Middle black lacquer is used over both sabi, (jinoko or tonoko/lacquer mix) and mugiurushi, (flour/lacquer mix) as a layer to give you a smooth finish. Without a middle layer of lacquer it is very difficult to get a smooth enough finish to successfully apply a top layer of lacquer and then metal. Middle lacquer is not as hard as top lacquer.
Tag Archives: materials
Materials, kintsugi, red lacquer
Red lacquer is used in kintsugi for a substrate for metal. It is a good quality lacquer that can be polished out to a high sheen and is harder than middle lacquers.
Materials, kintsugi, #5 gold and silver
Number 5 grind is about the coarsest that is usually used in kintsugi. #5 is also the point where you need to switch to a thicker hardening lacquer. You can’t really use regular, high quality lacquer as it is too thin. Using coarser metal than #5 is done sometimes. You will notice if you compare the magnified images of keshifun, #3, and #5 that the grains are getting bigger and the areas between the grains is turning more reddish since they are being filled with lacquer.
The photos show a reddish tint to the gold which is caused by the lacquer.
Materials, Kintsugi, #3 silver and gold
Metals that are ground coarser than the fine grind of keshifun are available in kintsugi. The graded, coarser metals go from #1–#15. #1 is the least coarse, #15 is the coarsest. In kintsugi the most common grades are from #1–#5. These metals require a completely different process to finish than the fine keshifun. The techniques are more akin to makie and require ‘filling’ in or hardening the coarser grains of metal onto the surface and then polishing the surface so it is smooth and shiny. It is easier to imagine sand paper to understand what is necessary. If you imagine #2000 grit sandpaper as a #1 grade and about #240 grit sandpaper as about a #15 grade you can understand how the metal gets coarser as the #1–#15 gets bigger. It isn’t possible to polish the graded metals as is. You need to fill in between the grains of metal with lacquer to first make a smooth surface and then come back in and then sand down both the lacquer and the tops of the metal to make a very tough and durable metal finish. A properly finished surface of graded metal is very durable. The photos show #3 silver in varying states of application, from applied and ‘hardened’,(the spaces between the grains of metal are filled in with lacquer) to finish polished. The coloring that appears in the unpolished samples is from the lacquer that is used to ‘harden’ the metal to the surface.
Materials kintsugi, fine powdered silver, keshifun
There are many types of metal that are used in kintsugi. This post will talk about the most common grind which is a fine powder and is called keshifun or keshi in Japanese.
This is what is mostly seen in pieces that are done with real kintsugi and have real gold or silver applied to them. It doesn’t need to be polished but it will take a burnishing if you want to. It is more durable if it is polished but that also makes it shinier. I prefer it matte so I usually don’t polish it. It also doesn’t need an overcoat of lacquer.
Materials, kintsugi, basic lacquer, kiurushi
There are several types of lacquer you use in kintsugi. I will go through each of them and this post is on the basic lacquer called kiurushi. Kiurushi is used in most of the basic steps of kintsugi. For sticking pieces back together you mix it with flour or rice, to do fill work or to do restorations you use it and mix it with either jinoko or tonoko to make a mixture called sabi. If you are doing a repair such as fixing a blistered glaze you would use this lacquer too. I don’t use wood powder but if you did you would mix it with kiurushi. It comes out of the tube a brown milky color and as it drys it turns black or a very dark brown. It can cause skin rashes but doesn’t seem to do so with everyone. I get rashes but most of the people I have had in workshops have never gotten a rash despite having direct contact with it. Like all real lacquers it requires a damp and warm environment to dry properly, it won’t usually cure in a normal environment.
kiurushi kintsugi after 1 day