Easy solution. Simply use a little elbow grease to get the Gold Powder out of its cubby. Next, put your hand in the Gold Powder’s hole, grabbing on to its edges and pulling out the entire bottom foam layer. From there, you can easily pop out each of the items needed to craft your Kintsugi Bowl.

Most likely you simply need to hold the pieces together longer for the glue to set. The thicker the application of glue, the longer it will need to dry. Average set time is 3 minutes. Another reason your pieces may not be sticking together is because the ratio of the hardener and the resin in your mixture is not equal. The ratio doesn’t have to be perfect, but try to get it as equal as possible and then try joining your pieces together again.

Depending on the order you join the pieces of your bowl, you might discover that two or more of your pieces do not align the way you thought they would. Not to worry! This can be integrated into the design of your bowl. We recommend tearing off a piece of your epoxy putty, kneading it together so that the colors of the putty blend and then squishing the putty into the misaligned space. While the putty is still tacky, use your paintbrush to generously dust it with gold powder. Whoala!

Rub the alcohol pads in your kit onto the wet glue. This will remove it. Be sure to do this before the glue hardens. Once it sets, the alcohol will not remove the glue. For more information on glue first aid and removal, please read the Legal section on the footer of this webpage.

If you’re reading this before you craft your bowl, you can eliminate the “million-piece break” by dropping your bowl in its black bag from about knee height and no higher. You can accomplish this in a standing position by holding your bowl bag by its string with your arm resting along your side.
If your bowl still breaks into a million pieces, patience, young Jedi, patience.
Additionally, you may want to recruit another person to help join pieces of your drying bowl while you work on joining other pieces.

If you’re reading this before you craft your bowl, please note that you want to make small batches of glue at a time, otherwise it will harden before you can use it to join your pieces. We recommend mixing nickel-sized dollops of your hardener and resin for each batch of glue. If you still run out of glue, deep breath, all is well. Your Epoxy Putty can be used to join the pieces of your bowl together too! Simply tear off a piece of your epoxy putty, kneading it so that the colors of the putty blend and then press the putty mixture along the edge of one piece of pottery while joining another piece to it while it sets. This will take about 3-5min. of you holding the two pieces together before the putty sets and hardens. Next, use your paintbrush to paint the putty with gold powder while it’s still tacky.

As the Canadian-born musical artist, Leonard Cohen, sang, “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” As such, maybe the hole in your bowl makes sense and you will opt to keep it there. Or maybe you would like to tell a different story with your bowl, one where your hole is filled with gold. If you opt for the latter, simply tear off a piece of your epoxy putty, approximately the same size as your hole, kneading it so that the colors of the putty blend. Next, press the putty mixture into the hole, molding it into the open space as if to create a faux bowl piece with your putty. While the putty is still tacky, use your paintbrush to generously dust it with gold powder.

Bottom line: this is a messy experience. You can eliminate much of the messiness by setting yourself up ahead of time by placing an old sheet, pillowcase or towel under your black craft mats and choosing an outside location or garage to do your fine work. If you still get gold powder in undesirable places, it’s nothing a wet washcloth and a vacuum can’t solve!