WoodbridgeGaijin

I forgot to mention, the Westin Miyako Hotel had a few period ukiyo e by Hiroshige , one was slightly torn and on had a corner piece about 2 inches in size missing...they were both around the 150 000 yen mark. I was surprised. Maybe if I wasn't such a poor bugger I could have bought one instead of drooling on them. V. Giardina

I am thoroughly familiar with his work...I think its called " Sudden Shower" but I am still amazed that you could discern between it being a painting of a watermelon or an Ando woodblock. I think I need new glasses. Good for you man. Very observant. V. Giardina

How can you tell its a Hiroshige or a Hokusai ? Looks like a nicely decorated space but as for the print? Wow if you can see that ...its amazing, all I see is glare. You must really know your art. V.Giardina

Looks really nice. Are you going to have them all made the same way? I have been thinking of making them for high end nihonto out of exotic materials but I`m not certain if the owner of a say $150,000 piece would display a blade on a katanakake or have it in a showcase. I used to make high end humidors for cigars and I have some materials I'm not doing anything with. Anyways, it looks really nice! Good luck with the rest of them. I hope they all turn out as well. V.Giardina

What type of Urushi are you using? Is it actual Urushi or is it Cashew Lacquer? As with anything we seem to endeavor to do....it is the foundation in Urushi that makes all the difference. Shitaji must be applied,sanded smooth, reapplied to fill in any surface irregularities from the first coat, then you can move on to preparing the surface. I find a 70% thinner 30% Urushi to work well, making sure to place a lightly dampened cloth next to the work piece for proper polymerization. If you are using Urushi...its hard to believe how many people try to use dry heat to cure it. It just won't work.Sand, with 400 grit and reapply in a 60/40 ratio, (thinner to Urushi) sand with 600 grit, then move up to 60% Urushi and go over it with 1200 grit between coats. After that I usually use a high grade aluminum oxide based polish designed to remove 2000 grit swirl marks. Getting an actual set of Urushi specific brushes is also very helpful. What can you say? There must really be something about girls hair that seems to work.

I definitely thing it is a subtle thank you. Be proud of what you accomplished, getting the results you did out of a money machine like eBay is quite noteworthy. I like eBay....I use it to sell all kinds of things I no longer need or want so I'm not bashing it. Lets just hope that this individual and others like him find it more difficult to merely close one user account and start up another. And there are untold numbers of buyers out there who owe you guys their gratitude, who knows how much this guy made off of unsuspecting buyers. I read one feedback that said something to the effect of ( I'm happy even though the item pictured and what I received were different) Val Giardina

I must say; I just finished reading this whole sequence of threads and I am both in awe at the audacity of some of the crooks on eBay and at the same time proud to have joined a group of caring individuals who will go to such great lengths to help protect the property and rights of others. I had seen those auctions before I was aware of this forum and found them questionable but I am not knowledgeable enough to confront anyone. I'm new here so it may not mean much, but I am very proud to be a member of a collective of such caring people. V.Giardina

You guys crack me up. You are so lucky to have family there, maybe I should go back and scout out a new wife... last one didn't work out so well. Perhaps I could hang out at Daimaru or Odakyu and meet a nice wealthy Japanese woman....with poor vision....that way I can at least tell her I'm good looking. V.Giardina

I would like to apologize to all the members for the poor forum etiquette and not signing my posts. Sincerely, V.Giardina

You parked at the same place? Do you mean the Park Hyatt Tokyo? I stayed at the Park Hyatt for two weeks before moving on to Kyoto. I was there on my honeymoon, I actually wrote Darcy before I went and asked him if there was somewhere for a guy on a budget to buy a decent sword. His answer was quite polite but I will leave the rest up to you. (LOL) You figure 63000Yen a night for two weeks....If I would have left the wife at home I could have bought a decent beginner sword, and why not...she left me! I'm sure everyone here will appreciate seeing the forums newest member in his Yukata. Bill Murray's chest is not as hairy as mine and I don't think he had a huge Italian necklace on either. Supossed to be funny guys. Some of you are throwing up...I know it! lol

Thank you so much Ichi and Nobody. I really appreciate it.

I spent the better part of the day in this shop, they were the nicest people, I looked at every single item they had, I even picked up a mekugi that must have fallen off on to the floor and stared at it in amazement (can you tell I was awe struck by Japan as a whole?) The proprietor in the pic even went outside and sat with my wife and talked with her while I continued to drool over Kozuka and Tsubas with Nanako so finely detailed, modern E.D.M machines would have a tough time duplicating. Anyways, in short, I wanted to send them a "thank you" but I can not remember the name of the shop and the Meishi they gave me were in the luggage we lost. All I know is that the concierge at the Park Hyatt deserved a good "get a hold of yourself" smack for telling us it was only a 20 minute walk to get there.

Take a look at this site, it has photos of 50 different styles of Tsukamaki. http://home.planet.nl/%7Esebregts/index.html As I understand it, the size of the "diamonds" is also dictated by the thickness and width of the Ito used, the height of the nodules on the Same can also affect the apparent size by raising the Ito off the Tsuka and casting a bit of shadow, and as you can see, there are great number of different styles that dictate different "diamond" sizes. And lastly to some degree, how tight the wrap is (shuddering) although a loose wrap is more likely to have widely varying sizes of "diamond" patterns.