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Calligraphy Catalog
Asian Arts Catalog General Information: |
Fine Asian Calligraphy Artworks by Green Dragon Arts.
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CALLIGRAPHY FUN
Calligraphy is an inexpensive hobby that anyone can enjoy at home. Everything that you need may be purchased at an Asian bookstore or , because of the growing interest in products from Asia, at most art supplies stores. Chinatowns are good places to find the needed supplies. If you go to a western art store, look for Chinese or Japanese calligraphy supplies. Many times these supplies are called Sumi supplies. Supplies Required:
The most popular calligraphy brush is still the traditional bamboo handle brush. Calligraphy brushes come in many sizes, see picture above. The size of the brush is dependent on this size of the calligraphy that you want to create.
At the beginning use a small brush. Like any art, one must practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. One of the reasons that this is important is to develop the small muscles in the hand. With this development comes control and strength. The larger the calligraphy the more strength is required.
New brushes are prepared and sold with the bristles treated with a stiffening agent. This keeps the bristles in the proper shape. After each use it is important to store the brush in the same way, except using a little ink instead. To prepare the brush for use, fill a small cup or bowl with clean water. With the brush in hand, dip the bristles in the water for a few second. Never stand a brush on its bristles! Take the brush out and remove the excess water from the brush using the side of the glass; much like any paintbrush. Gently, stroke the side and tip of the brush on a clean piece of paper as if you were painting the paper with water. Continue doing this until bristles are soft and pliable. Rewet with water if necessary. Now your brush is ready to use. Remember the shape of the new brush; when writing make sure the brush is the same shape at the start of each new character. This is done by dipping the brush in ink and coaxing the bristles back into shape by brushing it against the ink well. Store the brush by laying it horizontal or hanging vertical with the brush pointing down. Do not let the bristle touch any surface when not in use. Using a brush stand is an excellent means of storing brushes.
INK
There basically two forms that ink can be purchased in, the ink stick and pre-made bottled ink. The traditional ink is made by hand using an ink stick and ink well. This is still the preferred method by many calligraphers. The ink stick is a block of dried ink dye, resembling a black dominion game piece. Most often it is black, however it does come in many different colors. Elaborate designs are used to decorate ink sticks. However, the designs are just for decorative purposes and do not make the ink stick anymore useful. Ink is made by grinding the ink stick with water in an ink well until the proper opaqueness. For those unfamiliar with brush calligraphy it is recommended that pre-made ink be used. This will give the practitioner a sense of how dark and what consistency the ink should be.
Whether ink stick or pre-made ink is used, an ink well comes in handy. The flat surface of the well is used to contain ink for immediate use and to prepare the brush for use. If ink stick are used this is the surface to grind the ink. The trough part of the well is used to hold water, when using ink sticks, or to hold ink when using pre-made ink. In a pinch a saucer will also work in place of the well.
Paper
For starters almost any paper can be used. Plain bond paper is fine or practice paper can be purchased in any Chinese bookstore. Practice paper resembles graph paper with each square about 1”x1”. One type of paper to stay away from is glossy paper. The ink will not absorb into this paper and will create a mess.
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| 4/9/08 |
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