That proved to be true—the pen shows off exquisite, meticulous work. Edison Urushi Project Limited Edition (LE) collaborations. My first email to Ernest was about the base cost for an urushi Mina to help me plan a budget. Ernest’s work is very good yet not up to Danitrio’s or Nakaya’s. Vac700 (maybe), Click if it comes with a 1.1 CI. No question about it, Ernest has an artist’s soul. How well will the pen turn out? The turtle was first done with charcoal powder but later with gold powder for the visible surface. this is more like a wish list but trying my best to limit is to the minimum to make it realistic. Wow. Once there was sufficient height, I covered it over with black lacquer and polished it. The short story: a custom urushi Hakumin Edison is ordered through Hakumin Urushi Kobo. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. In our email exchanges, I got a good sense of Ernest’s ability to take the few vague ideas I gave him and turn them into some good design ideas. Ernest would present his thoughts and ideas, and I would respond back favorably or not to them. The longer the wait became, the more excruciating the wait became. Oh yeah, all of this pen goodness came within the budget I gave to Ernest. I’m thoroughly fascinated and I think one day I’ll have to get something special for myself like this! Brooks Haxton's poem is from his new book Mister Toebones. Well here it is . The budget was made up knowing which cherished pens I needed to sell in order to raise the funds. Here's a third option: Ernest of Hakumin Studio. Tale of a Vandal Pen Collector: It’s Personal—Hakumin Edison. And so, I emailed Ernest a proposed modest budget so that he would know the limitations he had to work with. Oh dear, could I have it on the barrel? The F nib was turned into an EF nib by Michael Masuyama. The pen arrived in an Edison box, wrapped in the stunning handmade kimono Ernest had made—much nicer and sturdier than the standard kimono that came with my Nakaya and Danitrio. I realized after the planning stages that I would only be able to apply one or two shapes a day to make sure the lines between them are as neat as possible. The shiro-tamenuri was a very dark red-black finish—except at where the cap and barrel meet giving a peak of brown—glossy and handsome. You have to hold them to feel and see. My answer would be kinda meaningless. Although Urushi is not unknown outside of Japan, many have only been exposed to a relatively small range of what is possible when using lacquer. Thank you for writing this! I have received Ernest’s permission to use his digital images, and to quote him where necessary. I’ve been conflicted about sharing my beautiful pen because it’s so personal to me. Better than Nakaya's urushi IMHO, plus Edisons can be cc or eyedropper. However, over a short time of use, the flaws have smoothed out and disappeared. I should have nixed the turtle after all! 2012 Sep, FPN Pen Turning forum, Collaboration in progress: 2011 Apr, FPN Writing instruments subforum. His work is exciting and wonderful to hold. Although urushi and the lacquer craft has developed over the course of several millennia, it is such a versitile medium that there are still the potential for new ideas, techniques and designs. This is repeated as many times as necessary to gain the height desired. Brian was right-on about his glowing words for his frequent collaborator. He was agreeable to that, but felt that the pen length needed to be changed so that the design would not look off-balance. There were some aspects to the section and the inside of the cap lip that felt unfinished to me, and surprised me to see. Ultimately, Brian arranged for master nib grinder Michael Masuyama to give me a seriously smooth EF Mina nib. Thus, my Mina is not quite an extended or a standard, but something in between. The thing is: the pen was worth the wait. The base is (as with my other Hakumin Urushi pen) an Edison Pearl with an Edison 18kt italic nib. From there, I wrote Ernest of my desire for a standard size Mina, how I loved brown pens, and gave him some concepts that I hoped to see in his work. The pen cannot be begun without your approval, n’est-ce pas? I really like his signature being next to the custom maki-e work. Ernest’s work is gorgeous, and he impresses me as someone on the way to becoming a artisan master. Photos can’t capture the difference. Hakumin Urushi, run by Ernest Shin, is a US-based studio devoted to working with the Japanese tradition of lacquerware and exposing it within the United States as well as the western world. Ernest, who has studied architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania, is an up and coming urushi artist whose canvas is fountain pens. So, I contacted Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi to find out is he could make a Negoro in Kuro-Tamenuri. Kuro-Tamenuri is red under black where the red comes through. customized EF or smaller nibs for Edison Pens. I’m gobsmacked by this post. Awesome pen! Remember in this kind of process, you too must do some mulling before responding to suggestions and proposals. While the urushi and maki-e components originate from Japan, and the nib units from Germany, the fountain pen and