each
lacquer and eggshell lacquer product in our range is painstakingly
made by hand.
the
production of a single piece of lacquerware can take anything
between 75 and 115 days.
to
produce a good quality piece of lacquerware, short cuts in the
process are not possible and a 20-stage process must be followed
culminating in the production of a product that bears upwards
of 12 layers of lacquer.
the
raw lacquer is the sap from several species of trees within the
anacardiaceae family, genus rhus. many members of the rhus family
in asia contain urushiol in the sap which is the active ingredient
that polymerises to form lacquer. rhus verniciflua is the main
tree used to provide raw lacquer in china, japan and korea, rhus
succedanea is used in vietnam, melanorrhoea usitate in burma and
rhus javanica in indonesia.
the
sap is harvested by hand and its quality depends on the time of
year during which it is collected. the best times for harvesting
lacquer are between april and december and the highest quality
sap is generally collected at noon on a clear day when the moisture
content is minimal!
in
china, a tree is tapped to obtain its sap only once every three
years - a total of only 4 times during the life of the tree. each
tree only produces a small amount of sap: only 250 ml per tree
each time.
as
such, the laborious process of making your lacquer product begins
with the collection and processing of the raw sap, long before
the artist even approaches the individual piece.
traditionally,
lacquer is used to cover many materials including bamboo, fruit
woods, ceramics, metal, leather and even horsehair! the base is
normally subjected to careful preparation including an extensive
drying process to minimise the moisture content of the eventual
product.
the
prepared base material is then carefully shaped, polished with
emery paper and lacquered with a mixture of sap, ash and clay.
it is covered by cloth to build strength and then lacquered again
and left to dry naturally before being ground by hand. grinding
evens out the imperfections and ensures a level surface for subsequent
layers of lacquer.
this
layering, drying and polishing process is repeated numerous times
with different combinations of natural materials being added to
the lacquer at each stage. with each layer, the artisan uses increasingly
pure grades of lacquer. only the purest and most transparent form
of lacquer is used for the final layer.
the
number of individual coats of lacquer is indicative of the final
quality. only the most inexpensive factory pieces are produced
using just one layer of lacquer. our products bear a minimum of
12 layers.
various
decorative techniques are used to apply gold, silver leaf or eggshell
by hand. this is fine work indeed and requires much skill, patience
and concentration to achieve a perfect finish with only minor
irregularities (if any) in the final product.
products
that have been decorated in this way are then covered with 2 or
3 layers of the purest lacquer and left to dry and polished back
each time.
the
products in our range bear at least 12 layers of lacquer and take
a minimum of 3 months to make from preparation of the base product
to final finish, a process which includes at least 20 labour stages.
the
finished product is a unique, hand made piece. if handled with
care, it should last you a lifetime.
see our care instructions
for
more information on the finished lacquer product, please see frequently
asked questions.
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