Mend

These are all images of a small dish I mended to hold and keep safe. It was inspired by the Japanese style of mending broken ceramics. This is Kintsugi. Traditionally gold is used giving a colour and acknowledgment of the repair done. It is not meant to be hidden. It is respect to the old and worn, they are valued. So I have stitched the broken pieces of this small dish using a golden toned thread. The fabric is all either ecodyed or as in the case of the pale blue a dip in a very depleted indigo vat.

This wee plate was always part of my memory of my mother’s collected items. She bought it during her travels in Europe when she lived and worked in London in the 1950’s. It was never used but just there. I had it in my possession for only weeks when I did something without thinking and it smashed to the floor. All I could do was pick up the pieces and place them in a box then hidden away in a drawer. So now they are united again into something special, different but held in this altered way in my memories. 

So now they are a 9 patch . Two missing pieces leaving gaps. The gaps are important because without them it would be 7 not the strength and balance of 9, 

and this is ‘where the light gets in’.