Address: Miyagi-ken, Sendai-shi, Aoba-ku, Ichibancho 1-12-40
Tel: 022-225-6858
Fax: 022-225-6858
Open time: 9:00-18:00
Web site: http://www.zenh.co.jp
Total spent: Making one pendant -> 1300 Yen
The atelier Pure ZENH Studio was founded 5 years ago by Zen Tanaka, the 19th
master of a 414 years old copper craftsmanship school. He started his work with
copper when he was 15 years old and has been honing his skills for 11 years now.
In his store you can buy already made products being shown at the shelves or order made products,
both of them are handmade one by one so each product has it's unique features and no two are exactly the same.
Besides that, copper products are products for a life time that get better with time. For example,
a copper frying pan that has being used for a long time incorporates some of the taste of the fat and makes
an even better hot cake (pancake). Even more, the copper changes it colors with time according to the
person who is in constant contact with it. The way each person's makes the copper change into different
colors is a very interisting thing.
Tanaka-san's repertoire includes frying pans, milk kettles, kettles, pendants, cufflinks, spoons and others.
Copper is a very versatile metal.
You can also try to make copper pendants, spoons or plates yourself.
Last, but not least, a word from Tanaka-san：
To the foreigners
・Make sure you come to play and see a real Japanese craftsman (wearing a japanese craftsman costume).
・Traditional techiniques with 414 years of history.
Sendai's good point
・One thing I'm oftenly told from tourists that come to the store is that Sendai is a town that has
a nice cultural atmosphere.
Overview of the products
Some of the products
Tools, training piece and real pendant.
Overview of the shapes you can engrave.
Do it yourself workdesk.
Ton ton to
Pendanto tsukuri
Ii kanji
We went to Pure ZENH Studio by bike and, although I didn't find the shop at first, it is very easy to find it
with it's glass walls through which you can see the copper products and Tanaka-san working. You just need to pay
a little attention and you can easily find it.
This time we went by the experience of making copper pendants ourselves. The pendant making process is as follow：
①Choose the pendant shape.
You can choose between star, heart, circle, ellipse and other shapes.
②Practice engraving the shapes on the copper.
Before engraving the real pendant we can try engraving a training copper piece.
You can engrave different shapes into the copper, from numbers and characters to crosses, clovers and feathers.
The numbers and characters are easy to engrave, but there are some shapes that are pretty nasty to engrave nicely.
Also engraving with the same character space and on the same line can be quite challenging. But you can practice a lot
on the training piece and it's very fun to try out engraving different shapes and combinations.
③Engrave on the real pendant.
After practicing enough it is time to get real. The pendant don't have that much space (well, it's a pendant) so it's better
to think well about the layout before starting to engrave the shapes.
④Dip in sulfur
After cleaning the pendant with sodium bicarbonate it's time to dip the pendant in a sulfur solution to give it some color.
The exact color it will become is uncertain, you only choose if it's going to be a darker color (dip more times) or a brighter
color (dip less times).
The 3 pendants we made (mine and Etos' Saito-san's other 2) all came out with totally different colors.
⑤Make it in a pendant or a strap.
Lastly you can choose to transform yout piece of art(?) in a pendant or a strap.
It was a very interesting and enjoyable experience which made me forget the passage of time. If I have the time I'd like to try
making other copper products (spoon, plate, cup, etc). Also, Tanaka-san's works were very beautiful and I was told that sake drank
from a copper cup is very tastefull, so I think I'll by myself a copper sake cup before going back to Brazil.
