A little more about urushi in general

[jar]

I thought I might add just a little more information beginning with some basic urushi styles.

Basic single color urushi is the most common. This is usually a series of thin layers of the base coat. Each layer is cured (which can that several days at a set temperature and humidity) and then sanded before the next coat. After the base coats have been finished (it can be as many as 40-50 coatings) a final coat or coats of clear urushi is applied.

Some examples:

Pilot Custom 845 in Vermilion:


Nakaya Portable Writer in Kikyo:


Platinum Izumo Kurotame:

There is a slightly different style of urushi, the Aizu style. In Aizu style the base coats are applied, cured and then burnished before the next coat is applied. The final coat though is urushi with a slight amount of oil added that then cures to a luster like you find on old long used wood objects. It is not like looking through water as above but rather a luster.

Platinum AD 200 Limited Edition is the Aizu style:

The next most common style is Tamenuri. In tamenuri a base color is put down and cured but the final layers are with a different, usually darker color urushi that gradually over time gets increasingly transparent allowing more of the base color to show through.

Two Aka(red)tamenuri samples. On top is a Plainum Izumo and the bottom is a Nakaya Portable Writer:

Another style is Tsugaru karanuri from Hirosaki in Aomori prefecture: It starts like the others with many base coats but they can be all one color or even multiple colors. After the base coats are fully cured a patter of thick lumpy urushi is applied using a patterned paddle. Again, several colors can be used and they can be layered on top of each other. Once cured the whole body is sanded down revealing the various underlying colors and a final clear urushi coating applied.

A Danitrio Takumi size Karanuri:

There are many other variations found with basic urushi like Kamakura-Bori where after multiple layers of different colored urushi are built up dimples are carved in the surface revealing the underlying colors and a unique feel and Chinkin where patterns are carved in the urushi and filled with some other material ranging from powdered gold to carbon before a final clear layer is applied.

This is certainly not an exhaustive overview of urushi but may give you an idea of what you would like,

[vintage69]

Great information om urushi, beautiful collection BTW.