r/urushi

I've been obsessed about urushi since my 18 years, so about 20 years ago.

When I went to Japan last year, I took the opportunity to travel to Yamanaka Onsen, known for its urushi... And didn't see any. The usual craft museum/shop was much more about woodturning than it was about urushi, and I got the chance to see a turner making a bowl. It was actually a transformative experience, that got me obsessed with woodworking. Burnt out at the time, this was the perfect stimulation my brain needed.

When I got home, I bought a lathe, took a couple of turning classes, and on I went. But I didn't forget about urushi, and in fact I brought back some from Japan (some bought in Sendai, where I did a very quick chopstick lacker workshop, and some from a kintsugi workshop in a completely non-descript building in Ueno, an experience that deserves a post on itself).

For some reason I was really stressed starting to practice urushi. Maybe because it's toxic, or maybe because I was revering the technique for so long, it actually took me more than a year to actually start. Not wanting to spoil (??) anything, I started on this very poorly turned bowl, which I decided would be my guinea pig instead of going into the bin.

Now, I have to say a word about u/SincerelySpicy and u/tamenuri_studio, whose guidance is so so precious. I also followed this great book from Akiyoshi TOTOKI, edited in French by Editions Vial, called "La Laque urushi".

I have a hake brought from Japan but I didn't feel like using it just yet, so I went for fuki-urushi.

This is 6 layers of urushi, applied with a lint free cotton cloth, that became harder and harder everyday. It's been very warm in Paris, and I thought the humidity around 30-40% would prevent the urushi from setting, but I feared the cloth would become unusable by the end of the week. I kept it in a closed pet bottle between days.

For the furo, it's simply a plastic box from Ikea, with a big bowl of water saturated with salt, and an ikea humidity sensor displaying the humidity. I had to switch the bowl several times, from a small one to a larger one, but in the end it works great! I left it alone for 2 weeks, and it was still around 75% humidity.

So my process was this: applying a layer of urushi, thoroughfully wiping it, and put it into the furo. Wait 24h, then repeat. Before leaving for 2 weeks, I sanded the 5th cured layer with 400 and 800 grit sandpaper, then applied a new layer, and let it cure for 2 weeks. I then sanded with 2000 grit, one extra layer, and then 24H back into the furo.

At this point, my feelings were mixed. The wood certainly changed color, but it felt like extra layers didn't do much, sanding didn't do much, and I was worried I was going nowhere.

Thankfully, a friend brought back from Japan some roiro migaki, and I thought this would be a time to try it. Worst case, it does nothing.

But boy oh boy, did it change everything. Without gloves this time (I was so nervous it didn't cure properly!), I took a bit of powder out of the bag, touched my forehead with my finger, took some powder, and started rubbing the bowl.

First, the powder got into all the pores. I didn't have any tonoko so I didn't do any filling, and I knew that I would come to regret it. Well, that was the time. But very quickly, the urushi became so much more reflective, it was exhilarating.

I work just below a window, and I could judge the quality of the reflection on the bowl. It started a bit hazy, and with rubbing it became quite clear, almost mirror like. Progress was very visible, and I sighed of satisfaction. Finally, it felt like I was moving forward.

Now, the fact is that bowl is not nicely turned at all. It has tool marks, no foot, a hole in the middle, the inside is ragged... I tried to polish it all, but the truth is, only the outer layer is looking this nice. The rest is... fine, but definitely not mirror like.

Once I felt I was done, the hard thing was getting rid of the remaining powder. Just I used a humid cotton cloth, which worked to an extent, then actually put it under the sink, which did nothing more. In the end, was worked was using a somewhat stiff brush, slightly wet, and insist in the grooves in the wood. Still feel it didn't work 100%, but it's the best result I got so far.

So here it is. This was a piece of wood a few weeks ago, now it's a lacquered bowl with a hole in the middle. While the process requires patience, finally getting some results at the end made it worth it. The last layer, before the polishing, had me a bit defeated, and I thought the roiro migaki wouldn't work, so I'm especially glad it did.

I have some vermillon urushi in the fridge, and I can't wait to use it!

Let's say for antiques ranging from €100 to €2,000, of any type. Where does the same object sell for higher prices? In Japan or abroad? For top-of-the-line pieces, I assume they're definitely worth more in Japan, but sometimes affordable antiques have different price dynamics.

Could anyone give me insight on bringing (not shipping) ki-irushi, e-urushi, etc. to the USA? I’d like to know if anyone has had trouble at customs after simply putting urushi or any related materials (tonoko, jinoko, etc.) in their checked luggage.

Apologies in advance if the answer is already somewhere - I’ve done a bit of Googling but results mostly talk about permissions for importing!

Hi guys, I've been experimenting with urushi lacquer for a couple of months now and still a noob at it. I have a couple of kintsugi projects going as well as using urushi for art. I had also ordered glass urushi and realized that there is so little information out there on how to use it and enjoy less on how to cure it. Does anyone know of any resources that specifically instruct on this. I have read just brief paragraphs on kistsugi vendor and on Urushi Tsutsumi san's website (where I bought it). I keep running into cutting issues like heavy wrinkling and spots/bubbles with it, more than with the other kinds of urushi. Any advice will be helpful! Thank you.

The title says what it is. Recently I noticed that, after curing, there were about a dozen tiny craters in the fairly thick coat of ki I'd just applied to a plate. I thought maybe it was something happening during curing. I had to fill them in with sabi.

But then I did another coat today on the same plate, and I noticed the same thing in the fresh ki as I was brushing it on. It looked like little bubbles. Maybe they're air bubbles? Nuclei formed by dust? I though they might be drops of vegetable oil that I hadn't succeeded in cleaning out of the brush when I got it ready to use, but that seems like it wouldn't make sense because urushi and oil are mutually soluble.

I kept brushing to try to get them to go away, and after about 5 min of steady brushing, the ki was getting tacky and they were almost all gone.

Have other people experienced this?

Another thing that occurred to me was that it might be because the ki was going bad. I think I bought it in April. I've had this portion of it in a 60 mL plastic syringe, inside a ziplock bag with a big dessicant packet, in the fridge. But maybe air or moisture is getting in and messing it up...? However, I don't see any signs of cured urushi collecting inside or gumming up the gasket on the plunger.

Or maybe the problem is something else having to do with the brush, like I have some kind of crud trapped in it (other than oil) that I'm not getting out.