black as urushi 2024.10.30

In Japan, there is an expression "black as urushi" or "raven black". The blackness of Japanese lacquer is thought to be the most black and beautiful of any blackness. Actually, the color of lacquer itself is not black, clear yellowish brown and it turns black when it mixes with iron powder. European people struggled to express the “jet black” peculiar to the urushi with familiar material and created a new painting technique, called Japanning, simulating the lacquerware. These sewing machines seem to be "Japanning".