Jonathan wrote:
Fitz wrote:
snip
What is lacquer?
Are there varieties or types or brand names to watch out for?
How do you apply it?
Is it safe for serving food off of?
What's the longevity of the finish like?
Is this the most suitable thing for the application I describe?


You're thinking of knocking out an urushi box for crimbo? Obviously a

man of ambition!

shake of head I thought perhaps the sentence that said this IS a gift
idea but NOT for chrsitmas so I'm not going to try and do it in the
next couple of weeks answered this one.

snip useful stuff Thank you for these useful bits - very
interesting.

Let us know how you get on. It may be a good idea to enlist the help
of
the Japanese embassy to get you a visa to visit an urushi artist for
some tips. Although it generally takes about thirty years to master
the
art, I'm sure you could pick up the basics in about a tenth of that
time
- Japanese always like to make things sound much more difficult than
they really are.

Bloody text based medium. I honestly can't decide whether you're being
humerous and light hearted or utterly condescending.

You don't practice martial arts by any chance do you? Aikido maybe or
Ju Jitsu... it's just that the only people I've come across before that
were as precious about Japanese culture - as you seem to be - are those
that think they have some sort of understanding born through diligent
training. I've seen it become quite an obsession in the past.

If I've got you all wrong then I'll just appologise now to save any
mucking around.

--
Steve F