Entrepreneur, inventor, and QV friend Kenneth Schwartz is back today with a fascinating post about making ink from Chinese ink sticks.
I’m attracted to elemental forms of expression – having an understanding of the elements that go into creating something, particularly in my cooking, is an interest of mine. I also enjoy sharpening knives with waterstones – the simple creation of mud from stones is elemental to knife sharpening. So, with inks, it attracted me to try my hand at this primitive means of producing ink by rubbing an ‘ink stick’ to produce a slurry, suitable for making a black ink. This is an ancient technique dating back roughly 2000 years, used for brush painting. By controlling the ink’s density (these are typically made of lampblack and are thus a carbon particle ink), you have the flexibility of controlling the shading of the ink to an even greater degree than only controlling shading with your writing or painting instrument.
The ‘elements’ couldn’t be simpler – an ink stick, a stone ‘well’ or inkstone to make the ink, some water to make the slurry and a brush, or in my case a glass nib, to apply the ink to paper. The ink drawings and calligraphy have withstood the test of time with drawings having survived hundreds of years. An excellent discussion of this history and the relationship of the ink stick in Chinese culture to the scholar who used it in his studies is found here.
After the jump, learn more about Kenneth’s ink stick experiments.
