Laughing Demoness Tea Caddy

Simon secretly wants to be an artist alongside his role as tea-slinger. Using the broken teaware that has accumulated over the years, he's put together this one-of-a-kind piece. This tea caddy featured a character from one of Hokusai's darker Ukiyo-e prints: Warai han'nya/Laughing Demoness (1831). Though in reality it is a composite of two works, the original by Hokusai, and a 1890 copy by Ochiai Yoshiiku. It was made with several layers acrylic paint, urushi lacquer, and NSF certified food safe resin. Please hand-wash only with a non-abrasive cloth or sponge.Urushi is a sap from a tree grown in East Asia that polymerizes in the presence of humidity to form a completely inert, food-safe, acid, heat, cold safe surface. It has been used for centuries to make beautiful lacquerware. I (Simon) have been practicing with this medium for over a year now, and finally feel like I can produce some pieces that are at once worth displaying as art and using as fully functional teaware!