Faux "Urushi" Finish

[Jack Kerwood]

For a condo warming gift for a relative who has just purchased a Florida condo for use in the winter They have a room decorated in an oriental Motif. I have turned from a piece of hard dense persimmon a traditional Japanese rice bowl. I am looking for suggestions for a faux version of the traditional "Urushi" finish. Food safe is not a requirement. I plan to inlet two chopsticks across the rim rendering the bowl strictly decorative. I have enlisted the help of a friend with calligraphic talents and a gold leaf pen to add the Japanese symbols for "good Luck" to the bowl. I envision some kind of a hard black finish, then the gold leaf, and finally a clear lacquer overcoat. I am especially hoping to hear from someone who has made something similar. Jack Kerwood

 

[john lucas]

Jack I guess no one else is going to take a stab at this. I've done a glossy black finish. It's all about the finish itself. You simply have to build what ever finish you use to the point that you can "finish the finish".
I use Black Shoe dye to get the wood black. Then I go to the finish.
What I do is build the finish in stages and level it with 600 grit paper. I use lacquer but lots of finishes will work as long as you let them dry long enough between coats. When I don't see any evidence of grain or pits in the finish then I apply one more coat.
Then I begin the finishing process which is to go to 800 or 1000 grit and hand sand. The 1200, 1500. etc. Usually at this stage I go to White automotive rubbing compound and rub out the 1500 grit scratches. Then I go to automotive swirl remover to remove the scratches from the white compound. That will usually give me a very smooth glossy surface.
I have never actually seen an Urushi finish in person, only photos so I don't know if this is the kind of gloss you want.

 

[Bill Boehme]

From what little that I have read on the subject, it apparently takes many weeks to do a true urushi finish. Any faux finish without a lot of manual polishing is not likely to pass for the real thing, so doing what John Lucas does is probably about the best substitute that you could reasonably undertake.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Jack, I have done several pieces with a treatment generally similar to what John suggests--black leather dye topped with clear lacquer. However, one point to consider; I have found that even with several coats of dye some grain pattern carries through as a shading of grey-black. If I remember correctly Chinese/Japanese "lacquer ware", which may be the same as uroshi, shows no grain at all. If that is of concern to you, you might want to consider applying an opaque coating of black lacquer as the first coat and then following it by clear coats as described by John.

Dennis

 

[Jim Rinde]

Jack: Epoxy is probably the closes you can get to urushi finish. If you want a black finish then add carbon black to the epoxy. When cured just sand it smooth. Then sand with fine sandpaper to the level of finish you desire. Using micro mesh you can achieve a mirror finish if you sand to 12000 grit.

 

[Jack Kerwood]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I have been thinking along the ideas of John Lucas. I will get some black shoe dye and experiment. I had been thinking black old fashioned milk paint to get the black base color. Several years back I made a natural edge coffee table from a spalted and figgured maple crotch . To contrast and not compete with the maple I made the legs and stretchers from poplar finished with black milk paint followed by several coats of wipe on poly. This would give me the color I am looking for and the lacquer and buffing process should gie me the look I want.

 

[john lucas]

The milk paint will cover the grain better. Especially if you apply a coat, sand and the apply another coat. I went through a spell where I used milk paint a lot but haven't done it in years. I do have a project coming up where it will be the perfect finish so I guess I'd better brush up on it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Jack, I am finishing up a project today that was done in a similar manner to what John Lucas suggested except that I used a Faber-Castell Pitt black India Ink Big Brush Artist Pen instead of shoe polish. I don't know which would give a darker black, but my guess is that the liquid shoe polish would soak deeper into the wood if that is important. On the other hand, the India Ink marker produces some bronzing which might possibly be desirable in mimicking the effect of a urushi finish. I applied several coats of lacquer to get a glossy topcoat with very fine grit sanding between coats and then polishing similarly to what John does except that I used a couple polishes used by pen turners since that is what I had on hand. Just an observation that I made -- I was concerned that the black was not dark enough, but after applying the lacquer, it really darkened to finish.

 

[holmqer]

One technique I've used for a faux oriental lacquer ware look is Black Gesso and clear lacquer. The Gesso hides any grain and is pretty deep black.