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The tip for keep the ink from running does not require special materials. For example, the master suggest to put the painting in a plastic bag and steam the bag. Such tip does not require special materials. 🙂 The difficult part is to read these things in Chinese. Unfortunately, I do not see much information on these special techniques available in any other language but Chinese. We will try to publish articles to explain these tips as often as possible.
No, we do not simply say use which side of paper. Instead, other more important observations should be made for the ‘support the painting hear’ step. According to what I have read and what I have been told by mounting master, it is very important to observe the veins of the paper. Observe carefully the direction of the veins on the papers. If the veins on the painting paper is east to west, then remember to ensure the veins of the mounting paper goes from north to south. This means, make sure the two papers veins will cross each other and the angle is 90 degrees. This will make sure the surface is smooth and flat. This will make sure the next step will be good too.
There are many other techniques written in the book I have mentioned to you. Another thing you might need to know is how to avoid the ink running away during wet mounting. It is a bit complicated. This or next month, inkston will publish on article talking about it. Because different tip applies to different situations. For example, when the painting is recently made and needs mounting immediately. How to make sure the ink will not run off during mounting.
Two papers are used for the whole mounting: normal handmade Xuan paper/ mulberry paper, thick supporting mounting paper. These two papers are used respectively for the two mounting stages.
托画心Tuo Hua Xin / support the painting: normal xuan paper/ mulberry paper
Concerning the paper, yes, you would find people using Xuan papers, mulberry paper (*Pi paper) for mounting. Yes, in fact they work very well! 🙂 They are very good materials as backing papers to attach directly the painting on. In Chinese, you may call this as 托画心 ‘support the painting heart’. I once consulted a mounting master in Shanghai and was told that using similar type of Xuan paper to support the ‘painting heart’ (which means the original painting) is the best. He told me that this is because the two papers have similar features and can protect the painting well. Therefore, for this first mounting step (support the painting heart), we also suggest to use the same type of Xuan paper. Therefore, you do not need to buy any special type of paper for this step.
覆背 Fu Bei/ cover the back: cotton paper
(free shipping) Mounting Paper – Thick Cotton Xuan (supporting painting heart) 100 Meters
Afterwards, you will need to attached one or several more layers of papers on the painting which has been processed with ‘support the painting heart’. Yes, the special mounting paper listed on inkston.com is used for this step. It is very thick already. Therefore, one layer is enough. This step is called 覆背 ‘ cover the back’. Therefore, strictly speaking this paper listed on inkston should be called ‘covering back mounting paper’. This paper is not always handmade Xuan paper. They are machine made cotton paper. I feel they might be as least 40gsm, which is similar to our double layer Xuan paper. Considering that our double layer Xuan paper is much thicker than normal double layer Xuan paper available in market, the INKSTON machine made cotton paper is similar to the
thickness of piling 2 to 3 pieces of expert calligraphy paper. Therefor, this mounting paper is thicker and would be suitable for some special purposes. Another reason for us to supply this paper is because compared to handmade xuan papers, the machine made cotton paper is much cheaper. This paper is only available in rolls. (I think the paper shall be referred as paper made with high percentage of rice straw)
We are glad to receive your questions because we have been working on this subject for 1 month and half. We have recently published one article on the mounting tools and are currently preparing more articles on the mounting. These articles are based on our researches and interviews with local mounting masters.
托绫纸 Tuo Ling Zhi/ Mounting paper for silk fabric
Sometimes, people want to frame the painting with silk fabrics. There is special paper which is used to mounting the silk parts. (The product link will be available soon. If you need it urgently, please contact service@inkston.com )
If you can read Chinese, I can also recommend one book to you. It is a very good book written by student of a very prestigious mounting master. This masters mounted and prepared many valuable ancient Chinese paintings. Therefore, you might also read some special tips in this book. Unfortunately, it is only available in Chinese and it is difficult to translate it into English. We are trying.
