Chinese calligraphy materials

The Chinese calligraphy materials is known as the 4 treasures of the research . These are the comb, paper, ink and ink stone.

Chinese calligraphy makes use of an enormous number of brushes. Opposite to what one would possibly assume, the selection doesn’t rely upon a mode of calligraphy that one desires to observe however on the calligrapher's tendencies: tastes, energy, flexibility or rigidity of the wrist and arm, and so on.

Listed below are the three most used fashions, already offered within the web page Equipment and supports of the part Chinese painting :

1. The goat hair brush: Yang Hao .
2. The Wolf Hair Brush: Lang Hao .
3. The goat and wolf hair brush: Jian Hao . Made up of an outer crown of sentimental goat hair and an internal tip of exhausting wolf hair, it combines the elements of the 2 earlier brushes.

Notice: New brushes are stiffened by glue that holds the tip so as to defend it. This glue should then be dissolved with lukewarm water in order that the bristles regain their flexibility.

Earlier than utilizing the comb, it ought to be moist slightly earlier than soaking it within the ink. Then evenly faucet the comb on the inkwell to take away the surplus. Don’t load or empty the comb whereas turning as this may distort the tip.

To observe Chinese calligraphy, use a quite coarse paper referred to as Maobianzhi . It’s made with herbs. It’s yellowish in shade. This cheap paper means that you can observe at low price.

For a good looking calligraphy we use the identical papers as for Chinese painting .

That is the rice paper referred to as Xuan Zhi. There are two sorts:

1. Absorbent paper (Shengxuan) is probably the most used.
2. Non-absorbent paper (Shu Xuan) , additionally referred to as Fan Xuan is far much less worker.

Historically, India ink has come within the type of molded sticks. The legend attributes its invention to Xing Yi 800 years earlier than our period. It’s manufactured from carbon black and a combination of glue and plant substances. The carbon black obtained by the combustion of various supplies (fir wooden or a number of sorts of oil) makes it doable to fabricate inks of varied qualities.

This Indian ink stick is rubbed onto an ink stone with slightly water. The extra you rub, the thicker the ink turns into. We will then add water to acquire the totally different shades of density present in calligraphy

Now we use liquid ink from small cans. It’s dense sufficient to be diluted and thus receive the assorted shades. This type of ink shouldn’t be despised for its non-traditional look. It’s of excellent high quality and its practicality has earned it the choice with nearly all of calligraphers.

Barely tough, the ink stick is diluted with water on it. Essentially the most widespread are carved in stone however archaeological excavations have uncovered very previous inkwells in jade, lacquer, metals (bronze, silver or iron) or porcelain.

In itself, the calligrapher's ink stone is a really valuable object of artwork. However you don't must pay a fortune to get a superb high quality one. Nonetheless, it’s preferable that it has a canopy to stop the ink from drying out.

After every use, the ink stone ought to be washed clear with working water solely. You must also depart slightly water within the tank so as to protect the humidity of the stone.