Makie Master

The makie lacquer's technique can be seen in lacquerware production areas throughout Japan. While makie lacquer is frequently applied to lacquerware or boxes in Kyoto, the techniques possessed by a makie lacquer artist are not limited to small everyday items. Makie lacquer is applied to various parts of a temple, such as the interior and doors.

To put it simply, a makie lacquer product is made by sprinkling a grain of gold on lacquerware with a straw-like tube called Funzutsu. However, it is not possible to create a variety of expressive effects by using only the same grained gold and powders. There are numerous types of gold powder for makie. In addition to differences in shape, the powder is also divided into 15 to 20 different grain sizes (about 5 mm per thousandth to 0.3 mm per thousandth), each with a different texture. In this way, about 80 types of gold powder are used for makie lacquering.

The world of makie is expanded when artists paint, not only with gold, but also blue gold, platinum, silver, mother-of-pearl inlay, gemstone, eggshells, and many other materials and colorful lacquer.

Urushi lacquer is dried in a room called a Muro. Drying is not an accurate description; curing is more accurate. The muro is kept at a high humidity and temperature. Lacquer hardens at a humidity of about 70-85% and a temperature of 24-28°C. That is a very big difference between lacquer and other adhesives and paints.

Conversely, lacquer will not harden unless it is dry and the temperature is high. When considering the technique of makie, it would not have been possible to achieve such delicate and time-consuming aesthetic expression if the lacquer used in the drawing process had the property of drying quickly.

Makie artists are better than urushi lacquer painters in terms of control over the minute changes in the lacquer. The makie artists make the most of the fact that lacquer only hardens under certain conditions to carry out their work.

The sap of the lacquer tree, which is found only in East Asia, is used in many Asian countries for lacquer crafts, but the delicacy and range of expression techniques of makie are unique in the world and highly valued by collectors and connoisseurs around the world.

Makie artists use the largest number of materials and colors of all lacquer-related professions. Metal powders such as gold and platinum powder are usually used, but lacquer also comes in many colors, such as glossy red, vermilion, purple, brown, blue and green.

There is also dry lacquer powder, which is made by grinding hardened lacquer into a powder, which is used in different degrees of granularity. Other materials include eggshells from chickens and quails, and crushed gemstone powder such as emeralds and opals instead of metal powder.

In addition to sprinkling gold powder on the surface of the lacquer, the makie artist also uses a number of techniques, including a technique in which gold powder is sprinkled into the lacquer and then ground out to produce a picture, and a technique in which layers of lacquer are used to create a height difference.
Only craftsmen with both wisdom and technique can produce such beautiful and profound art, which is created by the differences in the texture and brilliance of each material against a jet-black background of lacquer.