When choosing a brush, you should choose it according to the purpose. When writing running script, couplets and leveling, you can choose wool pen and wool quilt, which are soft and tender and have a wide range of uses. Zihao and Langhao pens are hard and elastic, and the regular script is short and the painting is long. On the other hand, the double-stranded brush is both soft and hard, which can be used for writing and painting. The three numbers of the brush are divided according to the length and thickness of the brush head, and users should choose the model according to the size of calligraphy and painting. The longest "crane's foot" is 12 cm long, and the shortest "person" is only 1.5 cm. The hawthorn pen with a "fat" nib is 8 cm long in diameter, while the pen for drawing flowers is the thinnest, and the nib is as thin as cotton thread. Choosing a brush is picking the tip of your hair. The nib should be sharp, straight, round and key, that is, the front end of the nib should be sharp as a cone and round, the nib should be trimmed neatly, and the nib should be full and elastic. Pen holders are generally made of Phyllostachys pubescens, Phyllostachys pubescens, Phyllostachys pubescens and Zizhu. When choosing a pen container, it depends on whether the pen container is round and smooth, not flat, not cracked, not bent or inclined, and the length is moderate. If there is seal cutting on the pen, it depends on whether it is clear; If there is a mosaic, it depends on whether it is elegant and simple. Finally, it depends on whether the nib and the pen stick together, and whether the nib is moldy or moth-eaten. First, gently shake the pen with your hand to make it not loose, and then gently flick the pen to see if there is hair loss, either moth-eaten or moldy. Check whether the brush tip is moldy. You can smell it.
First, the types of brushes
Before choosing a brush, we should first understand the type and properties of the brush.
There are many kinds of writing brushes, and the nib is made of animal hair. Therefore, people often classify pens according to their different elasticity. Generally divided into hard brush, soft brush and double-sided brush.
(1) bristle brush
The bristles of hard bristle pens are elastic, such as rabbit hair, wolf hair, deer hair, rat beard, stone badger hair, mountain horse hair and mane.
1. Rabbit brush Rabbit brush has a long history. The Warring States pen unearthed in Changsha was made of rabbit brush. It is made by splitting one end of the pen into several sections, inserting the nib, and then tying it tightly with silk thread. Rabbit hair is divided into purple hair and gray hair. Purple hair is made from the hair on the rabbit's back (also called arrow hair) and the hair on its tail. It is soft and healthy. Gray is better than purple.
The wolf here is not a wolf in the zoo, but a weasel. The pen made of the hair on the weasel's body and tail is slightly softer than the rabbit's brush and harder than the wool pen, but it is brittle and not resistant to friction.
3. moustache pen moustache pen is made of mouse beard, so its performance is very strong. According to legend, Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote Preface to Lanting with a moustache.
Other hard pens, such as mountain horse brush, stone badger brush, bristle brush, etc. , are particularly hard, it is not easy for beginners to choose.
(2) Soft brush
Soft hair brushes are less elastic and softer. Generally made of wool, chicken feathers, fetal hair and other soft hairs.
1. Wool pen is made of goat hair, which is softer than purple brush. Because sheep's hair is thinner and longer, it is suitable for writing big letters and characters.
2. Chicken feather brush The chicken feather brush is made of the hair on the cock's chest, and its performance is softer than wool.
3. Fetal hair brush is the hair of newborn baby, and its performance is extremely soft. Xiao Ziyun in the Southern Dynasties (487-549) used fetal hair brushes, which shows that it has a long history.
(3) Double-sided brush
"Double brush", as the name implies, means to have both. That is, hard hair is the core, soft hair is the periphery, and the pen is between.
Between hard hair and soft hair Generally, the production ratio of purple wool and sheep wool is different. The scores are "three purple and seven sheep", "seven purple and three sheep" and "five purple and five sheep". There are also brushes made of wool and wolf Mao Shuang, which are divided into "little white cloud", "Zhong Baiyun" and "Da Baiyun" according to their sizes. There are also bristles added to the big wool barrel pen to enhance its elasticity.
