Brush made of goat hair
The writing head of a wool brush is generally made of goat hair. Calligraphers in history generally don't use sheep hair. It was popular for a while in the Southern Song Dynasty, and if it was widely used, it was probably in the early Qing Dynasty.
Wool pens are generally soft and absorb a large amount of ink, which is more suitable for writing some round and heavy calligraphy. Because wool pens are generally cheaper to make, the price is more suitable after they are made.
Wolf brush
The tip of a wolf brush is usually made of the hair on the tail of a weasel. The tip of a wolf brush is usually bright yellow or red yellow. If you look carefully, every hair is straight and upright. The wolf brushes less records than the sheep. The ancients also called "mustache brush" wolf brush. If we deduce it according to this statement, we can push it to the era of Wang Xizhi and before the Jin Dynasty.
The wolf's brush is harder than the sheep's, so it can be used to write calligraphy and draw pictures. Wolf claw pen is slightly more expensive than sheep claw pen, generally between 100~200.
Chicken feather brush
Ji Hao pen is usually written with the hair on the cock's chest. It is said that in the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhuge Feng made a Ji Hao pen, which is necessary. Su Dongpo said in the book Zhuge Pen: "Xuanzhou Zhuge Pen has a long-standing reputation and is famous all over the world. People who are not very good in the meantime will eventually have their own methods. For example, Beiyuan tea, Neiku wine and Jiao Fangle have all the disadvantages. If you want to learn them, you can't get rid of the grass. "
Because the tip of chicken brush is softer than sheep brush, it has poor water absorption and consumes a lot of ink. Because beginners can't master chicken brush, it is generally not recommended to use chicken brush.
Purple brush
The tip of the purple brush is generally made of hair on the back of rabbits, and its color is generally black and purple, hence the name of the purple brush. Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem "Zihao Pen-Ridiculous Dereliction of Duty" for Zihao Pen, which described the value of Zihao Pen to some extent. The article describes it like this: "When Xuancheng writes every year, the price of purple cents is as high as gold. Be careful not to miss the instrument in vain, and be careful not to memorize the text in vain. "
The hair of Zihao pen is tough, which is more suitable for writing brush characters. The written calligraphy is more powerful and has a higher status in the hearts of calligraphers.
Bristle pen
As the name implies, a bristle pen is a brush made of bristles, and the colors are generally black, white and hemp bristles. The bristles are hard and the pens are loose, so they can't be put together under normal circumstances. The bristle pen has just been bought back and needs to be soaked in "warm water" It should be noted that it should not be soaked for too long, otherwise the glue at the root will melt, causing hair loss.