Lacquer work Utilising colored lac to decorate a variety of wooden articles which could range from walking sticks, pill boxes, book ends, ash trays, letter openers and wooden handles, lacquer craftsmen paint painstakingly accurate designs using two principal techniques: Biraluvada or spool work used to decorate wooden objects pinning on a lathe and niyapotuvada or nailwork wherein the craftsman uses his thumbnail to guide and break off the filament of lac. Some artisans also produce lacquer work by painting the object and then covering it with layers of varnish. Lac is a resin exuded from certain trees after it has been punctured by the 'lac' insect. The resin is plucked from the bark, melted down, strained through muslin and worked like pulling sugar. While still soft, pigment is pounded into the lac to produce the desired colour and then dried. BACK