Float natural lacquer on water, lift the pattern onto paper and silk, and take home a bookmark and folding fan you made yourself.

There is almost nowhere in the UK teaching this.

Natural lacquer — urushi in Japan, and used across China and East Asia for thousands of years — has always been prized for its depth and its unmistakable surface. Traditionally it went onto bowls, boxes and furniture. Here we use it differently: floated on water, drawn into ribbons of colour, then lifted onto paper and silk.

The pattern forms in front of you, and it never repeats. That moment is the whole reason we teach this class.

🖌 How the session runs

- A short introduction to lacquer — where it comes from, how it's harvested, why it's been treasured for millennia

- A live demonstration of the floating and combing techniques

- Practice on test paper, so you can feel how the colours move before committing

- Marbling your bookmark

- Marbling and assembling your folding fan

- Tea, while everything sets

🏮 What you'll take home

- A hand-marbled bookmark, finished with a tassel

- A hand-marbled folding fan

Both made entirely by you. No two are ever alike.

Who's teaching

Le trained in fine art in Wuhan and holds a master's from the Glasgow School of Art. His work has shown at the London Art Biennale, the Affordable Art Fair London and Glasgow International, and he's been shortlisted for the British Art Prize and the BADA Art Prize. Yuki studied art in both China and the UK.

Practical bits

- 2 hours · maximum 6 people · all materials, tools, aprons, gloves and tea provided

- No experience needed — none at all

- Free parking on site. The bus stop is at our door — Lothian 12, 26 and 31, directly opposite Edinburgh Zoo, around 15 minutes from Haymarket

- 3rd floor, lift access

Description supplied by the event organiser.