Painting the saya.

[sprelligosi]

What kind of paint is used on the Saya? When restoring.

 

-Heidar

[cabowen]

Traditionally, saya is lacquered with urushi which is quite toxic to most people. These days, many use something called cashew lacquer as a substitute. Neither are paint.....

[runagmc]

Chris is right... and it's a very specialized and time consuming craft when done right.

[sprelligosi]

So if I wanted to "paint" symbols or some kind of pattern, what would be the best strategy?

 

 

Note this is all hypothetical but i have seen some mon on saya that are pressed on.

Is it possible to "paint" them on.

 

For example would it be possible to put this pattern on a saya?

http://images.easyart.com/highres_image ... 216999.jpg

Doing a black base and then the pattern put on with a fine brush and then lacquered over.

 

Just a thought. What about airbrushing would that work or would it just look ugly?

[Lindus]

Automotive paint,masking tape and various mineral powders, not rocket science and can produce splendid reults, await the thunder of crits....

Roy

[runagmc]

As long as you're not pianting symbols on a quality saya ... mabey you should tell us more specifically what you're thinking of working on...

[IanB]

Heidar, Many years ago when communication with Japan was very difficult and the chance of getting urushi was zero, I did a scabbard that still fools people. I first painted the basic wood matt black, then applied a couple of coats of transparent fibre-glass resin. I then sprinkled another coat whilst wet with pieces of crushed abalone shell and finally applied a couple more coats to cover them. When it was all rubbed down with wet and dry paper used wet, it was finally polished with metal polish. The transparent resin coats give the finish a depth which looks pretty near real urushi and the Mother or Pearl flecks make it look reasonable authentic - at least I've never bothered to change it.

Ian Bottomley

[peter]

Hi Ian,

have you any images and where would one purchase the mother of pearl flecks and abalone shell?

Peter

[sprelligosi]

Adam: Nothing particular in mind and I have no intention of letting my clumsy fingers work on it.

I would hire either a artist or a professional air-brusher, someone with talent.

 

I´m just getting some info on the matter.

-Scienta potentia est.

 

-Heidar.

[IanB]

Peter, It is now dark here so I will try and photograph the sword tomorrow. As for the MOP, it came from an abolone shell that had been used as an ash tray picked up at a market or somewhere. Just wrapped it in a cloth and bashed it with a hammer. I did need to sieve out the bits though.

Ian

[sprelligosi]

Quick thought.

 

Has anyone went all in and had it gold plated?

[runagmc]

Well, you can't plate a wood saya... but gold leaf and gold lacquer have been used...

 

edit: Gold has also been used for metal fittings (tsuba, fuchi, kashira, ect.) for a long time, in many different ways...

[hybridfiat]

Please bear in mind that anything garish or gaudy will imediately see the piece labeled as fake. Most decorated Japanese saya are restrained. There is a very wide gap between the lavish and often tasteless ornamentation found on some asian "weapons" and the genuine Japanese koshira.

[IanB]

Peter, As promised, here are a couple of shots of the scabbard. What I didn't say was that it was not the original scabbard that was re-done, but was made out of the wooden lining from a gunto that was covered with leather. It was in two halves anyway so I simply cleaned it out and did a bit of re-shaping to fit, then glued it up.

Ian

[peter]

Nice job Ian from nothing to a nice addition to your blade. I kindly for a freebe from Roy so may have a go on that .

Thanks for the pics

Peter

[IanB]

Peter, Thank you for your kind comments. I will now reveal another dark secret that was even earlier than the one above. Back in the 1960's I acquired a tachi with a gold lacquered saya. For some reason, the lacquer undercoats had decomposed and the gold layers were loose on the wood - in fact they could be slid off and were probably a very cheap job to sell to the tourists. I think the under layers were largely made of a kind of dried clay mixed with paste or something. Anyway, the fittings and hilt were rather good (can't remember what the blade was it was so long ago). So I was faced with the same problem as with the sword I sent pictures of. What I did was paint the wood black and then coated it with glue and sprinkled it all over with crushed red wall brick sieved to 30 mesh. It then looked as if it had been covered in bread crumbs. I put on 3 or 4 coats of black paint letting each dry for several days and then allowing the last coat about a month to really harden. When rubbed down, some brick particles were cut in half, others dropped out leaving a surface that was beautifully textured and looked exactly like those textured reddish lacquer finishes one sees. That one even fooled the Japanese.

Ian

[johnb]

Why not go for the real thing? Urushi is available from http://www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp/english/. And you can short circuit the process to some degree....I have used automotive glazing putty as a base coat...it works well and I aplogise to the purists amounts us. Have a look at "the urushi studio" at http://www.followingtheironbrush.org. Truth is nothing has the look or durability of Urushi...From a design perspective....keep it simple is the best plan, i suspect you'll be happier with the results.

 

johnb

[peter]

hi Ian

very thought provoking and maybe you where a artist of sorts in a previous life

might be a good idea to show them at your next seminar at Leeds,

brilliant

Peter