Shakudo and shibuichi ojime
Re: darn it, picture glitch again -- Mel H Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Rosanna Mail author
03/16/2014, 09:39:39

Mel,

Lovely ojime collection strand!

I believe your coppery colored ojime is made from shibuichi, a copper/silver alloy. Shakudo is a gold/copper alloy which is normally blackened. In fact both shibuichi and shakudo were normally patinated to bring out a range of colors which depended on the exact composition of the alloy.

Here are two ojime from my collection - with shibuichi base on one, and I believe the black base on the other is shakudo, but not 100% sure.

The attached link has some info on Japanese metal alloys.

ShubuichiBaseOjime.jpg (36.9 KB)  ShakudoBaseOjime.jpg (38.9 KB)  

Related link: http://jimkelso.com/japanalloys.htm

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