Some Amazing Bekko (Japanese Tortoiseshell) Work

As someone with a longstanding interest in working with tortoiseshell I found this video entrancing as it follows a craftsman creating some uber-hipster spectacles.  If I understood Japanese my enjoyment would be all the greater.

I especially delighted in the demonstrations of sawing, scraping, and filing the tortoiseshell into some trend-setting spectacles, and most particularly the use of heated plates to achieve shell welding.

This additional video profile of the same craftsman making a different pair of spectacle frames, with some additional coverage of sea turtle conservation.

Finally this half hour walks us through the creating of various objets d’art, concentrating on some hairpieces.

I wonder from whence came the raw material.  Inasmuch as there has been a prohibition in the commerce of tortoiseshell harvesting, is all this tortoiseshell the remnants of pre-ban inventory?  I know this reality was fundamental to me inventing my own tortoiseshell substitute.

Back to regular blogging in a few days, resuming my reports from WIA.