rkg

I would have guessed saotome work rkg (Richard George)

Hi, In case anybody's interested, I just put some tsuba I bought mostly to photograph up on fleabay. Since I have no clue what to ask for things these days, I started them all out cheep... http://www.ebay.com/sch/rkgatteleport/m.html?item=252350270203&hash=item3ac13f8afb%3Ag%3A7M0AAOSwz2lXCZfQ&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562 enjoy, rkg (Richard George)

Pretty wild design - between that, the patina (if its actually blackish and not lacquer/fire scale), the seppa dai shape, etc. would make my first guess Ko-shoami... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Are all the tsuba/other designs like they appear - on separate pieces of paper that are glued into the book? It looks like somebody's personal scrapbook of designs - cool! Best, rkg (Richard George)

Brian, Thanks for your kind comments You may recall that I've posted spherical VR sets of items in the past - I have a rig to do them, but the number of images required gets out of hand quickly + actually the backgrounds become a pain to deal with. I'm not sure its the new way - all the big box stores, Dell, etc were hot on showing items like this for a while, but a lot of them stopped/scaled back the number of images/etc probably due to the cost of the bandwidth (even a really compressed spherical set takes a LOT of data...), etc. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Oh, we can put up more than one? :-) How about this then. Its a generic Onin piece, but I just also did a VR image set for it as well - first the images: And here's a link off to the VR image sets - the lighting isn't optimal as I was shooting a whole bunch of them at once using basically the same lighting (some for ebay , some just because (this piece)), but still: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/tests/vr_images/sakura_onin_front/sakura_onin_front.html http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/tests/vr_images/sakura_onin_back/sakura_onin_back.html rkg (Richard George) EDIT: I forgot the directions again (Doh!) - to rotate the viewpoint in the above image sets you need to click and drag to the right or left.

Mark, The piece does look yagyu-y, and some didn't have the laminations (later work, pieces contracted to the Ono group to make,etc), but its maybe a little large for a "real" yagyu (usually they are smaller ~70-71mm max , this one looks like its about 76mm?)? The size of the one that Mauro posted its arguably atypical in that respect. It doesn't look cast to me, but you have it in hand, so maybe you see some of the telltale bubbles, slumps, that funky cast surface, mold lines, etc that aren't visible in these pictures? I'd bet on it being a copy of some kind, but what do I know. James is right - it might be best to evaluate that piece in hand.. Good Luck, rkg (Richard George)

Oleg, you'd probably be money ahead to go to one of the upcoming shows and look at some pieces in hand. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Darcy, If you actually wanted to break even on all this imaging stuff, you need to be shooting something (well, most anything) else..... Say, potatoes: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/kevin-abosch-sells-photograph-of-potato-for-15-million-20160125-gmd6s4.html :-) :-) rkg (Richard George)

Brian, Oops, size would help, huh? :-) They're 56mm long X 14.5mm high Best, rkg (Richard George)

I don't really have any pieces that compare to these/are at this level, but how 'bout this - ezo kanagu (they're huge so I doubt they were menuki) not early-early, but not edo period umetada utushi either: Best, rkg (Richard George)

Funny, after spending several days working on getting a particular piece/set of kodogu to look right/their best I sometimes say that about swords :-) Best, rkg (Richard George)

Barrie, Thanks for the link - I'll ping the guy when I have time to build up some more box/liners. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Guido, True that. BTW, does anybody have a line on a vendor in Japan who sells those really high grade boxes the custom guys use? Thx, rkg (Richard George)

Brian, The trouble with doing it that way is that you don't get the fine features of the nakago ana/shape tsuba's mimi, etc. When I've messed with making liners, it seems like most of the effort goes into getting these to match up.... I wonder how much it would cost to get a piece scanned in 3-D - then you could then just have somebody over there print up a facsimile of the piece to ship over to the box maker or something... Best, rkg (Richard George)

James, count me in too... Best, rkg (Richard George)

It seemed to be commonly made by the Myochin group, but I think others did them as well. I've had a few: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/mokume_tsuba/2011_10_29_9999_15_comparison.jpg https://www.facebook.com/266005023454853/photos/pb.266005023454853.-2207520000.1446751776./469060573149296/?type=3&theater Best, rkg (Richard George)

Ken, That's pretty cool - Now that the kid has moved out I might be able to get back to working on the 1:1 scale models of cars I have in the garage, and this would be cool for fabbing some of those parts for them that are made made of unobtanium :-) On the camera, actually unless you're running up against some physical limit (it doesn't have the mode you need, the DR of the sensor, lens issues, resolution, etc) it actually matters less than you'd think for a lot of applications - top end stuff gives you the potential to produce a better image, but unless you get everything else right/have the appropriate gear combination you're just wasting money.... The old saw about owning an expensive camera making you an expensive camera owner is too true... I've been tempted to do some images with a $10 camera from the goodwill to show this sometime... Oops, image is loaded (you gotta love 30something layer 6Gb images) back to work.. Best, rkg (Richard George)

