My first roiro-nuri + some ideas for fuki-urushi that someone might take
Hello there!
I have finally tried my hand at the roiro-nuri technique. Those are my personal semi-random unbranded ballpoint and Parker Jotter mechanical pencil. I consider this try kind of a failure because the threads are too tight, the surface of the pencil has one scratch (I noticed it at the dozuri stage but decided to accept it to see how it would look), I didn't use masking tape at the metal tips, and I think I failed the final stages and didn't fill the grooves as well as I could have (probably because I used undiluted kijomi). Anyway, it was a very educational fun little project for me.
The next photos are some fuki-urushi items that I think someone might find interesting to try themselves. All of them are unsanded/unpolished (I love satin finish just as much as glossy lakes of lacquer).
So basically they are:
- A wooden bookmark made from a cheap wooden ruler. This and the next one (pencil) were my first tries in urushi. Rulers are cheap and can be found with interesting wood patterns, and I think they can serve as an alternative to kitchen stuff for beginners :) Rulers that are 3mm thick should be thinned by half (at least). Otherwise, they will be too thick to use with hardcovers.
- Basically a wooden pencil. I love wooden pencils, specifically these Mitsubishi Hi-Uni. I stripped one with a hobby knife and wiped excess urushi on it that was left from the wooden bookmarks. This way I tried two different woods at once :)
- The last item is the pair of nunchaku that my friend asked me to coat for him. They are made of hornbeam wood that appeared surprisingly thirsty for urushi and showed its grain nicely.