Kingin
Gold and silver leaf, beaten to a ten-thousandth of a millimetre and laid one sheet at a time.
Gold, silver, pewter and aluminium each have a deep shine of their own.
Beaten thin, laid by hand
Leaf is beaten to about a ten-thousandth of a millimetre, then laid by hand one sheet at a time, work so delicate that craftsmen sometimes hold their breath. Gold, silver, pewter and aluminium each have a deep shine of their own.
Most of the work of making leaf is done by hand, so colour, lustre and thickness differ from sheet to sheet, and from lot to lot.
Silver that turns red, blue and black
Genuine silver smoked over sulphur changes colour as it goes: from silver to red, to blue, to black. Each stage can be held as a leaf of its own. Brass treated the same way takes on many colours, which are scattered across the paper in Nanasaichirashi.
Leaf also changes with its form. Whole leaf, flaked leaf and leaf dust each catch the light differently. Sora moves from one to the next, like time condensed; Gekka mixes them to the lustre of moonlight.
Six ways of working leaf
Hiraoshi
Leaf beaten into extremely thin sheets is laid flat, one square at a time. The work is so delicate that craftsmen hold their breath, and it shows the beauty of the genuine leaf.
Kuzuhaku
Small pieces of leaf are sprinkled across the surface like stardust.
Surihaku
Leaf is given an antiqued colour finish using suri, a decorative pressing technique.
Kinukasane
Leaf is laid over thin silk, whose uneven woven surface gives it a deep shine.
Kodaikinu
Creped silk is laid over the leaf, so that its subtle shine surfaces through the fabric.
Mokumeshima
Two sheets of thin fabric are overlaid to make a striped wood-grain effect, with leaf dust shining from beneath.
The leaf designs
Minerals weather, erode, turn to gravel and in time return to sedimentary rock. Sora is like time condensed: it moves from whole leaf to flaked leaf and finally to leaf dust. Made in pewter leaf.
The lustre of moonlight falling from the sky. Flaked leaf and leaf dust shine differently, yet overlap and mingle beautifully across the paper.
A deep shine under even the faintest light. Brass leaf is smoked over sulphur to produce foils of many colours, which are then sprinkled across the paper.
Hiraoshi is the technique of laying leaf that has been beaten into extremely thin sheets. It is so delicate that craftsmen hold their breath as they work, and it brings out the beauty of the genuine leaf. Here in large squares of aluminium leaf.
Leaf coloured by smoking genuine silver over sulphur and thinning it out. As it is smoked, genuine silver turns from silver to red, to blue, to black; this is the black.
The hiraoshi technique brings out the beauty of the leaf itself. Genuine silver, pewter, aluminium and brass each have their own distinctive way of shining.
Leaf changes its expression over time. Here it is given an antiqued colour finish using suri, a decorative pressing technique.
Kinukasane is the technique of laying leaf over thin silk. The uneven, fibrous surface of the woven silk gives the leaf a deep shine.