Kintsugi - the Japanese method of mending broken objects using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, or silver, or platinum - usually gold. It's quite the opposite from invisible mending: it recognizes that the damaged can be made whole again, and be made beautiful in a different way; it acknowledges that the breakage is part of the history of the piece, and so can be acknowledged, and visible.
I've long been waiting to try it - and the other day, the Episode of the Squirrel in the Living Room served up the opportunity, because the little furry beast knocked this raku bowl (which I gave my parents for Christmas some years back) off the window sill, and broke it into some large, very mendable pieces. So I mixed together epoxy, and resin, and the kind of thick gold substance one uses for re-gilding picture frames when one isn't applying thin sheets of gold leaf. I'm quietly proud of this, as a first attempt.
And yes - all metaphorical possibilities are acceptable.
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