Inlaying Mother of Pearl -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

After fourth lacquering and drying, the artist applies the unique fish glue made from the air bladder of a type of fish to the surface. Then the artist inlays mother of pearl designs one-by-one onto the surface. The mother of pearl designs are delicately jigsaw-cut by skilled artisans.

Wet Sanding -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

This is a unique process. After fourth drying, the artist sands the surface with sandpaper soaked in water. It makes the surface much smoother. Then the artist applies fourth coat of natural lacquer to the surface and dries it in the drying house for a day.

Third Drying and Sanding -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

After filling cracks, the artist dries it once more for a day. Then the artist sands the surface again with sandpaper and applies third coat of natural lacquer to the surface.

Filling Cracks -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

After second sanding and lacquering, the artist dries it once more for a day. Then the artist makes a thick paste by mixing lacquer and yellow soil powder and fills the cracks between assembled wood panels.

Second Sanding and Lacquering -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

After drying for one day, the artist sands the lacquered surface with sandpaper again and applies the second coat of natural lacquer to the surface. Then the artist dries it in the drying house for a day.

First Drying -- How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

After the first lacquering, the artist dries it on the wooden drying rack in the shade for a day. It needs a special facility for best drying. The drying house has to be a half-sealed room with no dust at all for drying evenly over the entire surface.

How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design -- First Lacquering

After sanding the surface with sandpaper, the artist applies the first coat of natural lacquer to the surface with a brush. In this step, a full and even coat of lacquer is important. It needs a skilled brushing that can be acquired only from the repeated training for a long time.

How to create a lacquered wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design

From today, I will post the process of creating a wonderful wooden tray inlaid with mother of pearl bat design.

It starts with plain wooden tray early made for this. It's uniquely designed octagonal tray. First job is rubbing the surface smooth with sandpaper.