Making Tongs by Urushi (Japanese Lacquer)

I guess most people have never heard of urushi which is a very unique natural material collected from the urushi tree. It has been used for over thousands of years and normally used as paint, adhesive, and reinforcement material. In order to show the uniqueness, I tried making a pair of tongs by taking advantage of urushi. I want to get more people in the world interested in this unique natural material.

cf. Urushiol, Toxicodendron vernicifluum, Japanese lacquerware

I used shell, copper wire, and leaf spring to make the tongs.

Sabi-urushi is a mixture of urushi and clay powder used for the reinforcement.

Repeat the following the process until it gets enough strength, then assemble all the part by sabi-urushi.

1. Apply sabi-urushi.

2. Dry sabi-urushi.

3. Make the surface flat by water-resistant sandpaper.

After assembling all the parts, apply urushi several times until it gets polished to be finished

The nature of urushi & Shape‐memory cup by urushi