fandomhigh | Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

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Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

"Good morning, class," Nathan said, giving a little nod to his students and then gesturing to a selection of porcelain and ceramic dishes and vases on the table in front of them. "Today we're going to be breaking things. And then putting them back together again."

Which was a little against the spirit of the whole thing, but he'd get to that shortly.

"We're doing kintsugi today, literally golden joinery. Traditionally, it's meant to take a broken cherished item and to repair it, embellishing the cracks with gold as a means of showing its history and embracing the beauty of it. So it's somewhat counter to the point when I do something like this..."

Yes. Yes, that was Nathan picking up a vase and smashing it on the floor.

It was a nice catharsis, though. He continued talking as he picked up the pieces and arranged them back into some rough semblance of the vase they once were.

"The traditional method also takes about a week to dry completely before we can even move on to the next step, and anybody who has a broken item they'd like to repair the proper way is welcome to come and ask me about the process any time. But, as this is our final class, and it's significantly shorter than twelve days long, we're going to cheat some more."

This actually kind of pained him. But for a high school art class, he figured that so long as he was being straightforward about this stuff, he'd at least done due diligence. He held up a tube of epoxy glue and a small container of gold dust. The process itself wasn't so different, really. It was the materials that were somewhat improvised.

"We start by mixing some of the gold dust into the adhesive until it's evenly distributed throughout. Then we paint it onto either side of our break, press together, and hold until dry." A pause. "We'd be finding some other way to hold the pieces together if we were using the more traditional adhesives, like tonoko powder or rice flour. We already know that Japanese art often values patience, but a line has to be drawn for holding the pieces together for an entire week. Today, a couple of minutes should suffice. While the glue is still sticky, but not quite wet, we'll brush some more gold dust over it to add a bit more shine. Again, traditionally, we'd be adding another thin layer of our adhesive before adding more dust, but since our method today is significantly less time-consuming and we can catch it before it's completely dry, there's not much need. Today, most of the time we'll be taking will be in holding each piece together while it dries before moving on to the next, depending on how thoroughly broken your dish or vase is."

So, they were missing both a sentimental connection to their items and the traditional adhesives for this process. But in the end, at least what they'd have would be pretty. So they had that going for them.

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A little broken.

Khadgar

Merrill

In which Nathan explains about the process of repairing a cherished item before breaking a vase he got at a thrift store on Wednesday.

And then glues it together using epoxy.

A few corners were cut today, okay?

Take a ceramic or porcelain piece from the table and, oops, drop it on the floor or chuck it at a wall or something, depending on how thoroughly broken you want it. This part isn't really traditional, but unless you have a broken dish in your room that you want to run and get, it's the only way you're going to get something to then repair.

Then mix the adhesive with some of the gold, paint it onto the cracked pieces, and glue them together before dusting more gold on to really make those breaks shine.

We aren't using rice flour for this part because there's no way we'd be able to finish in time. Besides that, the process more or less hits the same beats, less some sanding before gluing on the extra gold dust and about eight to twelve days of waiting around before going on to the next step.

Khadgar had picked up that part of the point of this was to therapeutically break something, but he didn't have it in him to smash anything really hard. It just seemed... disrespectful to do in front of a teacher. So, he picked up a plate and dropped it, then dropped the pieces until he had a few pieces to glue back together.

The gold adhesive did look awfully pretty as he mixed it, which made him feel better.

Right, so when Merrill picked up a small porcelain vase and turned it over in her hands, trying to work up the willpower to actually break it, it -- slipped from her fingers and crashed on the floor.

So that worked out.

She seemed utterly charmed by the concept of kintsugi, though, and worked on putting the pieces back together with a singleminded focus that was almost a little bit scary, to tell the truth.

He's here, carefully repairing his vase. That one that he's utterly attached to, honest.

Hannibal stuck his head in curiously, then came over to watch. "Kintsugi today, then?"

"The faster, less traditional version," Nathan agreed, smiling up at Hannibal. "The version that doesn't involve breaking something you're actually attached to, as well. Thrift stores were my best friend while I was preparing for this lesson."

Really, the students were lucky that Nathan had actually procured gold dust for this, instead of just dipping into the school's glitter supplies.

