Manu Propria - Urushi pens made in Switzerland

[Manupropria]

Hi there,

I am a watchmaker from Switzerland that has currently started to make fountain pens.
So, I am pretty new to the pen world and would like to introduce one of my work.
Since many years I am dedicated to Japanese art & craft and urushi lacquering.
So obviously my pens are made of ebonate and finished with urushi lacquer.

The pen I am showing today is a pen I call "Kiseru". the name derives from the Kiseru the Japanese tobaco pipe.
The pen is made of Japanese ebonite, the feed and gold nib is supplied by Bock Germany.
The lacquer finish is glossy black, called "Kuro Roiro Shiage". This finish is the most complex and time consuming among all the urushi lacquering techniques. As a stopper I applied a little snail also built of urushi, mixed with metal powder and angraved.

For any questions on urushi lacquer please don't hesitate to contact me at any time.

Best regatds,

Martin Pauli


Kuro Kiseru 2.jpgKuro Kiseru 1.jpg

[sharmon202]

Very beautiful and Welcome to the forum.

[writingrav]

Always nice to have another artist on the board. Welcome!

[firewhatfire]

love the additiion of the snail shell as a stop. How is it attached? I tried a country boy version of Urishi and messed it up after about 8 coats. It is practically impossible to get the real Urushi lacquer in the U.S. or so I have been led to believe.

Can we see the nib holder section taken off? It looks like it will post, does it?

Thanks for inspiring me to attempt it again.

Phil

[Manupropria]

Hi Phil,

Thank ou all,

Urushi is indeed a very difficult material to work with.
If the layer is to thick, the humidity to low in the "furo" drying chamber it wil become "bokeru", it stays sticky and doesn't harden.
Put into the "furô" by relative humidity of 90% or more, it will dry/harden within a few months.

If the humidity is to high it becomes "Chijimu", get wrinkles on the surface because the outer skin has already hardened an the water cannot leave the ground of the lacquer completely. In this case urushi has to be ground off.

The slower urushy dries/hardens the more brilliant the colors appear, so thin layers at 80% himidity is perfect.

You can order urushi from Watanabe Shôten in Tôkyo. They speak English http://www1.odn.ne.jp/j-lacquer/home_eng.html

I have just taken a picture from the section. The pen can also be used as an eyedropper. If the ebonite thread in the barel.

The snail is build from a mixture of black urushi, iron powder and a lot of black pigments. The mixtrure can be used like a putty and applied in quite thick layers. The details are also made from the same material. After throughly hardened it is as hard as hard brass and can be engraved.

I have also posted some other pens in the Asia section

Best,

Martin

1.jpg

[firewhatfire]

preciate the additional pic and great info. I will eventually get an order together and give it a go with the real stuff.

I will try again starting this week with what I have on hand. I like the idea of adding a stop, other that just a dot.

Phil

[Manupropria]

Very good Phil,

For any question don't hesitate to contact.
By the way, I recommend a book to anybody interested in ursuhi lacquer. "Urushi No Waza is the probably most complete book on urushi lacquer, written by Gunther Heckmann, a urushu artist and restaurer. http://www.nihonart.de/en_produkte_seturushi.php

[drgoretex]

Nice to see more of your work, Martin!

Will be in touch.

Ken

[Manupropria]

Thank you Ken,

Here another pen with a lacquer finish I call "Namban Kawarinuri". Namba stands for "Southern Barbarians", kawarinuri is the term for experimental lacquer technique. After applying the foundations and intemediate layers I painted on circles with red or black urushi and sprinkled them with various metal powders, such as golds, platinum, silver, tin, copper. for each metal powder there was one working step, after hardening a protection layer was applied. Then 10 layers of highly transparent Kijiomi urushi were applied and after appropriate hardening time ground down and polished "roiro shiage".
With the time urushi will become more trasparent and the colors of the metal powders with sparkle through the kijiomi even nicer

2.jpg1.jpg

[RuiFromUK]

Thank you Ken,

Here another pen with a lacquer finish I call "Namban Kawarinuri". Namba stands for "Southern Barbarians", kawarinuri is the term for experimental lacquer technique. After applying the foundations and intemediate layers I painted on circles with red or black urushi and sprinkled them with various metal powders, such as golds, platinum, silver, tin, copper. for each metal powder there was one working step, after hardening a protection layer was applied. Then 10 layers of highly transparent Kijiomi urushi were applied and after appropriate hardening time ground down and polished "roiro shiage".
With the time urushi will become more trasparent and the colors of the metal powders with sparkle through the kijiomi even nicer

Gorgeous pen. This beautifully coloured example will definitely match my wife's taste for red based pens.

[john]

Master piece of art.