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Thank you Raz for another beautiful painting! 🙂
Ah, how nice! I think this is the Inkston Double Layer Xuan paper. Inkston double layer paper is much thicker than normal double layer Xuan papers. It is nice to see this humid weather in the painting. And I found that your signature seems to be very consistent in your paintings. Is that seal with black seal paste?
Hi riekjecares,
For the absolute beginners, you can consider our art material kit for beginners of Chinese painting and calligraphy.
For the brushes, you can consider the brushes listed in this kit. They are also available for sale separately. Inkston has special offer for workshops and schools. Please contact us service@inkston.com and our salesperson will be in contact with you shortly.
Hi riejkecares,
For me, I use mostly weasel hair brush to do the beak and eye because this type of hair is stiff and can easily create the texture feeling of the beak and eyes.
As for the size of the brush, I sometimes use the Inkston gongbi brush which is made with weasel hair. Sometimes, I just use the standard weasel brush which is used also for small regular script calligraphy.
Inkston 0903Ws 花枝俏 “Flower Brush” Extra Fine Detail LangHao Wolf brush
Or bigger sizes,
In fact, since different people usually have different preferences on Xuan paper. In order to find the most suitable paper without wasting money and time, we would recommend you to order a pack of our Inkston handmade xuan paper sample pack. This is 0.5 USD and contains 22 different types of papers which are well organized in a nice case. You can also get this sample pack for free for your first order at inkston.
Hi Amr,
We consulted some mounting masters and their suggestion is that you can boil the entire brush. However, I also heard that some people feel the brush would get a bit too soft after being boiled. Some people like it soft while some people prefer it a bit harder. It is a bit personal. There is no strict timing on the boiling process. Maybe you can check it frequently while boiling it?
And, the palm brush might have too much ‘dust’ *small bits of fibers. Normally the higher grade, the less small fibers would fall out. The small ‘dust’ can be very annoying when you use it to mount. Therefore, if you feel there seems to be endless small fibers falling out even after you have boiled the brush, you can use the brush for other purposes for a while. Other purposes can include use the brush to clean table, carpet, etc. Because this will help ‘polish’ the brush in a natural way. In the end, the brush will become ‘cooperative’. 🙂 Again, this can be different from people to people.
We would recommend you to apply different extra steps when you feel necessary. If you take very good care of the brush, a high quality brush can endure for 10 years or even more. The longer the better it can become.
For natural stone seal, it is not very recommended to use chemicals to clean it because the chemicals might harm the stone surface. There is a very popular way in China to clean the seal. I use kneadable eraser. This can help clean the small details on the carving. I think this way is quite good.
Please you can boil it for a couple of minutes or you simply soak the new brush in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. It would also be recommended to add a bit salt in the water. The salt can help protect the brush by creating an environment that is unfriendly to moulds.
Then, rinse the brush with clean water. Hang it to dry. Once the brush is dry, you can use it to mount.
Wow, beautiful! I love the villages very much!
I have tried 0809 raw Xuan paper too but I always feel it is a bit absorbent. How did you manage to paint such nice details of the dragon? Did you use alum and resin to lay the colors?
Made on Extra fine flower/bird paper from inkston.
By Riekje Bekkema
We have found this very nice Japan made natural gelatin. It is now available @inkston.
Wow, it is really nice! I like it very much! Thank you timeman123! I shall try to paint on this paper too!
Amr,
It seems it was mostly used in Europe, whereas in Asia starch/alum sizing was more common. I am not sure which is more robust. The alum is slightly acidic which tends to hydrolyse cellulose fibers. It is thought that the gelatin can buffer the pH somewhat and preferentially reacts with the alum to protect the cellulose. I am not sure if the same effect can be expected with starch.
