Dumbara rata kalala runner
Three weeks on a pit loom in Thalagune, in a pattern held only in the weaver's head.
$340
Matale lacquer bangles
$130
Colour melted on at speed, then lined with a thumbnail while still turning.
Materials & dimensions
- Kaduru wood core
- Natural lac with mineral pigment
7.2 × 1.6 × 7.2 cm · 90 g
Care
Lac is a resin, so heat is the enemy: no hot car, no radiator, no washing up. Wipe with a dry cloth. Perfume and alcohol will dull the surface on contact, so put them on before the bangles, not after.
Shipping & duties
Standard $45
Express $80.10
North America · 90 g · includes $6 for fragile packing
Free standard shipping over $250.
Import duties and taxes are set by United States, not by us. They are not included above, and your carrier collects them on delivery.
The story
Lac is a resin secreted by an insect that lives on the palu tree. It is scraped off, cleaned, coloured with mineral pigment and drawn into sticks about as thick as a finger. Sunil holds a stick against the wooden blank while it spins on a foot-powered lathe until friction melts it, and lays the colour on in one continuous pass. Lift the stick early and there is a seam, and a seam cannot be filled.
The fine banding is niyapothen weda — nail work. The lines are cut and burnished with the edge of the thumbnail while the piece is still turning on the lathe. It is done by feel at a speed that makes it impossible to watch properly. The nail on Sunil's right thumb has grown back thicker than the other one.
Three bangles: the red that the resin gives up naturally, black from lamp soot, and yellow from gamboge. He also mixes a green, and will not tell anyone how.
Sunil Wijesuriya
Matale, Central Province · working since 1994
