气叶金兰 Orchid Qing Black Oil Soot Inkstick

I used this inkstick on the Xuan paper 3388 plus. I was impressed with its effects. Doesn’t bleed as much as the paper and ink stick I bought from Chinatown. The ink stick is beautifully made. In an article I read on inkston these were individually hand painted by craftsmans. The inkstick and box it came with smelled nice and I suspect it was incensed. It also came with a small golden envelope of sample Xuan which was really thoughtful. The ink that was grind from the stick also smell really nice. I love smelling the ink which is really silly of me. The cheap Chinatown varieties smell awful and just can’t compare. The Chinatown varieties smelled like something that’s rotted and gone bad, the color no matter how thick I grind the stick is never dark enough, and it’s extremely roughly made. This is inkstick was extremely satisfying