Jason, Actually, a lot of cameras would work (most better grade consumer digicams, lighter weight micro 4/3 systems, a number of 1.6 crop mirrorless and/or shutterless systems, etc) depending on your budget, how good you want the final results to be, what you already have lying around, etc. The unit appears to be too small to use a regular dslr without heroics/modifications, so other than that... At the very least you need something you can control the focus and exposure settings on manually, as well as trigger remotely and preferably view/possibly focus remotely as well (its a heck of a lot easier to do fine focus adjustments viewing on a tablet/computer screen than through the viewfinder/trying to use the small screen on the camera). You also need to be able to focus close enough, which can be achieved several different ways/have the right field of view to capture what you want to show. You would also want to consider at least having the capability to trigger a flash, as vibrations become a huge problem in macro work. The other thing that is really helpful is a LOT of dynamic range, which you generally don't get out of the tiny sensors on consumer digicams. I see the guy relisted it for $20 less... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Hey guys, Just a heads up - On the off chance anybody out there wants to play with doing VR image sets of fittings, an early Kaidan rig for doing this is on ebay and the auction is about to close. its not automated, but with this and a copy of pano2vr from garden gnome software you'd be good to go.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kaidan-Magellan-QC-VR-Product-3D-Turntable-object-Rig-Jewelry-Ring-Platform-Set-/301756463220? Best, rkg (Richard George)

Arnold, I owned a tanto by this guy for a while - he did nice work. He was a Yasukuni smith, but he only worked there briefly - he was sent off to run another facility or some such thing in short order.\ rkg (Richard George)

I believe Ron is correct in pointing this out. Thanks for being the voice of Reason :-) You actually can learn something from most every piece. I posted some images not too long ago of a BTS ko-umetada piece - Apparently nobody at the show gave it a second look so I got it for not much cash, but its fascinating to me because 1) the piece was used a fair amount while still being cared for (that whole aesthetic kind of grows on you), and 2)it displays the characteristics of pieces attributed to that group (the way it was constructed/finished, the composition, how the nunome was done on the brass, etc). https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.892783374110345.1073741853.266005023454853&type=3 Best, rkg (Richard George)

Alex, The best nanako pieces I've seen I've shot for other people, and I'll have to get permission to post - I've currently only got one piece with nanako on it - and its early so its not as good as you see later, but given that its not bad: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200642158755267&set=a.10200642158675265.1073741825.1199211370&type=1&theater Getting some books/studying is a very good idea (usually a lot cheaper than the usual "buy, figure out you got screwed, sell at a loss" loop that beginners typically do), and I'd second or third or whatever working with Grey on this (he's one of he best sellers I've ever dealt with). But also you should endeavor to look at as many decent pieces in hand as you can as well. Its funny - I started picking up these Cheep and Cheerful pieces as "buy, shoot, and shift" pieces (just to keep working on improving my technique), and found that some were actually surprisingly good in hand - never really jaw droppers (unless somebody really screwed up - I like those)/what is often recommended you collect, but... Best, rkg (Richard George)

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply to my Rorschach test :-) Best, rkg (Richard George)

Xander, "off the shelf" pieces were known a shiiremono. Though this term has negative connotations due to the mass quantities of low quality work that was churned out in the late edo/Meiji/later periods for the tourist trade, they weren't necessarily bad work (think Akasaka - a lot which were made later basically as gifts to be given by people returning from their stint in Edo) - they were just (mass) produced w/o a specific customer in mind (to be sold in shops, for stock to have on hand, etc). The really bad stuff/poor taste stuff people tend to call "dock work","hamamono", etc, as they were making it by the docks in Yokohama, etc right where the tourist ships pulled in... There actually is a class of tsuba that were made across history that are interesting but aren't terribly expensive - I don't think the Japanese have a category for them, but but Rich Turner had a great term for them - Cheap and Cheerful tsuba. Some are pieces that were made in quantity (like the plethora of old, "seasoned" ko-kinko tsuba that you see), some have been cared for but used a LOT, some are categories that are kind of on the outs these days (there are trend/fads in collecting like anything else), some don't exhibit some highly prized trait for the group (monster size, etc), etc. Here' s few examples, all of which didn't cost much (I think they were all $250 or less), but they are generally interesting in hand: First, a heianjo tsuba that's been loved for a looong time - this piece has a dynamic composition, great presence in hand, and you can tell its been used a LOT - the zogan is long gone, its been remounted at least a half dozen times, etc: http://www.rkgphotos.com/recent_stuff/riceball_front%281%29/Images/riceball_front%281%29/Lv2/img01.jpg Next, an akasaka piece - I ended up selling it, but I still kind of regret it: https://www.facebook.com/266005023454853/photos/pb.266005023454853.-2207520000.1442244341./356361204419234/?type=3&theater Next, here's a ko-kinko piece - I think there's also a class of mis-priced tsuba - I took a flier on bad images on an online auction - it probably should have sold for more, but hey... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.862696487119034.1073741846.266005023454853&type=3 and finally, a surprisingly nice Saotome piece - it was funny - after I posted this one I was contacted by a former NMB member who had owned a VERY similar piece for a while - this piece is early, so the concept of "not made to order" pieces has been around for a while: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.891670057555010.1073741850.266005023454853&type=3 The problem is that there's this fine line between exhibiting wabi-sabi/use that is cool and just plain flogged/BTS/low quality pieces - there's a LOT of the latter out there unfortunately, and as with everything, you're probably better off looking at a LOT of pieces in hand before buying anything (I kind of have to agree with Grey on what to do with the piece you posted - its over the "flogged" line, and, well, if you've seen well done nanako...) - Looking is free (or nearly so - probably wise to buy a pint/lunch for any collectors that take pity on you and let you look at a few pieces, but...), perfect for the college student :-) Good luck, rkg (Richard George)