Originally posted by: Arwen.
In my school we switched to fountains in 5th class. Gradually, in later classes, everyone started using ball points. My writing deterioted so much when that happened
I miss fountain pens - I'll buy one for old times sake.
But definitely not hermes or all these luxury ones
@souro - whats the difference between maki-e and chinkin and all these types you mentioned? Is it difference in design within Pilot or these are names of fountain pen types generally?
Let me know what your budget is and I'll try to suggest a fountain pen for you.
Urushi, maki-e and chinkin are lacquer art.
Urushi is a sap from a plant and it is poisonous in its raw form. After it is used for lacquering that item is kept at a certain temperature and humidity for curing, that makes the urushi innocuous. Anything that is only coated with urushi but does not have any other art work is just called urushi coated. There are different colours of urushi lacquering, even layering of colours where one colour shines from beneath another colour, different styles of polishing as well, glossy or matte or pumice stone like appearance. Urushi ages well with use, human body oil makes it more shiny and transparent with age. It is also very durable.
Maki-e is kind of painting done on urushi lacquer. Various things can be used for that, normal colours, abalone, mother of pearl, egg shells, gold and silver powder/ sheet. It takes a lot of time to do detailed maki-e paintings. There are several types of maki-e art, Taka maki-e, Kaga maki-e, Hira maki-e, Togidashi, Tsukegaki, etc. and each have their own speciality. The differentiations are in the way the art is executed, layering and polishing.
Chinkin is also an artwork executed on urushi lacquer. However in this case, it is not painted. Rather it is etched. A chisel like tool is used to make grooves on the urushi surface. Once the whole picture has been thus etched, gold or silver powder is sprinkled and then subsequently brushed off. The grooves retain the gold or silver powder whereas the rest fall off. It is then sealed into place with another layer of transparent urushi laquer.
Edited by souro - 8 years ago
Udne Ki Aasha
