Fountain Pens: Danitrio Urushi Lacquer

Danitrio Urushi Lacquer:

"Danitrio offers Tame-nuri with two different finishes, Roiro-migaki which is a smooth, high gloss finish, and Hana-nuri which is a more natural, almost matte finish. the Roiro-migaki has a lot more work than Hana-nuri, with extra polishing steps required to achieve the high gloss finish, but the Hana-nuri finish won't allow any mistakes as the urushi is applied, due to the lack of additional polishing that can cover small errors. Thus the Hana-nuri, although it looks simpler, can be every bit as difficult as the more involved Roiro-migaki finish. These pens pictured all feature the high gloss Roiro-migaki finish.

This depth of color and shading are the primary attractions to tame-nuri, but as used on a pen, another aspect of the urushi lacquer finish becomes apparent. The lacquer has a very warm, organic feel in the hand. Holding one of these pens is a true pleasure, as the lacquer warms to your hand in use.

Normally, urushi lacquer is applied by a master urushi craftsman, it can take up to seven years to achieve this level of experience. It is a very specialized field, as you can imagine! Danitrio has taken a different approach to their urushi lacquer pens.

Rather than employing a master urushi craftsman, who are more experienced with lacquering somewhat larger items such as bowls, trays, and so forth, Danitrio have turned to one of their maki-e masters to lacquer their pens. Much more used to working on smaller surfaces and sharper angles and curves, the maki-e artists have proven to be able to create a better finish in the solid color urushi pens as well as the maki-e."



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