You can also refer to our articles on mounting subject: https://www.inkston.com/stories/guides/mounting-materials-tools/
Yes, you are right. Our Expert Calligraphy paper is raw Xuan paper which is not sized or processed with alum at all. However, it does show this ‘semi-cooked’ effects. The effects is realized by our special combination of raw materials and the special way to process them. Because the ‘semi-cooked’ paper in fact functions best for calligraphy art works, we recommend this paper for calligraphy purposes. Since it is not processed with alum, please mount it the same way as you mount other art works done on raw xuan paper. Yes, please use the normal flour/ alum mounting paste. You can make very find mounting paste at home. We would also suggest you to do a bit testing if you are not sure. 🙂
In fact both the Li Ting Gui and Royal ink are made with premium oil soot. Oil soot is the type for calligraphy. Therefore, both are proper choices for professional calligraphy works. The Old Hu Kai Wen also categorised these two in the same group. The Li Ting Gui is a famous ancient oil soot recipe and it is named after the person who created this recipe. Its features have also been used for long as criteria to decide the inkstick’s grade. The Royal ink was in fact a special recipe for royal family. Old Hu Kai Wen was a royal warrant supply in Qing Dynasty. I think considering the strict rules for products supplied for royals, it should be a top inkstick too. Again, the difference is between the recipes but the recipes are confidential. 🙁 Unlike western art materials, fine Chinese art materials are difficult to mark the components, ingredients because most of them are secrets. For example, some of the top seal paste recipe is even marked as State Confidential Document. Of course, our inkston Xuan papers are also made with our own recipes. 🙂 Therefore, for the papers, we can mark some basic information.
I have used Jin Bu Yi inkstick, and I feel yes, it is smooth enough for me and deep black. I have not used all the premium inksticks myself but the feedback is quite good. There are differences in each inkstick’s recipe, however, as these recipes are confidential, it is difficult to indicate it clearly on our website.
Actually Jin Bu Yi is the most popular of all with professional artists, see:
Oil Soot Inkstick:
For your specific need, we recommend oil soot inkstick. Compared to Pine soot inksticks, oil soot inkstick has very deep and thick black. It is glossy because of the raw material. At the same time it is not as glossy as turpentine soot. The oil soot is a classic type of inkstick for calligraphy works.
You may try the inksticks whose grade is from medium to professional level.
4 Recommendations for your case:
My personal recommendation would be Jin Bu Yi Fine Oil Soot Inkstick. This is made with a very famous ancient oil soot recipe and the price is very good for its grade. It is one of our most popular inksticks and it is also one of my personal favorite pieces.
Speaking of the good price-quality ratio, you may also consider,
Otherwise, you can also refer to oil soot ink from this list:
https://www.inkston.com/shops/inks/ink/oil-soot-ink/
Avoid:
For your level, please avoid Jing Soot because this is made with industrial soot. The colour might not be different compared with traditional recipes. However, industrial black colour does fade as time goes by! We have marked clearly the soot type on the product description. Also, please avoid the Green Tea Oil Soot Inkstick and Qing Mo Black Oil Soot Inkstick because these two blacks have brownish, greenish tone.
Mounting Effects:
After the calligraphy is PROPERLY mounted on correct xuan paper, the black colour will be even darker and bright. For permanant work, please DO use handmade Xuan paper because its fibers will be able to ´bite and lock´ the ink.
INKSTON Inkstick Buyer´s Guide:
You can also refer to our inkstick buyer´s guide, https://www.inkston.com/stories/guides/inksticks-buyers-guide/
For cursive script, it is not necessarily the goat hair. The weasel hair and other hair types are used very much for cursive script brushes too. The function of a specific brush is related to the hair length, hair grade, etc. If you are changing to semi-cursive at the moment, we have 4 recommendation. We do not recommend you to buy the most professional type of brushes which are made with expensive materials because these brushes might be more suitable after you have mastered cursive scripts. Therefore, our recommendations are,
https://www.inkston.com/index.php?s=semi+cursive (These brushes are good options because the quality is professional level while they are not difficult to control compared to some professional brushes.)