The above three kinds of pens with different properties, namely, hard pen, soft pen and double-headed brush, have different uses. Before the Song Dynasty, most calligraphers used hard pen to write. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, calligraphers wrote more and more words, and some pens were changed from hard pen to sheep hair. Because wool is long, it is suitable for making big characters. Generally speaking, writing running script and cursive script with hard pen is refreshing and easy to write, easy to rise and fall: writing regular script, official script and seal script with soft pen is easy to moisten and enrich. Of course, this is not absolute. You can write regular script, seal script and official script with hard pen, or you can write cursive script with sheep hair. Mr. Lin Sanzhi, a contemporary grass sage, writes cursive script with a long and soft brush, which is not only vigorous and upright, but also smart and meaningful. Because the pen tip is long and contains a lot of ink, a few words can be written when dipped in ink, which is easy to show the continuous momentum between words and the change of ink color. Because Changfeng Yang Hao's pen is soft and long, Cai Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty called it "strange soft pen", so it is easy to produce endless changes and unexpected artistic effects. However, the sheeppaw pen is soft, especially the long-side sheeppaw pen. When the pen is pressed, it will lie flat and spread out, which is difficult to grasp. At this time, it is entirely up to the writer to adjust the nib with the skill of lifting the pen, and the bristle brush is better. Because of its high elastic strength, when the pen is pressed and lifted again, the pen tip can be restored to the original condensed state, so it can be lifted freely and is quite handy. However, due to the hardness and flexibility of the brush, the strokes will appear too sharp and angular, which is the disadvantage of the bristle brush. In short, it is not easy to write vigorous and straight words with a sheep's brush and peaceful and flexible words with a hard pen.
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 the 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.
Second, the trick of choosing a pen
The ancients had high requirements for writing brushes, and they must meet the four standards of "pointiness", "roundness", "uniformity" and "health", which are called "four virtues".
Sharp means that the pen tip should be sharp, that is, the pens should be sharp when they are condensed together. A circle means that the circumference of a pen is far away and full, and it is conical. There must be no defects or grooves on a cambered surface, otherwise writing this surface will be short of strokes and incomplete. Qi refers to the brush hair, and the length of the brush hair should be consistent inside and outside. The test method is to flatten the pen with your fingers so that the nib is as flat as an oil painting pen. At this time, you can clearly see whether the length of bristles is consistent, and a good pen should be even and even. When writing, Qi Xin works together, and the strokes are complete and free. Poor brush hair is often uneven, and when writing, it is often exposed outside the strokes at the turning point or the front. The ancients called it "thief hair". Sword means that the pen should be flexible and powerful. Press the pen and it will unfold; When the pen is lifted, it naturally returns to the condensed state. Inferior pens can't get together after being pressed, which means that they are hairy and unhealthy.
When we choose pens, we will naturally choose pens with "four virtues", but in fact, the pens and bristles taken out of the counter are bonded with glue, so we can only check the "tip" and "circle" of the pens, and the "uniformity" and "hygiene" can only be checked after the pens are issued. We can see whether the nib is sharp first, because all the glued pens are sharp, so we can't choose too sharp at this time, because too sharp is probably the result of several nib sticks together, which means that the nib is not neat enough. We should turn the pen holder slowly and carefully check whether the periphery of the pen extends from the root to the nib, and whether the nib is condensed by each stroke. Of course, we can't choose a bald brush. If the new pen is bald, it will be even balder when it is opened. When we turn the pen holder, we should check whether the circumference of the pen is complete, whether there is a defect or a concave abdomen. In addition, you need to carefully check whether the pen is thin and straight. If the hair of the pen is crooked and thick, it means the pen is not good. After writing, the hair of the pen will bend and stagger, the tip of the pen will not be straight, and the waist of the pen will bulge out, commonly known as "big belly", which is not elastic and writing is not strong enough. A good pen is straight. It can be a Qi Li, so it is healthy.
In addition, we can also check whether the pen holder is round and straight. We can scroll the selected pen on the glass counter. If it is round and even, it means that the pen holder is round and straight. If the pen beats rhythmically when rolling, it means that the pen holder is not round or straight. This pen is not flexible enough when changing direction.
Third, the use of new pens.
Wet the glue on the nib before using a new pen. This is called "issuing a pen". Never use boiled water to send pens. Because boiling water will bend and deform. Soak it in warm water and let it disperse slowly and naturally. Don't press the new pen hard, it will break the bristles and affect the service life of the brush. We should cherish a good pen. In order to prevent the nib from hitting the bottom of the water container and being damaged, we can try to hang the pen in the water and let it dissolve naturally.