The new Miyabi Makie collection “Shadow  Picture” is a rare beauty by Taccia. The technique involves making black paintings over White urushi.  

Peony and Butterfly

The Peony and Butterfly are combinations of the design traditionally used as Lucky design for a very long time. The butterfly was drawn by the technique named “Hira-Maki-e” in which pictures, patterns, and letters are drawn with lacquer on the surface of the fountain pen, and then metal powder such as gold or silver is sprinkled and fixed on the surface of the fountain pen.

The peony was used the technique of “Taka Maki-e”, the highest Maki-e technique only used on the highest ranked fountain pens. Compared to other Maki-e techniques, the Taka Maki-e is three-dimensional and deep expressions possible. This requires a lot of time, work, and advanced skills.

 Dragonfly and Iris (sweet flag)

 This combination has been also traditionally used since a very long time ago.

In Japan, Dragonfly is known as the “Lucky insect” because the Dragonfly does not go back and just go forward. It looks brave and the “indomitable spirit” was preferred by Samurai. The iris is drawn by Hira Maki-e and the center of the flower is drawn in Gold. The eye and stripe pattern of Dragonfly are in Gold color and another design is drawn by Taka Maki-e.

 Crow and Sun

The crow is said as a bird in myths. It was dispatched on the mission from the Sun Goddess to the first emperor in Japan and accompanied him to the eastern expedition. The crow is also said to be an incarnation of the sun. In China, the crow is a golden bird with three legs that is said to be an inhabitant of the sun. The sun is drawn by gold Maki-e and the eye and nail of the crow are also in gold but other designs are made by Taka Maki-e.