summary
The method of making ink was first described in Qi Yaomin's Book by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Namely: "Fine mash with good smoke and good screen; A catty of cigarette powder and five or two kinds of chewing gum are soaked in the bark juice of the tree, and five egg whites are added. Mash one or two cinnabar and two or two rhinoceros incense, and mash them in an iron mortar for 30,000 times. No more than two or three ounces of ink per spindle, not large and small. Chapter 16 "Ink" in "Heavenly Creations" in Song Dynasty in Ming Dynasty describes in detail the method of making ink from oil fume and pine smoke. The raw materials of black tobacco are tung oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil, lard and pine; Among them, pine accounted for nine tenths, and the rest accounted for one tenth.
From the production to the final product, there are many processes such as glue injection, blending, steaming and baking, and there is also a molding process. Ink carving is an important process and also an artistic creation process. The shapes of ink are generally square, rectangular, round, oval and irregular. Ink mold is generally composed of front, back, top, bottom, left and right six pieces, while circular or idol-shaped ink mold can be synthesized only by four or two pieces. Built-in ink, close the hammer and smash the finished product. Most of the nib is engraved on the side, so that the ink mold can be easily replaced when it is reused. There are many forms of ink, which can be divided into natural ink, lacquer ink, gold ink and lacquer ink.
Burning oil produces smoke.
Record 1: Shen Songkuo invented the use of oil smoke to make ink: Volume 24 of Meng Qian's Notes records: "Yanzhou produces black paint, which produces thick smoke after burning, and the account is black; I swept some oil smoke as ink, and the ink color was black and bright, which was better than that of Song Yanmo. So it was done, and the words "Yanzhou stone liquid" were engraved on the ink. This kind of ink will be popular all over the world in the future, because oil is produced underground and inexhaustible, unlike pine trees, which will be cut down one day; Now the pine forests in Qilu have been cut down, and the pine forests in Taihang Mountain and Jingxi are only young trees. "
Record 2: Song Zhaowei Yan's "Clouds at the Foothills Full of Banknotes" quotes Su Dongpo's poem "Ouyang Jimo's Poem of Paying with Oil Smoke and Ink Pills", saying that "the book window picks up light coal, and the account sweeps the rest. Hard work breaks through thousands of nights and receives this inch of jade. " The explanation is to sweep the lights, smoke and make ink.
Record 3: (Song Dynasty) There is a passage in Zhao Yanwei's "Clouds Full of Chao" that records the method of burning tung oil to make ink: "In recent days, a sink was filled with water, a basin and bowl were placed in the middle, tung oil was burned, and the bowl was covered and kneaded with cow glue. Its method is very fast, called lampblack. Or surprised that it is too strong, it is better to use turpentine or lacquer oil as the medium. "
Record 4: The method of burning oil to get smoke recorded in Wu Kai of Tiangong in Ming Dynasty: put tung oil, clear oil or lard into an oil lamp and light it. There is an iron cover above the oil lamp to collect oil smoke. Each skilled worker can take care of 200 oil lamps, and the action should be agile, otherwise the lampblack is too old. Then use a goose feather brush to gently brush the lampblack on the indicator layer of the iron cover onto the paper. This is first-class lampblack, and the ink made is exquisite and shiny. The oil fume in the inner layer of the iron cover must be scraped off by force. One kilogram of oil can scrape one or two first-class lampblack.
Pine burning for smoke exhaust
Build a bamboo shed more than ten feet long (1 foot =3.3 meters) on the ground, seal it with paper and straw mats, and seal the joint between the bamboo shed and the ground with soil. Smoke holes are spaced on the bamboo shed, and the flue is paved with bricks in the bamboo shed.
To cut pine, we must drill a hole in the bottom of the pine trunk, burn the trunk and let the rosin flow away. Even if there is a little rosin residue, the quality of the burnt pine smoke is not good. Pile pine pieces in a bamboo shed, light them from the front of the bamboo shed and burn them for several days. Pine smoke diffuses from the front end to the back end of the bamboo shed, and can be scraped into the bamboo shed after cooling. The pine smoke scraped from the back of the bamboo shed is called clear smoke, which is the best of high-quality ink. The second-class pine smoke scraped from the middle is called "mixed smoke", which is used as ordinary ink. The pine smoke scraped in the previous paragraph is called "Yanzi" and is used for printing.
Ink smoke treatment
There are two methods commonly used in Ming literature:
Screening method: screen out the oil smoke or pine smoke with a fine wire mesh to obtain fine and uniform ink smoke.
Precipitation method: put the oil smoke or pine smoke into the pool and soak it for a long time to precipitate, so that the upper layer is fine and uniform.
production process
condiments
The ingredients of ink are different and often kept secret. It usually includes egg white, fish skin glue, Niu Pijiao, clove, Arnebia euchroma, cortex fraxini, hematoxylin, rosewood, storax, pearls and other spices and medicinal materials. There are more than one thousand kinds of ingredients.
stuffing
Make tobacco and ingredients into smoke pills, pound them in an iron mortar for 30,000 times, or hammer them with a hammer 1 10,000 times to become ink pills.
