Finished making up a Japanese andon lantern, and glued it up this afternoon so it can dry overnight.

This is a trial piece to test joinery and general design. These are called kumiko andon because they feature kumiko patterns. This is for my wife Mariko, and if it meets with her approval when she gets back from Japan, I can start making them for sale.

It’s a fairly simple design with just a couple of asa-no-ha on the front and two side panels. The back doesn’t have the asa-no-ha. It stands just over 700 mm tall.

The side panels are fixed, while the back panel can be removed in the same way as a shoji door or window. This is for ease of replacing the paper if it tears or becomes dirty.

The top has a removable asa-no-ha “lid”.

A couple of coats of finish tomorrow, then fit the light holder to the base, and it’s all done.

Tags: Andon, lantern

This is the start of our blog. We’ll include both English and Japanese, and we’ll cover mainly work-related items; e.g. progress on current projects, interesting aspects or challenges in the work, and other general info on the types of shoji or kumiko we’re working on, and the various trechniques involved.

We’ll also include info and photos covering work trips we make to Japan and around Australia.

Japan has some absolutely marvellous and delicious food, and most regions have their own specialty dishes, so we’ll include some items on the various types of food we’ll be eating while in Japan.

Hope you find something interesting, and please visit us regularly.