Hira Maki-e: Flat Sprinkled Gold

Maki-e — "sprinkled picture" — is Japan's signature lacquer decoration technique: a design drawn in wet lacquer, then dusted with fine metal powder that bonds to the tacky surface as it cures. Hira maki-e ("flat") is the base version, where the design sits level with (or barely above) the surrounding lacquer once finished. (Musubi Kiln, Guide to Maki-e Part 1)

The process

1. Okime-egaki: the design is drawn/traced on the back of a sheet of paper.
2. Okime-tori: that design is transferred onto the lacquered object via a stencil, laid down as lacquer brush strokes on the base surface.
3. Drawing: the motif is painted directly in lacquer (often a reddish bengara-tinted lacquer for visibility while working).
4. Maki (sprinkling): while the lacquer is still tacky, metal powder is sprinkled on through a bamboo funzutsu tube (see Chapter 9) so it bonds only to the wet design, not the surrounding cured surface.
5. Sealing & polishing: once cured, a thin sealing coat locks the powder in place, and the surface is sanded/polished back to reveal and burnish the metal design flush with the surrounding field.

A documented commercial account of this cycle (Namiki/Pilot's maki-e pen workshop) describes it as four repeated stages — lacquering, drawing, sprinkling, polishing — with a complete high-end piece requiring the cycle "as much as 130 times" and more than three months of elapsed working time. (Pen Boutique, Namiki lacquering artistry)

Gold powder grades (kindei)

(Shizendo, Maki-e: gold powders)