Editing Lacquer (section)

===Types of lacquer===
[[File:Lacquer in liquid form, mixed with water and turpentine.jpg|thumb|Lacquer mixed with water and [[turpentine]], ready for applying to surface.]]
Types of lacquer vary from place to place but they can be divided into unprocessed and processed categories.

The basic unprocessed lacquer is called ''raw lacquer'' (生漆: ''ki-urushi'' in Japanese, ''shengqi'' in Chinese). This is directly from the tree itself with some impurities filtered out. Raw lacquer has a water content of around 25% and appears in a light brown colour. This comes in a standard grade made from Chinese lacquer, which is generally used for ground layers by mixing with a powder, and a high-quality grade made from Japanese lacquer called ''kijomi-urushi'' (生正味漆) which is used for the last finishing layers.

The processed form (in which the lacquer is stirred continuously until much of the water content has evaporated) is called ''guangqi'' (光漆) in Chinese but comes under many different Japanese names depending on the variation, for example, ''kijiro-urushi'' (木地呂漆) is standard transparent lacquer sometimes used with pigments and ''kuroroiro-urushi'' (黒呂色漆) is the same but pre-mixed with iron hydroxide to produce a black coloured lacquer. ''Nashiji-urushi'' (梨子地漆) is the transparent lacquer but mixed with [[gamboge]] to create a yellow-tinged lacquer and is especially used for the sprinkled-gold technique. These lacquers are generally used for the middle layers. Japanese lacquers of this type are generally used for the top layers and are prefixed by the word ''jo-'' (上) which means 'top (layer)'.

Processed lacquers can have oil added to them to make them glossy, for example, ''shuai-urushi'' (朱合漆) is mixed with linseed oil. Other specialist lacquers include ''ikkake-urushi'' (釦漆) which is thick and used mainly for applying gold or silver leaf.