Page:Things Japanese (1905).djvu/285

Rh with a piece of cotton wool, charged with finely powdered whet stone, or tin; this brings the pattern out white. From one tracing, upwards of twenty impressions can be taken off, and when that is no longer possible, from the lacquer having become used up, it only requires a fresh tracing over the same paper to reproduce the design ad infinitum. This tracing does not dry, owing to the lacquer used for the purpose having been roasted, as previously mentioned, and can be wiped off at any time.

"The pattern thus traced out is then filled in with ground-work lacquer, with a brush made of hare's hair, great care being taken not to touch or paint out the original tracing line. This is then powdered over with fine gold dust, silver dust, or tin dust, according to the quality of the ware. This dust is applied with a piece of cotton wool, charged with the material to be used, and the article is then gently dusted with a very soft brush made from the long winter coat of a white horse, to remove any loose metal dust that might adhere to the article, and to slightly smoother! the surface. If the article under manufacture is large, only a small portion is done at a time, and it is at once enclosed in an air-tight press, so as to prevent any dust or outside matter adhering to the freshly lacquered surface. At the proper time, when the lacquer has sufficiently hardened, the article is taken out, and the part over which the gold dust has been sprinkled receives a coat of transparent varnish (suki-urushi), laid on with a hare's hair brush, and a further portion is prepared with a coating of gold dust, as on the previous day: the article is again closed up in the air-tight damp press as before, till dry. When the portion which has received the second coat of lacquer over the gold dust is quite hard, it is rubbed smooth with a piece of hard charcoal made from camellia wood or hōnoki, until the whole is level with the surrounding parts. Then it is rubbed with the finger and some finely powdered whetstone and deer's horn, with the smallest quantity of oil, till it attains a fine polish. If upon this surface any further work takes place, such as the veining of leaves, or the painting of stamens, etc., of flowers,