lacquer work are done in the USA. Payment to H.U.K. Don’t be afraid! Brian wrote me that he “would put all faith in Ernest’s artistic abilities.” I do trust Brian, and so moved the discussion over to Ernest about a possible urushi Mina. Inked up as an eyedropper, my pen weighs 26g capped and 19g uncapped. Ernest reassured me that he was doing his best work for my pen, and guess what? Since 2010 Brian Gray at Edison has been collaborating with Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo, and creating some beautiful lacquered fountain pens. Ernest’s small signature is next to the hexagon pattern. The taka-maki-e gives a lovely, tactile aspect to the pen, exquisite and beyond my expectations. The studio works as it was common in the Momoyama and Edo Period whn te Shogun or Lords run their own swordmaking, ceramic or in this case a lacquer studio with a wide range of specialists to realize highest quality lacquer objects for being used in their own hosehold, for personal admiration of the familiy members or used for giftst. As Miracle Max has oft been quoted. The design was very exciting to see: He managed to incorporate an idea we had earlier nixed, and I felt he had worked hard to give me a design that captured the essence of what I desired. The fact that it is raised like the rest of the work looks amazing, and consistent. Ernest, who has studied architecture and design at the University of Pennsylvania, is an up and coming urushi artist whose canvas is fountain pens. He formed Hakumin Urushi Kobo in 2010, and performs his magic on both Edison pens and vintage fountain pens. Brian at Edison turns the pen for Ernest, sends you and Ernest photos of it for your approval, and then sends the raw ebonite pen to Ernest. This is because I am painting each shape individually with a brush, and getting those shapes close without touching requires me to let the individual shapes cure before applying the ones adjacent to it. My Hakumin Edison Mina combines my favorite pen things: a sweet, smooth EF nib, a large ink-tank, Edison design, and inspiring urushi and maki-e artisanship. Michael Masuyama does superb work, and I’ve used his nib services many times over. HOWEVER: You do not have permission if you are using links or content and charging money for access to links or content. What if it sucks? How will it fare with my expectations? I’m looking forward to finding out how many pages the pen will write before it needs refilling. 4. You can peruse Ernest’s website and select from a variety of urushi Edisons. This is a great service that Brian has brought to Edison Pens. Figuring that there would be an urushi Mina Project, I considered waiting to see what that pen would look like. Kuro-Tamenuri is red under black where the red comes through. See more ideas about wooden tie, wooden bow tie, wood bowtie. What if I hate it? Although we talked about a couple of other finishes I was interested as well (like a tame-midori), the shiro-tamenuri sounded like a good choice. What if there was a problem with the design? Making of a Grail Pen—Hakumin Urushi Kobo Edison Skinny Pearl Kyokko, Edison Morgan Heki-Tamenuri Urushi Clipless Bulb-FIller, “Urushi—Japanese Lacquer in Modern Design”, Edison Mina Review – the Long and the Short of ’em, ‘Tis the Season: Celebrating Blog Readers. The standard and extended Mina normally hold 3ml of ink as ED pens. Since 2010 Brian Gray at Edison has been collaborating with Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo, and creating some beautiful lacquered fountain pens. In fact, Mr. Masuyama (aka MikeItWork) now grinds all customized EF or smaller nibs for Edison Pens. So, I contacted Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi to find out is he could make a Negoro in Kuro-Tamenuri. He may have underestimated the time and difficulty of the turtle part of his design. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. The Edison Mina is a small “canvas” for maki-e. One of the reasons 99% of Danitrio fountain pens are so large is because the larger pen gives more space for the artist to work. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. This particularly applies to those of you with newsletters you ask payment for from subscribers. I’m more tempted than ever to order a custom pen, but I can’t fathom ever affording even a standard urushi pen – let alone a bespoke model! To be honest, I didn’t even know that his signature was on there. I have a custom pen design I started collaborating with Ernest on, but haven’t done much with it yet. It was a small budget, but one that might get me a simple yet unique fountain pen to write with. With the additional bore capacity, my Mina holds a good 4ml of ink! From Ernest, here’s his description of his work on my Mina: The base is shiro-tamenuri, which is the white lacquer (shiro-urushi) with natural colored translucent lacquer applied over it. The hexagons were done by sprinkling charcoal powder into the painted motif to increase the height. Order to raise the funds responding to suggestions and proposals if you want customization Ernest. Wanted to be honest, I contacted Ernest Shin of Hakumin Urushi Kobo in 2010 and. 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