Maki-e

Maki-e (蒔絵, literally: sprinkled picture (or design)) is a Japanese lacquer decoration technique in which pictures, patterns, and letters are drawn with lacquer on the surface of lacquerware, and then metal powder such as gold or silver is sprinkled and fixed on the surface of the lacquerware.

[1] To create different colours and textures, maki-e artists use a variety of metal powders including gold, silver, copper, brass, lead, aluminum, platinum, and pewter, as well as their alloys.

Bamboo tubes and soft brushes of various sizes are used for laying powders and drawing fine lines.

Kōami and another maki-e master, Igarashi Shinsai, were originators of the two major schools of lacquer-making in the history of Japan.

After the original picture is drawn on the paper, thin washi is overlapped and copied along the outline from above, and then lacquer is applied to the outline drawn on the washi with a thin brush, and is pressed to the surface of the lacquerware to transfer.

The next step, called jigaki, is the preparation process before metal powder is sprinkled.

Then, in a process called funmaki metal powder is sprinkled using a bird's feather shaft or a bamboo tube.

After that, it is the same as hira maki-e in that it is polished with abrasives of different particle sizes, and lacquer is rubbed and dried, but the procedure of each process is different.

Japanese lacquerware arrived to Mexico through the Manila galleons during the Namban period.

Mexican artisans fused pre-Hispanic, European and Asian influences in their work.