Mo Ding
Divide the ink into small pieces, put them into a copper mold or a wooden mold, and press them into Mo Ding. The shapes of Mo Ding are: rectangle, circle, ellipse, half moon, cylinder, bird and beast, etc. Patterns include Maitreya Buddha, Zodiac, pine, phoenix, crane, fish, birds and flowers.
use
When learning calligraphy, brushwork and ink painting are interdependent and complementary. As the saying goes, "few ink paintings are all from pens." The use of ink directly affects the appearance of the work. Calligraphers of all ages have studied Mohism thoroughly. In the Qing Dynasty, Bao said in "Art Boat and Double Drum": "Calligraphy is a key to calligraphy, and calligraphy is especially good at calligraphy." With the rise of literati painting in Ming Dynasty, the ink method of Chinese painting was integrated into calligraphy, which increased the interest of calligraphy works.
Zheng Banqiao mo
Thick ink is the most important ink method. The ink is dark. When writing, the pen holder is solid and thick, the ink does not float, and it can enter the paper. It has a dignified and calm effect.
Ancient calligraphers Yan Zhenqing and Su Shi both liked to use thick ink. Su Dongpo's request for ink is: "Light and clear, but not floating, Zhan Ran is like a child's eye." He thinks that ink is light but not black, which loses its function; Black is not only "boring and unpretentious". A closer look at Su Shi's ink paintings has a strong artistic effect. Liu Yong used a lot of ink in Qing Dynasty. The book is full of style and strength, and is known as the "Prime Minister of Thick Ink". The antonym of thick ink is light ink. Light ink is between black and white, with gray tone as the main color, giving people the elegant aesthetic feeling of Qingyuan. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang made good use of light ink, and calligraphy pursued the artistic conception of "Little Three". Judging from the whole work, it is rich in shades, ethereal and transparent, quiet and elegant. Xianju said in "Essays on Painting Zen Rooms": "Use ink to make it available; Hey, don't get bored, especially avoid being fat. Being fat is a big evil. " Shang Wenzhi in Qing Dynasty was famous for "exploring flowers with light ink". Calligraphy originated from Dong Xiangguang, spreading its charm, and its works are sparse and beautiful. In fact, Sichuan thick and light ink has its own charm, and the key lies in mastering it. If the ink is too light, it will hurt your spirit. Too thick is just not good. As Zhou Xinglian said in the Qing Dynasty: "The method of using ink is to make it strong, but to make it flashy, not broad." Those who are not good at using ink are easy to dry in shades and easy to fade in shades. In a few years, they will die. "
Moistening ink refers to the phenomenon that too much ink on rice paper overflows beyond strokes. Rising ink is not valid in the orthodox concept of "ink can't come out". However, the beauty of rising ink is that it not only maintains the basic form of strokes, but also has a hazy ink interest, blending lines and faces. Wang Duo used ink to enlarge the expression level of lines. In his works, dry, light, thick and wet are combined, and the ink color is rich, which sweeps away the boring ink method of predecessors and forms a strong visual artistic effect. Huang is even more unique in the study of Mohism and put forward the theory of "five strokes and one ink". Occasionally, he applied the brushwork method to the creation of seal script, showing some curiosity.
Thirst pen and dry pen refer to the effect of writing on paper after the ink contained in the pen is lost or most of the ink is lost. The thirsty pen sees moisture in the pallor; See the old in the dark. In writing, when using thirsty pen and dry pen, we should properly control the amount of ink used. Mi Fei's Note of Su Jing in Song Dynasty "I wanted to send it tomorrow, the moon will be bright, and it will be sent to my ears tonight;" A few words, with thirsty pen, dry pen performance, astringent pen lines, pale and vigorous.
Calligraphy has rich ink and wash expression skills, and water is the key to express every simple ink and wash method. "Painting World" said: "Mohist school uses water, taking ink as shape, water as gas, pneumatic and vivid. It is reasonable to occupy ink and wash paintings. " In addition, the skill of using ink is closely related to the weight of brushwork and the quality of paper. The change of ink color in calligraphy works will enhance the rhythm of the works. Of course, the use of ink painting is natural, and we must not blindly pursue a certain ink painting effect and fall into a vulgar realm.
When the ancients talked about painting, there were four elements in using ink:
First, "live", pay attention to ink color to moisten nature;
The second is "fresh", and the ink color should be beautiful, fresh and pleasant;
The third is "change", the combination of reality and reality, and the changes are diverse;
Fourth, "pen and ink match", pen and ink set each other off and blend. Calligraphy with ink should also be enlightening.
The method of grinding ink is to use clear water. If there are impurities in the water, the ground ink will be impure. As for adding water, it should not be too much at first, so as not to soften the ink bubble or splash it on the ink. It should be added slowly. Grind the ink evenly and slowly until it thickens. The ink should be freshly ground. Ink that has been ground for too long is called Su Mo, which is generally unavailable in Su Mo. However, there are only a few painters who like to paint with Su Mo.