RaggedyBird

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  • in reply to: Pigments #19882
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    THE BIG QUESTION. 😉
    Can Inkston.com get something like these Foo Dog Seal Stone Cases??????????????????????????

    in reply to: Pigments #19879
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    This is the result of my irritance with Maries Paints.
    Sick of the ruin and money waste of Maries inability to sell non-exploding paint tubes I have  decided the extra expense of Sakura is worth it.  Tricky to come by but I think inkston.com sell them also, you pay a little extra but hopefully inkston.com  can find some 12 tube boxes.
    ALSO with the 24 tube set you get one tube of GOLD PAINT. Which is Gold Leaf and sparkles like  diamonds in all colours including your black ink. 


    The reason I have changed is because I got tired of the lacking quality of packaging from Maries.

    IF YOU ARE NEW to the Chinese Arts IF you are ok with the cost increase I would recommend Sakura paints. They are mineral  which means they are NOT dyes so by majority of use they mix perfectly with the soot carbon granules of Chinese Soot Ink but moreover they do NOT seperate from the ink when the water pulls it through the fibres of the paper. It will “tide” exactly like the ink does.
    The benefit of this is that the soot does NOT get left behind while the water pulls the colour through the paper fibres leaving a pale colour stain all the way to the edge of the water “tide”.  Which happens with Western paints.

    Another reason why traditionalistically I ONLY use Chinese materials for my Chinese Art because the Chinese were creating these materials thousands of years before the west and they know how it’s done.

    My oppinion of Sakura paints in use?
    The colours are incredibly opaque. What this means is that you use less paint. Because it has incredible covering power.
    Also the radiance of the subtle pastels colours is beautiful.  Its a real joy to mix and watch the reuslts in the bowl and then see it on the paper.
    The “light-fastness” of the paints is reported to be about 98% fast across the spectrum. Which you would expect with mineral based colours.

    And for those intrigued with my Foo Dog seal case….. here he is dissected. 🙂
    I have not put any seal paste in the bowl yet as I have not cut the stones.
    This is another reason getting out into China is worth it because you just see so many things that are NOT on the market to the West.
    Foo Dog Seal Stone case.
    I hope this post was useful to someone who takes the Chinese Arts as seriously as we do.
    Best wishes…
    Neil Armstrong.
    Alias… RaggedyBird.com

    in reply to: Grind colour inksticks #19876
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    Oh Well done Felice. I just saw your link.
    Yes, porcelain is perfect.  Well done. You are ahead of the crowd. 🙂

    in reply to: Grind colour inksticks #19875
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    Sometimes it is easier to use a cheap “Porcelain inkstone”, not really an ink stone but I am told they were used. Had this one been used for ink it most certainly would NOT have been rendered this white.  🙂
    Using the rough porcelain surface makes the coloured particles a lot faster than a normal ink stone would but more than this they are particularly easy to clean.
    If anyone wants a set of 12 coloured ink sticks, I have had a set for almost 15 years that I do not use. They are well aged and would be great for making all the colours you require if this is what you wish to do to Paint Chinese style.
    Send me the shipping and you can have them for free.

    Porcelain Inkstone.
    Porcelain Inkstone especially used for Coloured ink sticks.

    in reply to: Cleaning inkstone #19859
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    The Dragon washed up pretty well. 🙂

    Cleaning the Dragon.

    in reply to: Cleaning inkstone #19854
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    And here is the stone after soaking in VERY mild soap water warm overnight and covering the stone with a wet sodden cloth.
    As you can see there will always be ink in these old stones. The more they age the more particles loosen and fall into the ink and so “pitting” occurs. It is stone. It is the nature of it.
    I love this stone.  It has pitted areas in the lower 5th.
    These rough parts release earth every single time I use this stone. That earth that frees must be under incredible pressure from when the rock was molten lava millions of years ago and every time I use this stone 600,000,000 (six hundred million) year old earth particles go into my calligraphy and paintings. Every time it dries this earth oozes out, just a rough area but since I’ve used this stone in 2006 it has done this.
    I would never sell it. I almost did but……… sometimes your soul becomes a part of these treasures.
    Also do you really want a stone that looks as though it just came out of the carvers studio? Age gives it the wisdom of your learning and in this the lessons of your learning will be apparent.

    .                                                                                                        .CLEANING THE DRAGON. 
    Cleaning the Dragon.
    As you see, the ink is a permanent fixture of this stone. It is the way of things. Soot is raw carbon. The root of everything on Earth. The stone is still incredibly beautiful.

    in reply to: Cleaning inkstone #19847
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    “The inkstones we use are round and its sometimes really difficult to get the ink out of the corners”
    HA ha !!!!!!!!!!!!
    OK, if it was not that I knew what you meant this sounded very funny.

    So, cleaning ink stones.   I have one that is over 170 years old. It is a dragon moonstone inkstone. It was given to me by a very old Calligrapher in China I spent some time talking with  in 2016.  By the very nature of the stone spots it holds ink.
    Do not worry about it.  If a simple washing up kitchen brush, soft plastic does not move the ink under running water dont worry.
    EVEN IF the base bowl of the ink stone is covered in soot, soot will scour soot.  Soot will make soot ink. Carbon is sharp.
    Dont worry too much.
    NONE of my inkstones have FLAT BASES.
    So a cleaning stone is no good.  And if you are wearing down the top layer of your inkstone  you are killing it slowly.
    Making it thinner and thinner.
    BE WARNED  –  BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT YOU ARE DOING. 
    Even if the bowl of the inkstone is starting to go black do not worry.  It will still age well and the making of fresh ink will always slowly sand down the surface moving the old ink soot.
    It is the nature of ABRASION.
    Be intelligent about this.
    You WILL kill your stone otherwise.
    Be careful.

    OVERNIGHT SOAKING.
    The inkstone below is a beautiful carved Moonstone Dragon Inkstone.
    I have soaked this overnight and later Ill include the results of simply soaking an inkstone and using a soft sponge to clean off the “expanded” gluey ink.

    Dragon Inkstone BEFORE soaking in warm water overnight.

    Dragon Inkstone BEFORE soaking in warm water overnight.
    RaggedyBird
    Participant

    Holy moses…. BUY ONE AND FIND OUT.   🙂

    I could tell you that each hair bristle is approximately 0.3m/m with an average ratio broadness of about 0.2-1.03% across the perimeter of the base but……………………….
    By the end of understanding the brushes properties you’d be an engineer…. not an artist.

     

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)