Japanese lacquer source

Howdy all! A lurker comes from the shadows… I’m looking for a
source for the raw materials–lacquers–of the urushi type as
described in Carlos Codina’s book published by Lark Books. I’ve
searched archives and not found a thing.

Thanks so much. This online community is the most encouraging and
supportive resource of mentorship.

Dana Whitehorn-Umphres
@Dana_Whitehorn-Umphr

Hello Dana, I have searched far and wide for a source for urushi, and
not found much outside of Japan. One source in the US that seems to
be set up to deal with Western customers (although their site is all
in Japanese) is JapaneseLacquer.com is for sale | HugeDomains Be aware
though that urushi is pretty expensive stuff, it can be tricky to
work with and dry the stuff, and lots of people are very sensitive
to wet urushi.

Jack Reisland

I imagine the traditional lacquer material is not used that much
and the process now uses less irritating materials. Jesse

    I imagine the traditional lacquer material is not  used that
much and the process now uses less irritating materials. Jesse 

Actually, traditional lacquer use is alive and well in Japan. It is
still used in the production of food serving utensils, alters and
shrines, traditional masks and musical instruments, and many other
objects. There is also a strong contemporary lacquer crafts movement.
There are also many amateur lacquerers. There are shops in Japan
where you can pick a ready made wooden form, and lacquer it, much
like the decorate your own ceramics shops here in the US.

Jack Reisland