Sailor “Spring Under the Stars” maki-e pen

Japanese artists and master craftsmen are renown world-wide for their skill and artistry.  None more so than the Master Craftsmen that hand-craft the famous Sailor nibs, demand for which is currently exceeding their ability to manufacture and resulting in a waiting time for these hand-crafted masterpieces.  Unlike machines, the Master Craftsmen at Sailor can’t simply be left to run 24/7 to meet the demand.

Perhaps less well known is the use of maki-e artists by Sailor to produce some of the most outstanding and exquisitely decorated limited edition pens, the latest of which is ‘Spring under the Stars’. This is  the second of a series of four limited edition pieces “Seasons Under the Stars”, themed on the four seasons and depicting a combination of landscape and sky scape at night.  The Spring edition depicts the key stars of Leo, Virgo and Bootes (The Herdsman) constellations, over a Japanese spring evening landscape.

The pens are the work of Japanese artist Ikki Moroike  using the traditional techniques of  maki-e or “sprinkled picture”.  This delicate and laborious process involves sprinkling gold or silver powder onto wet urushi lacquer using many combinations of techniques which can achieve a variety of different effects.  This interesting video produced by the Sailor Pen Company shows the inordinate amount of time, care and skill necessary to produce one of these works of art.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn8jVZ0yCko&feature=endscreen&NR=1]

Each of the four Seasons Under the Stars is limited to 28 pieces world-wide and are available from The Pen Company.  Please contact us for price and availability.

Showing the detail and gradation achieved with different grades of gold and silver powder. It is also possible to see the 3D effect achieved by the building of urushi lacquer.