Grinding ink is a fine tradition of calligraphy in China, which is highly praised by calligraphers in China, Japan and South Korea. Ink color is single, and grinding ink can be divided into five colors. Mr. Ouyang and Mr. Tian believe that no book can be written without grinding ink.
Grinding ink should be light and slow, keep the ink straight and circle vertically on the inkstone. Don't grind it diagonally or push it straight. It is better to use less water for grinding ink than to use more water. If it is thickened, add water to thicken it. Use clean water to grind ink, not tea or hot water. The ink should be ground moderately, neither too thick nor too light. After grinding, put the ink in the box to avoid cracking. It takes a long time to grind ink. In order to avoid fatigue of the right hand, it is best to practice polishing with the left hand.
The specific method of grinding ink:
Put a small amount of water in the inkstone first. When there is too much water, it is easy to shake the inkstone when grinding ink. When Mo Ding is soaked in water, it will also make the ink soft and small pieces of ink appear. Once dissolved in ink, it will affect the quality of grinding ink. If you need a lot of ink to write Chinese characters, you can grind it several times, pour the ground ink into other containers, and then add water to the inkstone to continue grinding.
Pay attention to Mo Ding's smoothing when grinding ink, and then press slow grinding, not fast. You should circle the mural clockwise along the edge of the inkstone, and the grinding range should be larger. Don't grind in a small area in the center of the inkstone.
When grinding ink, the arm should be suspended and parallel to the desktop. Holding Mo Ding in your hand is just like holding a pen. You need to use the movements of your wrist and arm to polish the ink. If you put your arm on the table and grind the ink only by the rotation of your wrist and fingers, Mo Ding will be ground at an inclined angle.
Grinding ink is a good way to practice calligraphy. Grinding ink in the right way is equivalent to practicing drawing a circle. If you grind it often, you will get used to it. Pick up the pen and you will draw a very round and thick circle, which is good for writing in the future, especially cursive.
Mr. Lin Sanzhi, a contemporary sage of grass, once encouraged students to "study as an industry, and grind ink as silence" with couplets. Another contemporary master of calligraphy, Mr. Gao Ershi, also wrote a poem "People's words grind people, but it is valuable to wear out the iron inkstone". It is said that grinding ink can cultivate people's patience and exercise their perseverance.
The thickening of ink is limited. Too thick, thick as mud, stuck to the pen, difficult to write; If it is too thin and the ink penetrates too fast, the handwriting will leave a big circle of water stains on the paper, making the strokes blurred. The ink concentration should be moderate.
What is gentle? As can be seen from the traces of grinding ink, if Mo Ding grinds, the ink will soon drown the traces of grinding, indicating that the ink is not strong enough and can continue to grind. Grinding ink takes time. You can read books or posts while grinding ink. Don't waste time. If the ground where Mo Ding grinds leaves clear grinding marks, and the ink slowly submerges the grinding marks, it means that the concentration is moderate. If the trace after the ink is still, it means that it is too thick and can be diluted appropriately. Another way to test whether the concentration is moderate is to dip a pen tip with a little ink on rice paper or meta-book paper to see how the ink seeps out. If the ink is as thick as paint, there is slight ink seepage, which proves that it can be written after polishing.
After grinding ink, we should pay attention to two points: first, Mo Ding can't stay in the inkstone to prevent Mo Ding glue from falling off the inkstone surface; Second, we should wipe off the water on the Mo Ding to prevent the soaked ink from falling off.