Chinese calligraphy ink, part 2: how to apply ink onto the brush

Regardless of how much ink (墨) you have ground for your Chinese or Japanese calligraphy practice, or how long you intend to write, I would advise you not to dip the entire brush tuft inside the ink pool. Chinese calligraphy is supposed to be written with the tip of the brush (1/3rd of the brush tuft length). Naturally, there are exceptions. For example, modern calligraphy or any other over-expressive calligraphy styles, will invite you to writing with the whole tuft. Nevertheless, for calligraphy practicing (i.e. copying Chinese or Japanese calligraphy masterpieces), majority of writing will be executed with the 1/3rd of the brush tuft.

Although I will be discussing the anatomy of the Chinese calligraphy brush separately (note: there are types of brushes used in Japanese calligraphy that differ in construction from the Chinese ones), I will mention here that the ink should be loaded into the space located inside the brush tuft, which is formed by longer and shorter hair arrangement. It is called "the stomach" (腹). The ink is stored there and it is being released during writing. The stomach of the brush is located in the upper half of the brush tuft. Thus, writing calligraphy with the lover 1/3 to 1/2 of the brush tuft, makes sense.

Brush should not drip with ink, unless intentionally done so. It will case the paper to blur excessively. A paper that is too wet will tear much easier, too. As shown in the video (below), apply ink onto the brush by rotating and tapping the brush tuft against the inkstone (硯) grinding surface, in the direction of the brush tuft hair arrangement. Once loaded, the brush should be sharp and pointy, not crooked, and the tuft surface ought to be smooth and round (no sticking out hairs).

part 1

calligraphy tools

ink tutorials

part 3