi kits with lacquer and gold; one source for these is etsy.

  193. I love this post! kintsukori is actually the conceptually theme of my blog. I’ve connected being a southern belle to being a broken bell mended with precious experiences and knowledge.

  200. If I’d had wedding china, it totally would have looked like that. Of course, if I’d had wedding china it all would have been smashed by now and not on accident because it would have turned into divorce china last year, which is not a concept I would buy into. Into which I would buy. Whatever.

  203. I used to have a collection of plates illustrated with plums, which I always, always thought of as testicles and wicked ceramicists. Because how could you not?

  204. Love it…It actually looks MUCH better than the written description implied. Also more Victor conversations please–they crack me up!!

  205. Jenny,
    you are so funny and make me laugh continually! I am reading your first book now and laughing through the whole thing, which I needed because I am going through some serious health issues. This book has taken my mind off it while I wait for results. good news, i don’t have cancer. bad news, they don’t know what the f*ck I have. anyway, i’m happy that I get to read your book!! BTW, you were living in Pearland at the same time I was. I always wanted to meet you. You are an inspiration! Keep doing what you do!
    PS: I’m a very talented graphic designer, so if you ever need help in that area, let me know! 🙂
    Phyllis Gillentine in Houston

  206. I LOVE your plate. Its unique, and even more so broken and fixed, and I think it looks cool and you did a damn good job considering you didn’t have hot melted gold and you’re not a ceramicist. Love you too.

  207. I feel like this sums up my life lately. Also, bathroom crafts are the best crafting places with their wipeabke surfaces and plentiful water supplies. Clearly Victor needs to craft more 🤣

  209. Your wedding china would have looked awesome in the kitchen I decorated in the early 90s. Green countertop and all!

    The puffy paint was a stroke of genius. I bet it would keep the plate from sliding around. You know. If you lived on a boat.

  210. I think it’s beautiful…far more beautiful than my own wedding china which has pictures of unicorns on it. Because I’m a weirdo. LOL

  211. Oddly, it works. The plate actually looks — or at least photographs — pretty damn pretty! Also, this is my favorite post this year. Kintsukuroi has been my mantra for the past effing 10 years. <3

  214. I was intoduced to kintsukori by a therapist when I was going through chemo. The idea of finding beauty in the broken has saved me so many times.

  216. I LOVE your wedding china! Mine was similar (wedding in 1999) except from Pier 1 and I only got 4 pieces of it because I didn’t so much “register” as “told a few people I wanted some fruity plates from Pier 1”. I still have the turkey platter, though! That piece there doesn’t look dish-washer safe any more but it DOES look like it should be hung on the wall with an awesome caption under it. Something about “broken” and “sparkly” really being the same thing, sometimes.

  217. Also, mosaics are a good alternative….cover a bird bath, paving stone, garden bench….path…..sculpture….keep all the broken pieces & make something new.

  218. That is incredibly beautiful, I definately want to give this a try the next time I break something.

  219. Pingback: What’s the word for one step past kintsukuroi? - Hybird Spinner News

  220. Haha I was expecting the plate to look hideous but it’s kind of working for me. (Which is good, given its newly indestructible status ;-p)

  221. Jenny you are so funny you always make me smile! I thought of you yesterday when I was loading a file into my genealogy program and when it came to my family it told me I was an error. It said I was born too long after that last child that I was going to be a problem and that I should probably go look for the missing children. :O What the sam hill!!! My sister agreed with the program that I was trouble and I am wondering when they put confused brains into genealogy programs. Granted eons ago women had 17 children and thought nothing about it but come on! Sadly my mother tried to have more between my brother and I but it didn’t work out and then I finally came along. Bless her for keeping trying and raspberries to that mean program!!!! 😀 I do hope your feeling better. Bette

  222. Pingback: What’s the word for one step past kintsukuroi? « Fribliss

  224. OK, I have a scale from Service Merchandise and I spend more time with it than I do with my dishes. LOL Second, I wonder if you could do this with a hot glue gun and GLITTER GLUE. Or a soldering gun so the streaks look silvery? Either way, you MUST run out and get hot melter gun thingies. STAT.

  225. I think it’s fair to say that “THE CAT IS UPSET BECAUSE HE THINKS WE’RE GETTING A DIVORCE, AND NOW THIS PLATE IS IMMORTAL” is quite possibly the best sentence ever to be included in a blog.

  226. Im just catching up on a few posts, and when i started reading this one, i had stop for a second, and wonder, What happened to the rest of the china? Lol. You said there wasnt much of left. I thought this post needs additional information, hehe. Also, Thank You Jenny for talking out in the open about mental illness. Im shunned in my small town for having some issues. Its refreshing to know its not stigmatized all over!

  227. So, literally one day after I read this I hit my new favorite mug (it has a metal chicken and KNOCK KNOCK on it) on the edge of the sink and chipped and cracked it and now it leaks
    :(…..It has only taken me a month but I made it into a beautiful piece with a gold paint pen that now I keep my desk pens in. I took pictures of it but this posting thing won’t let me put it up. Jenny, let me know if you want the pics or a good way to post them.

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