This will make the painting reflect more color, and seem metallic when it is finished. Another technique is to add crushed eggshells to the paint, so that broad areas of color take on a mottled effect. This technique can be seen in a many of the paintings. After the lacquer painting dries, it must be sanded. Once it is finished, it will have strong and true colors, and will also be much less vulnerable to elements like water, and accidents or breakage.
Geometric shapes can augment the design of a composition.
The top line of their hats becomes a horizontal line that runs across the painting, and the inside line where their hats come together makes a vertical line which is extended from the top to the bottom of the painting. With these powerful lines, the whole composition is bisected and divided into quadrants. In this way, everything in the painting seems to emanate outward from an origin point where the two lines intersect. The fish reappears in many of the lacquer paintings, being used both as a symbol for food, sustenance, and as a source of income for the fish sellers. Women, also, seem to dominate these paintings, being the ones engaged in the activity which feeds both them and the people of their communities.