Kintsugi Vase: Ubud Forest
Kintsugi Vase: Ubud Forest
About
Wheel-thrown and carved stoneware. Woodfired at GAYA Ceramic Art Center, Bali, February 2026. Broken in transit. Restored by hand with kintsugi, 2026.
The largest piece in the Ubud Forest collection.
34 × 10 cm (13.4 × 3.9 in)
The Making
Two side stokes fed the anagama. This vase, the biggest work I brought to the kiln, took the spot right beside one of them. It was the highest-risk position in the chamber: closest to the flame, in the direct path of the coffee wood we fed into the stoke through the night. High risk, high reward. It came through the heat intact, and I was glad of what the fire had left on it.
The Break
I wanted it home safe. So I didn't put it in checked luggage, the bags that get stowed in the plane's cargo hold, out of reach for the whole flight. I carried it on instead, wrapped with the other pieces I'd made on the trip. Walking away from the check-in desk, the strap of my bag broke. The bag hit the floor. I heard the cracking before I opened it. I already knew. Every other piece survived. This one took the fall for all of them. It didn't crack. It shattered, into more pieces than I could count. I cried, hard. For months I couldn't open the bag.
The Repair
A friend told me how a broken piece of hers had come back through kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending breaks with lacquer and gold. Hers ended up in a museum. That was the sign. A kintsugi kit had already been sitting at home for months, a Secret Santa gift from my boss that I'd never opened. Later, in Tokoname, Japan, I was introduced to kintsugi in a workshop with lacquer artist and kintsugi instructor Hajime Furuta (古田一 / 漆), watching him work and trying a little under his guidance. Then I took on the repair myself, in gloves, since the lacquer can be toxic and brings on allergies in some people. Some fragments were missing. It took three sessions, several hours each. It isn't what it was. I love it more now than before.
The Firing
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Made during a two-week wood firing workshop at GAYA Ceramic Art Center in Ubud, Bali, led by ceramicist John Dix, known for his Kurinuki carving technique and for teaching a looser, more instinctive approach to the wheel. The firing was led by master ceramicist Hillary Kane.
The kiln was fed wood continuously for approximately 50 hours, reaching 1270°C. Fuel: coffee tree wood. Loading method: Kibuta, firewood packed tightly into the firebox to restrict oxygen, pushing volatile flames and fly-ash through the chamber. This creates the flashed color and natural ash surface you see on the piece. No glaze was applied. Everything you see is ash, clay body, and clay slip.
The team worked in shifts around the clock. I did two six-hour shifts, one overnight, one at the closing stage when the temperature was already near its peak.
The firing ended with reduction cooling: oxygen was deliberately restricted as the kiln cooled, stealing oxygen from the clay and surface. This produces the deep color shifts and the faint metallic quality. This was one of the last firings in this kiln. GAYA is relocating.