Code: R336-F015

Draw lines

Mount egg-shell

Draw colors

Paste silver

Polish

1. The main materials
Wood: natural and bamboo.
Paint: the resin of the lacquer tree (sơn sống in Vietnam) is collected in Phu Tho province, Vietnam’s Northern Midlands. The scientific name of the lacquer tree is Rhus Succedenea. The raw resin is processed to become limpid paint (sơn cánh dán) and black paint (sơn then).
100% cotton cloth.
Colours: use industrial and handiwork colors which made from other materials such as eggshell, mother of pearl shell, pure gold and silver leaves.
Natural and industrial grindstones, industrial sand papers.
Charcoal: made from burnt mulberry trees from Vietnam to grind and polish products by using hair and cotton.

2. Production process.

a.  Design products:
Design the shapes of the products to suit the materials such as wood, bamboo.

b.  Manufacturing the base (cốt vóc in Vietnam)
The wood is treated for anti-bacteria purpose then dried to protect the base against shrinkage, cracking, warping. The size of the base is determined at the beginning of the process.
The base is covered by pure cotton cloth and coated with paint then is cured in humid conditions for 3 or 5 days (depending on the climate). It is then taken out for polishing and painted over again. 
In total each base will have about 10 -15 coats of paint.

c.  Drawing
The painter prepares a design sketch, using water colour, or oil paints.
The colour powders for the design will match the colors used on the lacquered paintings.
Transferring the design to Lacquer:
According to the draft, the painter will draw onto the base surface many times, in many stages, using many layers of materials such as eggshell, mother or pearl inlay, gold and silver with certain techniques or styles. After the drawing stage, the product is covered with lacquer paint made from the lacquer tree and left for 7 to 10 days to dry.

d.  Polishing
Use the whetstone and sandpaper to create a smooth surface as well as adjusting the quality of the color (bright, dark, bold). Then, product is covered by thin limpid pain and left 5 to 7 days to dry, polish and gloss.
e.    Glossing: use carbon powder, hair and cotton to polish by hand. The finished work has a smooth, deep and beautifully shiny surface.

f.  Effectiveness
All these above stages are basic process to make a lacquer ware. It requires along time, hard work and money. Therefore, if the product is genuine, the admirer and customer can feel the depth, the colour diversity and the absolute smoothness which make the product more brilliant and shimmering.
Painting means polishing and polishing also means painting. As a result, lacquer paintings have a real depth. Moreover, if the artist follows the traditional methods to make lacquer ware, the painting and products will retain their beauty indefinitely.  
KIMA runs courses on lacquer painting and lacquer products for foreigners who are interested in Vietnamese traditional lacquer. All the KIMA’s lacquer products have been drawing by feeling so each design is drew and decorated on surface with many different designs to make each product is a beauty lacquer painting.