Hannibal nodded. "I've always rather hoped broken things would come together on their own, with the right sort of prodding." He chuckled. "But there's a beauty to the damaged and repaired, with the right material in the cracks."

"It helps that porcelain doesn't quite work that way," Nathan added, smiling wryly. "But yes, there's something about acknowledging that history, to noting that the repairs have managed to make something more intriguing, more beautiful. It makes this particular art one that I'm quite fond of, even if I'm not exactly a professional."

"You don't have to be a professional to appreciate the beauty of broken and mended things," Hannibal said.

"True enough," Nathan allowed. "One really only needs good taste, or an understanding of the challenges inherent in affecting a good repair, to manage that."

To make it beautiful and functional was a challenge unto itself.

"This looks...potentially traumatic," Steve ventured.

Well, that was an interesting opening line. It got a curious glance from Nathan, and even a raised eyebrow.

"How do you mean?"

Not everybody in the room had the potential to shatter a pottery item to dust by chucking it at a wall, Steve.

"What if there's nothing left to put back together?" Steve wondered.

"Then you pick up another one, and instead of throwing it, just let gravity do the work for you," Nathan suggested. "There's more than one way to break a bowl."

Some far more effective than others, granted.

"So this really isn't about throwing as catharsis?" Steve, breaker of giant punching bags and sometimes aliens, checked.

"I'm mostly certain it's more about putting the thing back together after it's been broken," Nathan agreed, smirking faintly. "But if you had your heart set on the catharsis, there are a few more vases than we actually needed. You're welcome to break any we don't end up using."

Sometimes you just had to smash things. He could appreciate that.

Steve smiled. "I can understand the art behind trying to put something back together, too."

He'd been working on it in terms of personal growth for a few years now. He didn't think his cracks were filled with gold, though.

"Then there, maybe that's something else this is all meant to teach you," Nathan offered. "Besides patience, I mean."

"I learned patience last week," Steve said teasingly.

Nathan had to chuckle at that.

"Fair enough," he allowed. "So, are you going to break something, then? Or am I going to have to do it for you?"

He wasn't really in the mood to clean up ceramic dust, anyway.

"I'll break something carefully," Steve decided. "Not like Thor. Or Hulk."

...Steve had fairly violent friends, now that he thought about it.

It was funny; Thor and Hulk were the Avengers that Nathan hadn't met. What with him being the Thor stand-in for the Fandom Avengers, and Tyler playing the role of Hulk.

... That said, Nathan's friends had their fair share of violent tendencies, too.

"We'd like to still have some of it left when you're finished, ideally," he agreed, smirking. "I have faith in you, Steve. Last week you learned patience. This week, let's give moderation a try."

"Have you seen Space Battles?" he asked. "I'm going to start wondering why your grammar isn't weird if you keep up with the wise mentor thing."

He grinned. "Let's try the moderation. I can always go back to the other thing, right?"

"I've heard that the swords glow," Nathan supplied, helpfully. "But I haven't seen much in the way of movies, really."

Being even further out of touch with the present day than Steve was tended to have that effect on a guy.

"Go on, let's see what you've got. If there are too many pieces to put it back together, we'll just keep going until you get it right."

Nathan had picked up plenty of pottery.

And not being roommates with Tony, who took Steve's pop culture ignorance as a personal insult.

Steve picked out a vase and gave it a little shake. "Maybe if I just drop it instead of throw it?"

"That might work out better for the vase," Nathan agreed, smirking faintly. "If it doesn't break enough, just drop it again, maybe from higher."

Steve put it up over his head, then tossed it towards the ground.

...that was a lot of pieces, Steve.

...

"I think we have enough glue for that," Nathan said, after a few seconds of staring at the damage.

"...that's going to be a lot of glue," Steve said. "Sorry."

"There's a reason I bought twenty for a class of two," Nathan pointed out with a shrug as he pulled himself up to his feet and went to grab the broom he'd brought for this lesson. "It happens. Once I get this out of the way," he started sweeping the bits into a pile off to the side, "go ahead and try again."

Really, learning how to not break everything was a fairly important life skill, too.

If she's about!

I'd be that person who cheats with the epoxy glue too, not gonna lie.

Heck, I think Hannibal would be the type to epoxy it.

Especially now that he has cats. >.>

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Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

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Lecture

Kintsugi

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