Mokume-gane vs Suminagashi
木目金 / 墨流し
Mokume-gane comes from Vessel and Craft Techniques and Suminagashi from Decorated Paper. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Mokume-gane
Mokume-gane is a Japanese metalworking process that bonds layers of different metals into one billet, then cuts and rolls it so the surface takes on a pattern like wood grain. The figure is a cross section of the stack rather than a decoration laid on top, so filing or polishing cannot remove it. It began as a way of decorating sword fittings.
Suminagashi
A technique in which concentric rings of ink dropped on the surface of water are disturbed by breath or brush and then lifted onto paper. The flow that appears on each sheet cannot be repeated, and from Heian period decorated papers to contemporary bookbinding it has continued as a method for inviting chance on purpose.
| Mokume-gane | Suminagashi | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 17th century– | 12th century– |
| Family | Vessel and Craft Techniques | Decorated Paper |
| Kind | Technique | Technique |
| Cues | The stripes close into rings and whorls that read like the end grain of a log / Reddish copper, white silver and darkened layers sit directly against one another / No two pieces from the same workshop carry the same figure, even at the same shape / The stripes do not stop at the edge; they continue through the thickness of the sheet | Streamlines of disturbed concentric rings / Layers made by the density of the ink / A pattern different on every sheet / Edges that keep the tension of the water surface |
| Best used for | When a ring or a vessel should be patterned by the colour of the metals themselves, with no plating and no inlay · When a small production run needs every piece to carry a different figure | Making a ground of which no two sheets are the same · Making a surface that handles quiet and chance at once |
| Type | Keep any stamp to a single small mark. Place it clear of the strongest stripes and cut its lines finer than the grain. | Place type clear of the flow and do not let it compete with the ground. |
| Composition | The pattern is the subject, so keep the form plain. Let the grain follow the outline of the object and close the edge with one narrow band left blank. | Fix the direction of the streamlines and run them diagonally to the edges of the sheet. |
| Material | Stack sheets of metals that differ in colour, such as copper, silver and shakudo, and bond them into a single billet under heat and pressure. Gouge into the face to expose lower layers, roll the billet flat, then raise it into shape. Finish by polishing and colouring so the layers separate. | Drop ink and surfactant alternately onto the water and disturb them with your breath. |
| Caution | Thin the layers too far while chasing a particular figure and one cut goes straight through, breaking the pattern. | Trying to control it completely produces a dead pattern. Decide in advance how much room chance is given. |