Introduction to calligraphy knowledge: the choice of inkstone

The uses of inkstones are generally divided into two categories: practical and ornamental. In the process of purchasing, we must first decide the shape and size of the inkstone according to the purpose. If you write just for grinding ink, buy practical inkstones, that is, the ones with large inkstones and large ink storage (such as round basin inkstones, ink inkstones, square inkstones, etc.). ), these are also easier to clean, and then decide the size of the inkstone according to your actual use. For practical purposes, we don't have to care about whether the sculpture is beautiful or not, but should emphasize ease of use, durability and convenience of movement.

For practical purposes, when you want to choose a good inkstone with good ink-making performance, there are three key points for reference.

(1) Blow into the ink hall with your mouth or press the ink hall with your fingers: As we all know, a good ink stone must have the characteristic of "storing water without drying". If it is difficult to store water, its water absorption must be very low. If you press it with your mouth or fingers, the inkstone will produce fog. If the fog disappears for a long time, it proves that this inkstone has good water retention, and vice versa.

(2) Fingernail grinding inkstone hall: A good inkstone must have a sharp edge. Rubbing the surface of the inkstone vertically with fingernails will produce more or less white powder or residual white scratches, which is the sharp edge. Only an inkstone with sharp edges is a good inkstone.

(3) Rub the inkstone surface with water: When the inkstone is dry, rubbing the inkstone surface with your fingers will feel smooth because of its sharp edge, but when you use a water mill, you will obviously feel prickly. An inkstone with this feature is a good inkstone.

For beginners, inkstone doesn't need to be exquisite, just ordinary brick inkstone. Don't choose the craft inkstone for carving dragons and phoenixes, choose the ordinary round inkstone with a thin-walled deep pool. One is that the ink is full, which is conducive to writing big characters; Both of them use up a cover, which not only prevents drying, but also is not easy to fall off.

Pay attention to the smoothness of the inkstone surface when purchasing, and the stone is fine without cracks, but it can't be as smooth as a mirror and too bright to grind ink; But it can't be too rough, the inkstone surface is rough, the grinding sound is loud, and the ground ink particles are too thick, which will affect Mo Yun and hurt the brushwork.