The Japanese make great use of gold, precious metals, and rare minerals in their textile arts, most notably in couching (kinkoma) and Nishijin weaves.

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The highest quality handmade paper, the same as that used to print their paper currency, is first coated with a thin layer of lacquer. While still tacky, gold, silver, platinum, and other precious and semiprecious metals and pigments are applied in small sheets as leafing or dusted from above in small wafers through graded sieves. Even such exotics as peacock feathers and lapis lazuli may be pressed into service. The net result is a stunning bit of beauty in the form of rugged paper.

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Other than when simple gold leafing decorates the surface with its elegant beauty, a thin layer of polyester film is applied over the sheet to seal everything in. This is especially important with silver and silver-based designs to protect the surface from tarnishing with age. In addition, an enormous range of metallic shades may be produced by tinting the polyester before bonding it to the silver base. Unless otherwise specified, all of the yarns and papers I offer in this section have been produced with this manner of tinting silver.

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While this paper may be used as the background to artistic painting or in bookbinding and other arts, it is most often used in the textile industry. The sheets are cut into thin strips by hand or with the aid of an automated guillotine while retaining a wide border to ensure that the strips remain in order and the imagery intact.

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Figurative designs, as well as basic gold or silver leafing, may be woven flat as a supplemental weft in Nishijin-ori or as the warp used in Saga-nishiki.

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The thin strips may also be wrapped around a silk core to produce lustrous threads for use in embroidery, couching, and a whole range of luxury weaves.