On a trip to Vietnam 7 or 8 years ago, we visited a lacquerware factory. Impressed with their lacquerware, and particularly the Mother of Pearl shell pictures they were producing in all shapes and sizes, I purchased a few of the smaller ones. My idea was that they might well form decorative box lids.
Having forgotten about them, I rediscovered them late last year and decided to make a simple box and incorporate one of the pictures into its lid.
My biggest concern was that I might sand through the original lacquer while applying the edging to the lid, and then finishing it ….. but it worked! My polyurethane adhered well to the lacquer and I was able to get a flat finish using up to 1200 wet and dry paper and then polishing compound. I used acetone to make sure the lacquer was free from finger grease before applying the polyurethane.
The main box is my usual veneered plywood construction with walnut bands included in the sides for the cut line, and the bottom edge and the groove for the bottom. All the edges then had a square walnut edging applied after the box was glued together.
Perhaps the only downside is that the original MOP shell pictures are portrait rather than landscape………
