Thank you for looking and many thanks for the kind words. Let's see if I can answer some of your questions.
Nice work, Chris. That looks very elegant. The urushi is so different and exotic here, is it more common in Japan?
Does it write in English?:wink:
Urushi has been around for 10,000 years in Japan but China and south east asia have their own unique forms of the art. There are 4 major centers of urushi craft in Japan and each are distinctly different. I tend to follow the Wajima "style" which is noted by it's higher gloss finish and is probably the most recognized and argueably the most expensive. Thus, real urushi-ware has become like expensive china tableware you only use on very special occasions..if ever at all.
Only broken English..:biggrin:
Beautiful pen Chris but your handwriting is really bad, totally illegible :biggrin:
That ain't mine..You'll have to take that up with my wife. Good luck with that!:wink:
Not too shabby Chris....it looks like you're starting to really get it down. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the black fading to red....I did my own pen with that same type of color effect (though it doesn't look nearly as good as that!!). You should write up a tutorial on urushi!!:hammer:
Ya, it's coming along. Actually, the next few I do are going to be red with maybe a fade to black. Nice looking fade you made BTW! Maybe I'll try to break out the camera next time.
Awesome! my wife wants one:wink:. Seriously though...the colors are really sweet. It reminds me of some of the paint jobs people put on there cars that change color depending which angle you view it. Very cool. I wish there was a tutorial too. I'd love to know about how you work those colors together and what the colors come from, materials used, etc.
Keep coming with the Urishi for at least another year too, because I'm working on my birthday bash Urishi USA backwoods How-to seminar.:biggrin:
It's not quite as dramatic as a cameleon paint but depending on the light conditions the colors do change...kinda like one of them old mood rings....remember those?? I use a brush for the heavier red and orange under layers and then airbrush the black and cherry tint clear.
Just go find to nettle to practice with...hehe
I agree, I'm just glad he's showing it here. I read a little about this finish after you last pen. It sounds time consuming and more than a bit uncomfortable. I imagine it would be like finishing a pen with poison ivy sap. Are you allergic? I've read some people do not have a allergy.
Nah! The rash is kinda blown out of proportion. It IS poison ivy sap! Granted, for some it's severe..my buddy can't get within 2 meters of an Urushi tree without breaking out. Me, I'm not bad but I do my best not to get any on me.
The really interesting thing about Urushi is you do build up a resistance and it's well documented that Urushi artists live much longer than the average citizen and rarely if ever get sick. Apparently, in the old days it was common for the child of an artist who was destined to continue the craft to be force fed raw urushi to build up a resistance..true or not..I don't know.
but this one came out quite nice and just thought I'd share. It's the same color pattern as the last one but I changed the shape a bit and made it a FP. The base is hard maple and then 4 different colors of urushi applied over 12 layers. I finished it with magnolia sumi and micro mesh/olive oil which seems to work just as well as powdered deer horn. It's a challenge but I'm slowly getting there. Tell me what you think. 
