LAC. 
35 
The turning lathes employed are of a very primitive construction. 
The object is pivoted upon two fixed points, and is revolved indepen¬ 
dently of the lathe. The operator works in a sitting posture on the 
ground. The object is revolved by a second man, by means of a 
piece of rope twisted two or three times round it or round a block to 
which it is attached. 
The lac-pigments are prepared as follows. The freshly collected 
twigs bearing the lac insects are dried in the sun. The resin is then 
removed, pounded, and winnowed or sifted. In this condition it is 
termed simply “ laccada.” It is then packed into small bolster-shaped 
bags of thin cotton cloth and roasted over charcoal fires. As the lac 
melts and oozes through the cloth it is allowed to drip on to a smooth 
leaf or the smooth surface of a piece of plantain stem, where it cools 
into a hard brittle mass of a deep brown colour. This is the uncleared 
lac, locally termed “Kahata ekka.” A piece of this uncleared lac is 
next softened over the fire and attached to the point of a short stick. 
It is again warmed and a second stick attached to it. The softened 
lac is then drawn out between the two sticks, worked about, 
doubled up, and redrawn many times, until it assumes the form of a 
long stout ribbon of glistening fibrous lac of a bright golden brown 
colour. It is now known as drawn lac, or “Kahata netta.” It only 
remains to add the pigments,—a process which I was not allowed to 
see, but it is doubtless effected in much the same manner as described 
later, in the account of the Matale lacwork. 
The pigmented lac finally appears in the form of broad cakes or 
sticks—resembling coarse sealing-wax—of four colours : red, yellow, 
green, and black. They are usually shaped so that the edges vary in 
thickness, to permit of fine lines or broad bands of colour being 
applied. 
The object to be ornamented is now attached to the lathe and 
revolved as described above. The pattern is in the form of bands of 
colour of varying breadth ; the width of the several bands being first 
marked out by holding the thin edge of one of the cakes of pigment 
against the revolving wood at the measured intervals. Where large 
surfaces are to be covered, narrow lines of one colour are often super¬ 
posed over a ground of another colour. A favourite combination— 
especially for the decoration of small tables—is a black ground with 
concentric rings of yellow or yellow and red. 
As mentioned above, the pigment is applied by pressing the cakes of 
coloured lac against the revolving wood, to which it adheres by the 
heat of friction. After the surface has been roughly covered in this 
manner the colour is evenly distributed (while the object is still 
revolving) by means of small pieces of cane with blunt chisel-shaped 
ends. The application of colour is repeated several times, and the 
work is finally polished by holding against it a piece of fresh Pandanus 
leaf, assisted at intervals by the application of the operator’s finger. 
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