#dont think they had quick setting two-part epoxy glue

[alexiphanic]

Broken plate

Plate mended

I have a lot of feelings about breaking and repair.

I think about symbolically mending the world whenever I am fixing something, or mending my soul, and how I read that cleaning is a type of meditation in Japan because of how you symbolically clean your mind when you clean your environment. (I don't remotely know if that's true)

I love the idea of visible mending so much. This plate came from a zero-waste swap from someone who didn't want it to go to waste but didn't know or have the time to repair it. The mends are at least as strong as the original material. The break is not undone or camouflaged, it's happened and it is not possible to take back the breaking of a ceramic plate.

It is so healing to know that you can repair broken things, and it doesn't make them unbroken.

But it's also so disappointing to finish the work and not only is the world not mended, but this plate isn't even foodsafe any more. Our history changes us doesn't it, for better and for worse

However. It is beautiful and perhaps that's enough for now. It was enjoyable to carefully measure and apply glue and gold leaf and satisfying to turn four useless things back into one functional piece.