Danitrio Urushi Irokeshi-dame Blue on Sho-Hakkaku (Short Octogan) Fountain Pen

Danitrio Urushi Irokeshi-dame Blue Sho-Hakkaku (Short Octogan) Fountain Pen

The base for Urushi paintings must be smooth and strong in order to have a good Urushi painting, which will last thousands of years. When the base is ready for painting, the first painting uses Sabi, Urushi mixed with polishing powders, as its base painting and call it Shita-nuri, the base painting. Then, Naka-nuri, the interim painting with Urushi is preparing for better Uwa-nuri, the finishing part of painting. The color of the interim painting has to be selected according to the color of the finishing part of painting. All these works are usually done by Nu-shi, craftsmen of Urushi paintings, painting 7 times in average and it takes 2-3 weeks before the Nu-shi can send back the pens to our Maki-e sh, who will do more Urushi painting works or Maki-e onto the pens.

Urushi before refined is divided into oiled or non-oiled Urushi. Oiled Urushi is lustrous when it is painted but cannot be burnished, while Non-oiled Urushi is not lustrous itself, but it can be burnished to very lustrous. The Shita-nuri (base paintings) for different basic paintings use same methods for the good base painted with Urushi mixed with polish powders to harden the base. Then, Naka-nuri (interim paintings) is done to cover the base paintings and prepare for good Uwa-nuri (Finish paintings). Roiro-migaki use the designated color Urushi to paint the surface with repetitions of paint and burnish till the lustrous come out.

The relationship between Tame-nuri and Irokeshidame-nuri is the same relationship between Rioro-migaki and Irokeshidame-nuri. The former one uses non-oiled Urushi to paint and the latter use oiled Urushi, and then the former needs repetitions of paint and burnish, while the other doesn’t need any burnishing at all, and keep the surface not shiny as Tame-nuri.

There is no 100% transparent Urushi. The clearest Urushi still has a light brown or amber color. The interesting thing with Tame-nuri is when the transparent Urushi is painted over the color Urushi, the color will change because this transparent Urushi is NOT 100% transparent like man-made “Urushi” which is 100% clear..

This pen size is Sho Hakkaku, which is a short Octagonal shape and is fitted with an ebonite feed and a #6 18kt gold nib.  This pen fills via cartridge convertor.

MSRP $1500

Size/Shape of pen: Sho-Hakkaku

Base Material: Ebonite

Painting: Irokeshi-Dame Blue

Filling System: Cartridge Converter