Most interesting, thanks so much for sharing. Seeing the effort in the process enhances appreciation of the craft. Increases my enjoyment of the nanako nuri pens I already have. It’s a very pretty strawberry that you are making.
I have noticed some of the other finishes use another layer of lacquer in another color, that they then polish down to reveal the seed pattern that's slightly raised. It occurs to me that another layer would solve the problem you mentioned about the lacquer breaking off when you scrape the seeds off, since it would cover and seep into any such defects as well. Have you ever tried that? I first saw this finish on the Kuroki Goishiten website, it's the only one they offer and it's a gorgeous teal pattern in black with off/in sides in a rusty orange. It's very clearly layered over several times there. EDIT: oh nvm haha you talk about it at the end.
Yes you can try. Experiments with urushi are cool ;) I used many different “pattern agents” but for nanako nuri in traditional way i choose rapeseed. But one of my craziest pens in this general technique was made with pasta. ;))
Can i ask you a question? Do you know what did they add in transperent urushi to make togidashi - nashiji , we add tung oil, turpentine but some people said its not good for drawing. Thanks and hopes you will answer my question
Raw urushi in fridge I sealed string bag. Processed - room tempreture. I have a lot urushi (right now ~2.5 kg) and use a lot, so it keeps rotating often. And even if some is getting older, and cures slower - I use it for mixing with other batches and “downgrade” it in my processes.
Most of my pens I turn myself from ebonite (Nikko Japan). From time to time I work on Ranga pens too. I always sand my pens before applying base layers (400 grit).
