Looking At Five Entry Level Maki-E Pens And The Mythos That Produced Them.

December 26, 2016

WOW this post is great! Thanks for those incredible photos and congrats on a very nice collection you have there.

Where can one look for those Platinum pens?

December 28, 2016

Thanks so much for the post, jar. I have a silk-screened maki-e brush pen from Platinum (not fountain pen) with a different cranes-and-sunset (sunrise?) design, and just looking at it makes me happy. Someday I hope to add one of the fountain pens to my accumulation as well.

December 28, 2016

The pens series shown range in prices from around $100.00 to over $600.00. That may not seem "entry level" but for maki-e it really is. There are some pens sold at even lower prices as maki-e but in those cases what you get is synthetic lacquer and machine painted pens.

Having seen a lot of "real" maki-e pens on some website several years ago, he's right -- the pens I saw were in the five figure range (not the three figure range of these being discussed in the thread). A couple of years ago I would have said that even these were too expensive, but as I've learned more and more about what I like and don't like I'm finding that while a $200 pen is a threshold I haven't yet crossed, I now don't blink twice at the $100-$180 range.

I do have a question about the "synthetic lacquer" -- anyone have ideas as to what it's made of? I've seen some really beautiful maki-e pens, but I don't dare buy one (even if I could afford it) because of the urushiol oil. Especially after seeing a post awhile back where someone was getting a rash on his/her chin all the time from rubbing the back of the pen against it -- and figured out it was an allergic reaction to the lacquer (me, I'd be in misery -- urushiol oil is the same stuff that's in poison ivy, which tends to go systemic on me... ). But depending on what the lacquer on these "low-end" maki-e pens, they might be worth me taking a look at them and seeing if they would fit In my budget at some point in the future....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

January 3, 2017

Having seen a lot of "real" maki-e pens on some website several years ago, he's right -- the pens I saw were in the five figure range (not the three figure range of these being discussed in the thread). A couple of years ago I would have said that even these were too expensive, but as I've learned more and more about what I like and don't like I'm finding that while a $200 pen is a threshold I haven't yet crossed, I now don't blink twice at the $100-$180 range.
I do have a question about the "synthetic lacquer" -- anyone have ideas as to what it's made of? I've seen some really beautiful maki-e pens, but I don't dare buy one (even if I could afford it) because of the urushiol oil. Especially after seeing a post awhile back where someone was getting a rash on his/her chin all the time from rubbing the back of the pen against it -- and figured out it was an allergic reaction to the lacquer (me, I'd be in misery -- urushiol oil is the same stuff that's in poison ivy, which tends to go systemic on me... ). But depending on what the lacquer on these "low-end" maki-e pens, they might be worth me taking a look at them and seeing if they would fit In my budget at some point in the future....
Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Can't say about the synthetic lacquer. Could be any number of compounds, but synthetics typically cure really fast. As you mention Urushi lacquer material contains urushiol, which is the oil found in plants like poison ivy. The oil oxidizes and polymerizes forming the hard lacquer finish we all love so much. The reaction takes place at high humidity in essentially a humidor. Cures in one or two days depending on the thickness. Once cured it is not toxic in any way. There is no way a finished urushi pen caused an allergic reaction. Been used for centuries and only causes reactions in raw form. No need to worry.

January 3, 2017

Can't say about the synthetic lacquer. Could be any number of compounds, but synthetics typically cure really fast. As you mention Urushi lacquer material contains urushiol, which is the oil found in plants like poison ivy. The oil oxidizes and polymerizes forming the hard lacquer finish we all love so much. The reaction takes place at high humidity in essentially a humidor. Cures in one or two days depending on the thickness. Once cured it is not toxic in any way. There is no way a finished urushi pen caused an allergic reaction. Been used for centuries and only causes reactions in raw form. No need to worry.

I'm not so sure about that -- I read an article a number of years ago where 1500 year old lacquerware found at an archaeological site still gave people reactions. And awhile back someone posted that he/she were getting a rash from rubbing the end of his/her pen against his/er chin. And yeah, it was an urushi pen.

That's a risk I can't afford to take -- the last time I had poison ivy it went systemic and I had it for something like six weeks. I'm *that* allergic. It started with a little spot that I thought was a spider bite at first (I'm also allergic to those). So we stopped at a drugstore for some Benadryl cream to put on it. But in just a few hours of not very strenuous exertion (including walking around in the woods north of Boston for about an hour or so) the rash was on my face, both arms, both legs, and across my stomach. On the way home we stopped at the ER and I was given a prescription for prednisolone. Which did... nothing. I then had a round of regular prednisone (prescribed by my regular doctor), which suppressed the symptoms but didn't get rid of them -- once the run ended, the poison ivy came right back. So I was sent to an allergist, and *she* said "Oh, they just didn't give you a big enough dosage for long enough" and I was back on prednisone -- this time starting at 5 pills a day! That finally knocked it down permanently.

So for me, it's *crucial* that I know what the synthetic lacquers are made of. And unless I know for 100% certainty that I won't have a reaction, it's "look but don't touch". As for the "real" maki-ie pens? That rule goes double -- some of them are breathtakingly beautiful. But I don't dare touch one -- let alone buy one. (I had a friend in college who was immune to poison ivy -- to the point he said he rolled around in some at a Boy Scout camp! I'm not like that.....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth