
Recreating Lost Colors - Rotdhizon
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/t-magazine/pedro-da-costa-felgueiras-recreating-lost-colors.html
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unwind
Really interesting, and what a cool niche to work in (although I also think it
would be ... frustrating).

This part didn't parse for me:

 _[...] racks of wooden-handled brushes with bristles made from rat’s tail fur
and the hair of pearl divers._

The hair of what? Can "pearl diver" mean something else than a human diver,
hunting for pearls? Do they really donate their hair to make brushes? Why
them? What ... ?

~~~
davegardner
From what I've discovered, it must be a Japanese Lacquer Brush. Traditionally
these are made from the hair of pearl divers, "selected as the finest and
densest fibre."[1] Another reference I found quotes that "They say that the
salt strengthens the hair"[2]

[1] [http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/01/12/pedro-da-costa-
felgue...](http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/01/12/pedro-da-costa-felgueiras-
lacquer-paint-specialist-japanner/)

[2]
[https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02309/](https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b02309/)

~~~
unwind
Thanks! I guess that makes sense, but I didn't think it through. I wonder what
the original author thinks of that, do they expect their audience to be aware
of this? Weird.

~~~
JKCalhoun
Ha, ha, author wants the reader to perk up and do some googling... ;-)

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tomcooks
Having built my own brush out of a (deceased) fox tail hair made me appreciate
the skill and patience it takes to produce an usable, precise tool

