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Knowing about Japanese Lacquer (aka Urushi) will change the way that you see the world. Urushi is the sap of a tree that is related to poison oak and posion ivy

Knowing about Japanese Lacquer (aka Urushi) will change the way that you see the world. Urushi is the sap of a tree that is related to poison oak and posion ivy. You can learn to use it by wearing a biohazard suit or by suffering through until you develop an immunity to the urushiol. To call it "the itch" does not do it justice. You do not really know the full depths of being a human until you decide, with full knowledge of the consequences, to go down this road. Urushi is transformed by curing in a warm and humid environment to something that is food safe and not toxic - for example Japanese rice bowls. Then there are they myriad decorative techniques such as Rankaku - using quail egg shells for decoration. I've recently seen the word "entanglement" in a completely different context. But Urushi entangles you in nature and your environment in way that is utterly breath taking. For example: https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/modern-masters-chefs-doeuvre-dune-collection-privee/jean-dunand-vase-5 https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/modern-masters-... [edit for grammar and clarity]

halapro 4mo ago
[flagged]
- patch_cable 4mo ago
  That’s a bit uncharitable. It made perfect sense to me. I also learned something about Japanese lacquer.
- anomaly_ 4mo ago
  [flagged]
- bestham 4mo ago
  Congratulations, you’ve encountered someone with passion. It lives in people all over the world, but Japanese craft has a particular gift for making it visible in every detail, every material, and every decision pushed to its absolute perfection. Toyotas quality, Grand Seikos polish and accuracy and Jiros sushi just to mention a few of the exported ones.
- talkingtab 4mo ago
  @halapro, thanks for your reply. No, marketing is the last thing I would do, but I understand how these days you might think that. I have had many experiences that dramatically change how I see the world. Maybe running a marathon is easier to understand. I did not run it because I am an athlete or good at it. It took me 4 hours and I thought I was going to fall down before the finish line! That did change me profoundly. I saw the world not as something to watch but to be in. That I could suffer (and ouch did I suffer) and survive and do something that I had no idea I could do. So how I see myself changed as well, but the profound thing that changed was me<-->world. How I and world relate to each other. I seek out things like this. Not for thrills but because of the transformation. Some times this does not work out well. I kick myself because in my quest of transformation I find that I can utterly and completely fail. But again, there is a transformation there. I can utterly and completely fail and go on. This is not marketing, this is me urging you to attempt to do something that is important enough to you that if you do it, your relationship to life, the world and yourself will be changed in good ways.
userbinator 4mo ago
Epoxy resins are usually pretty toxic when uncured too.
kayfox 4mo ago
You can also grow up exploring the woods in an area with a lot of poison oak like me and it just does not react on your skin.
- kstrauser 4mo ago
  A dermatologist friend told me there are people who react to poison ivy, and people who do not yet react to poison ivy. He explained to the effect that repeated exposure tends to sensitize people. Poison ivy/oak/etc. has no effect on them, then one day it does. I grew up playing in woods thick with the stuff and never had a problem. Then I had a hell of a reaction to it in high school, and it’s been cruel to me since then.
  - disillusioned 4mo ago
    This article in the WSJ was by an author who decided to induce immunity to poison oak by exposure: eating it. It's... quite the journey, evidently, but possible: https://www.wsj.com/style/eat-poison-ivy-oak-immunity-3207ec3c?st=wmZrr1&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/style/eat-poison-ivy-oak-immunity-3207ec...
twic 4mo ago
If anyone is curious and near South Kensington, there is now a little exhibition on urushi at the V&A [1], which includes a film of a guy who harvests his own sap, processes it into lacquer, and then makes things with it. That video is not online AFAICT, but there is another one about another artist, which includes some footage of an urushi workshop preparing the stuff, and her using it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeult7lZtbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeult7lZtbg [1] https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-japanese-lacquer https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-ja...

halapro 4mo ago

[flagged]

patch_cable 4mo ago
That’s a bit uncharitable. It made perfect sense to me. I also learned something about Japanese lacquer.
anomaly_ 4mo ago
[flagged]
bestham 4mo ago
Congratulations, you’ve encountered someone with passion. It lives in people all over the world, but Japanese craft has a particular gift for making it visible in every detail, every material, and every decision pushed to its absolute perfection. Toyotas quality, Grand Seikos polish and accuracy and Jiros sushi just to mention a few of the exported ones.
talkingtab 4mo ago
@halapro, thanks for your reply. No, marketing is the last thing I would do, but I understand how these days you might think that. I have had many experiences that dramatically change how I see the world. Maybe running a marathon is easier to understand. I did not run it because I am an athlete or good at it. It took me 4 hours and I thought I was going to fall down before the finish line! That did change me profoundly. I saw the world not as something to watch but to be in. That I could suffer (and ouch did I suffer) and survive and do something that I had no idea I could do. So how I see myself changed as well, but the profound thing that changed was me<-->world. How I and world relate to each other. I seek out things like this. Not for thrills but because of the transformation. Some times this does not work out well. I kick myself because in my quest of transformation I find that I can utterly and completely fail. But again, there is a transformation there. I can utterly and completely fail and go on. This is not marketing, this is me urging you to attempt to do something that is important enough to you that if you do it, your relationship to life, the world and yourself will be changed in good ways.

userbinator 4mo ago

Epoxy resins are usually pretty toxic when uncured too.

kayfox 4mo ago

You can also grow up exploring the woods in an area with a lot of poison oak like me and it just does not react on your skin.

kstrauser 4mo ago
A dermatologist friend told me there are people who react to poison ivy, and people who do not yet react to poison ivy. He explained to the effect that repeated exposure tends to sensitize people. Poison ivy/oak/etc. has no effect on them, then one day it does. I grew up playing in woods thick with the stuff and never had a problem. Then I had a hell of a reaction to it in high school, and it’s been cruel to me since then.
- disillusioned 4mo ago
  This article in the WSJ was by an author who decided to induce immunity to poison oak by exposure: eating it. It's... quite the journey, evidently, but possible: https://www.wsj.com/style/eat-poison-ivy-oak-immunity-3207ec3c?st=wmZrr1&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/style/eat-poison-ivy-oak-immunity-3207ec...

twic 4mo ago

If anyone is curious and near South Kensington, there is now a little exhibition on urushi at the V&A [1], which includes a film of a guy who harvests his own sap, processes it into lacquer, and then makes things with it. That video is not online AFAICT, but there is another one about another artist, which includes some footage of an urushi workshop preparing the stuff, and her using it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeult7lZtbg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeult7lZtbg [1] https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-japanese-lacquer https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/urushi-now-contemporary-ja...