Beauty in imperfection! Learn the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi and understand why, in the way of kintsugi artists, broken is better than new. This is your guide to putting the pieces back together to restore broken plates, vases, and other ceramics and glass items to be even better than before. Starting with repairing a simple dent or crack, you'll gain the skills to reconstruct goblets, vases, plates, spherical objects, and statues. Transform your broken pieces and heirlooms or create new works of art and wearable art with this method. Explore kintsugi's fascinating origins in 1400s Japan, its history, and its philosophy, along with ways to push the boundaries for your creations today. As you repair ceramic and glass objects—kintsugi works both for precious and thrift-store-level items—you'll learn the traditional methods as well as modern methods not taught elsewhere. You'll soon appreciate why kintsugi is the only Japanese art form that has taken a spiritual philosophy as its very purpose.

Alexandra Kitty is an award-winning author, educator, and artist whose work has appeared in Presstime, Quill, Current, Elle Canada, Maisonneuve, Critical Review, and Skeptic. She was a relationships columnist for the Hamilton Spectator and an advice columnist for the Victoria Times Colonist. She taught language studies at Mohawk College, writing at the Sheridan Institute, communications at Conestoga College, metalwork arts at Niagara College, and art at the Dundas Valley School of Art. She was the first female recipient of the Arch Award from McMaster University, and is the author of a number of books, including Don’t Believe It!: How Lies Become News; OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism; A New Approach to Journalism; The Art of Kintsugi; and The Dramatic Moment of Fate: The Life of Sherlock Holmes in the Theatre, among others.

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“Beautifully photographed and eloquent . . . Kitty’s loving overview of this ancient Japanese tradition will appeal to many crafters, both for the aesthetic possibilities it opens up and as an art based on 'one of the most powerful and resilient beliefs: that we can triumph over catastrophe.'”

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