re: Japanese Lacquerware or Urushi

All great info, Martin.
I think I have seen some of those examples before - the one with the greyish cloth for sure.
I now have some of the "fluffy brushes" for working the powders, and would like to get a few of the special chisels for doing Chinkin, but hard to figure which would be the best two or three to begin with - and they arent cheap.
The tip about dabbing with washi paper is good.  

I made an attempt at chinkin and found that the varnish I am using is brittle and tends to chip when it is cut with a knife.  Maybe chisels will be better?  My amateurish solution is to do the cutting in the wood before the lacquer is applied.   The box I am currently working on has some patterns done this way.

I need to find out what that paper is they use like carbon paper.  Today I am making an attempt with normal drawing paper.  So we will see.