My first purchase of this year was wood.
I went to buy it at a specialist Cypress wood timber store in Iriya. When creating lacquered works, it is not necessary to use such a large piece of wood, so I buy small, high-quality planks and squared timber according to purpose.
When you go to buy wood at a timber store, there will be no pricetag attached.
Therefore, you will need to line up the materials you are interested in and get a quotation.
The price of the materials is calculated by length x width x thickness.
However, as you do not know the method of calculation, the price of some materials may be surprising.
Once you become accustomed to it, you may be able to imagine the approximate price based on a visual inspection, but sometimes when you ask for a quotation for squared timber made of good wood, you may be surprised.
Another negative point is that this is seasonal, so the price will take this element into account.
There is a huge lineup of Cypress wood, and when I discover a finely-grained top-quality wood, I am very happy.
Non-flashy Cypress wood is the height of luxury for me.
People whose job involves woodwork must have had the same experience.
There is a huge variety of materials for the body used in lacquered works. I would like to introduce you to some of these.
Wooden
Turnery grains, like bowls, and joinery grains, such as boxes, are generally made out of wooden materials.
In my case, for turnery, I use Zekolva and for joinery, I use Cypress.
Works are created by utilizing the characteristics of the wood and using the appropriate materials.
Dry lacquer
At the venue for dry lacquer exhibitions, I often get the question “What is dry lacquer?”
Dry lacquer refers to the body of a lacquer work, in which the lacquer is applied as an adhesive with cloth layered on top of this.
Unlike when processing wooden materials, a dry cloth is used, so it can be modeled freely.
This is a traditional technique used since ancient times and there are even statues of Buddha created using dry lacquer techniques.
Kontai
Lacquer applied to metal is known as Kontai.
When lacquer is applied to metal, the lacquer is forcibly dried using a method referred to as “glazing”.
Depending on how it is glazed, it forms an extremely tough coating.
Rantai
I am often questioned about this as well.
Rantai refers to bodies created using thin sharpened bamboo sticks.
As the bamboo acts like a measure, the fibers become very stable.
This is a technique you can see in the lacquerware of Kagawa Prefecture.
Tantai
This is a lacquerware product in which pottery is used as the body.
The pottery is corrected using the lacquer, such as gold ties, so there is a high level of compatibility.
I have not yet undertaken the challenge of making Tantai.
Jotai
The body is made withh rope. A mold is made as in the case of dry lacquer, and the body formed by twisting rope around.
As described above, lacquer is compatible with many different materials and there are various methods of production based on characteristics.
However, there is one exception to this…glass.
If you apply lacquer to glass, it does not stick well and will peel off.
Currently, there are some interim materials thtat improve its sticking capabilities, but it is hard to say that lacquer and glass have good compatibility.
If you go to exhibitions, you will see dry lacquer and “Rantai” in the titles of works.
I hope that you will take the trouble to give them a closer look and examine what kind of materials they are made from.