Also, you can consider this 0503M brush. It is designed specially for landscape painting, semi-cursive script and cursive script. https://www.inkston.com/shop/brushes/inkston-calligraphy-landscape-brush/
For cursive script, especially the cursive style from Tang and Song dynasty, these two are good options,
Inkston 0801SW 豹狼毫 Bao Lang Hao Large Leopard Wolf Brush (Squirrel/Weasel)
hmmm, you can also consider trying a set of brushes for this transition to cursive script because the set has different sizes available. The most suitable set is this one, https://www.inkston.com/shop/brushes/red-star-jian-hao-wolf-wool-combination-brush-set/
All these brushes listed above have different shapes and materials. They all have different ‘personalities’. 🙂 I hope you can find the most suitable brushes which can allow you make the most of calligraphy joy.
This link shows all the suitable brushes for calligraphy purposes. The brush hair type and brush hair size are the important things for you to consider.
Super large wool brush set: For large cursive calligraphy and landscape painting,I use one of these brushes and find it is very big. The hair is goat hair which has lost fat already. They are very soft and absorbent. They are difficult for me to control because I am not very used to cursive calligraphy type. Also, my control of wrist is not good. The weal strength of my arm and wrist made my cursive writing very weak too. I need more practice. I think if you do large size cursive and semi-cursive calligraphy, these brushes are a good option.
Red Star versatile brush set: this is a set of very popular professional brushes. Three types hairs make this set suitable for different calligraphy styles and paintings. I use this set myself too. They are suitable for medium and big size calligraphy. They are nice but a bit expensive compared with other professional brushes. I like using this set is because I can find three different types hairs in one set and the sizes are proper. This set of brushes have bigger size than the classic weasel brushes.
Semi-cursive, cursive calligraphy You can try the wool Yang Hao and Jian Hao brush set or choose any one with the proper size you want. Both Red Star and INKSTON have similar brush set but I prefer the INKSTON traditional white cloud JianHao brush set after I have tried all the Jian Hao brushes. I especially like using this set to do semi-cursive calligraphy practice. I use Zhao MengFu’s semi-cursive calligraphy album. *this is the book I am using: https://www.inkston.com/shop/art-books/zhao-meng-fu-cursive-scripts-album/
Inkston WsWl 古法白云 GuFa BaiYun “Traditional White Cloud ” 兼毫 Jian Hao Combination Brush Set
Semi-cursive, cursive calligraphy You can try the wool Yang Hao and Jian Hao brush set or choose any one with the proper size you want. Both Red Star and INKSTON have similar brush set but I prefer the INKSTON traditional white cloud JianHao brush set after I have tried all the Jian Hao brushes. I especially like using this set to do semi-cursive calligraphy practice. I use Zhao MengFu’s semi-cursive calligraphy album. *this is the book I am using: https://www.inkston.com/shop/art-books/zhao-meng-fu-cursive-scripts-album/
Inkston WsWl 古法白云 GuFa BaiYun “Traditional White Cloud ” 兼毫 Jian Hao Combination Brush Set
Classic weasel brush set Or you can also consider our inkston branded weasel brushes. I also use them. It is also 100% pure top grade weasel hair but the hair is not from the winter weasel from north (*this type of weasel hair is the best of the best and the Red Star weasel brush set uses such type of hair.). Therefore, the grade is slightly lower than the Red Star weasel brush set but still, we are confident that this set is very top quality professional brushes in market too.:) For me, this set functions very well.
I mostly use the brushes to practice regular calligraphy scripts *Zhao Mengfu 赵孟頫 style, and flower and birds paintings. I sometimes practice semi-cursive script. I almost do not try cursive calligraphy because it is too difficult for me at the moment. I hope my personal experience with the brushes can be a bit helpful to you.
- Classic weasel brush set Red Star fine weasel hair brush set: a set of very high quality professional weasel brushes. The hair is winter weasel hair from northern China. They perform very well for regular calligraphy script. Three brushes for suitable for small, medium, and big size calligraphy. I use this set myself. It is very nice and I like them very much. I also use them for flower and birds paintings because the hair is very fine and they can make very sharp and neat lines.
