Brush made of goat hair
It is made of the beard or tail of a green sheep or antelope. Textual research began before the Northern and Southern Dynasties. By the Qin Dynasty, Meng Tian's improved new pen had become a pen-making material. Calligraphy is the most important thing, sheep are soft and have no front, and books are "weak and boneless", so calligraphers in past dynasties rarely use them. Sheep hair became popular only after the Southern Song Dynasty. But it was widely used after the early Qing Dynasty. Because the Qing Dynasty paid attention to roundness and delicacy and was not allowed to show off talents, only soft wool could meet the requirements and was widely used at that time. The softness of wool is also poor. If it is properly matched with paper and ink, it can also show a plump and gentle style, and it is cheap and easy to get. Wool is so long that it can be written in large letters more than half a foot.
Purple brush
It is made from the back of the rabbit's neck, so it is named for its dark purple color. The strength of rabbits in the north and south of China is different, and some rabbits are made in the north and south. The tenacity of rabbits is called health brush, which is better than that of the north. It is long and sharp, suitable for writing straight Fang Zhengzhi characters, and is valued by calligraphers. Bai Juyi's Purple Pen Yuefu says, "A purple pen is like a cone and sharp as a knife." Describe the characteristics of Zihao pen very completely. However, because only the hair on the back of the rabbit's neck is available, it is expensive and heroic, so you can't write big characters on the plaque. Purple brush is tall, sharp and sharp, and its elasticity is stronger than that of wolf hair. Rabbit hair produced in Anhui is the best.
Moustache pen
It is made of the sideburns of mice. The strokes are pure, smooth and sharp, and the fonts written are both rigid and soft. Wang Xizhi's Preface to Lanting Collection was written with this kind of pen.
Chicken feather brush
It is made of chicken breast hair, which is quite soft and difficult for beginners to master, so it is not suitable for use.
Bristle pen
Steamed with bristles, used to write large plaques.
For beginners, if you use a hard brush from the beginning, it will be easier to pick up the pen without much skill, because the pen will help you a lot, but over time, you can only use a hard brush. Once you pick up the sheep's hair, you will feel unable to move. On the contrary, if you practice calligraphy with sheep's hair when you are a beginner, although it is difficult at first, you must change the front by lifting and pressing to write qualified strokes, but you also learn the method of using soft pen. With the increase of contact time, you will gradually become handy and use it freely. At this time, if you pick up a hard brush to write, you will feel relaxed. The ancients also had a lot of experience in the use of pens. I don't think it is easy to buy a good and expensive pen when I am a beginner, but I advocate using a bad pen, because if you can write good words with a bad pen, you will be more comfortable and write better with a good pen. On the contrary, if you start with a good pen, you will only use a good pen all your life. Once you encounter a poor pen, you will not be able to write well. Of course, you can't practice calligraphy with a rotten pen, which will make it more difficult for beginners. Ou Yangxun, a great calligrapher in the early Tang Dynasty, recorded that "if you don't choose paper or pen, you will achieve your goal", which was praised by Yu Shinan of the same age. In addition, from the economic point of view, the authentic wolf brush is very expensive, the good "big orchid bamboo" costs one or two hundred yuan, the ordinary sheep brush only costs two or three yuan, and a little better five or six yuan is enough. And because the pen is hard and easy to wear, it is not smooth when used, while the pen is soft and durable. It is economical for beginners to buy a wool pen. Before buying a pen, you should also know the model of the brush. Brushes are divided into small letters, medium letters and large characters due to different styles, and the biggest ones are screen pens, couplet pens, bucket pens and planting pens. Because the name and brand of each pen factory are different, its size is also different. Beginners can buy a pen with a long front end, about four or five centimeters in length and about one centimeter in diameter. Such a brush can write in block letters 7 cm square. More suitable for people who have just learned calligraphy. There are many kinds of writing brushes. When learning for the first time, I hope you can choose "double double brush" lake brush. Because it is difficult to master the brush strokes of double-stranded brush, it is very important for your future study. Let me talk about why Yang Hao and Wolf Hair are not used, because the former is soft and difficult to master, while the latter is hard and suitable for freehand brushwork. When choosing the right stroke, you should choose the right length, because the stroke length is too long to master, but the stroke length can contain a lot of ink, which is suitable for writing "cursive" in one go, and the stroke length can ensure enough ink. On the contrary, the length of strokes is suitable for writing regular script and easy to master.