USING THE BRUSH AND THE INK
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Using the Ink Stick and Ink Stone
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To make ink it is first necessary to put water in the well of the ink stone. Then, using small drops of water on the flat surface of the ink stone, rub the ink stick firmly in a circular motion. Approximately half a teaspoon of water will require about two hundred circular rubbings of the ink stick. Quite a lot of pressure is needed to grind the ink offthe stick. The ground ink mixes with the water on the ink stone to form charcoal black ink and is correctly mixed when it assumes an oily consistency and separates from the stone. More water can be added while continuously grinding the stick until the required amount of smooth ink has been made. Inevitably the liquid evaporates if not continuously used, so it is often necessary to make fresh ink everal times during the course of completing a painting. It is advisable to hold the resting hand by the side of the ink stone as a guard against accidental splashing which may occur during the ink rubbing. This can happen if the ink stick is tilted so that the edge catches the stone and causes the ink to splatter.
It is an amazing fact that the more practised a person becomes at grinding ink, the blacker the colour becomes. A quick rub with the ink stick is not sufficient; if the ink is not as black as possible, then the painting can never be as good as it should be. While the grinding is taking place, the painter should be thinking about the potential subject matter and composition, so that when the ink is ready, so is the artist. Manufacturing the black ink is almost mesmeric in its intensity of concentration as well as the additional bonus it performs ¡V that of loosening up the finger, hand and arm muscles ready for the brush manipulation to follow.
Questions are sometimes asked as to why it is not possible to use black water colour paint or bottled indian ink. One of the reasons is that the quality of fresh ink is vastly different from that of pre-manufactured liquid, since additive materials in both bottles and tubes impair the original consistency of the colour. Above all, the most important pre-requisite of Chinese ink ground on the ink stone is its ability to be reduced by the addition of water to seven controlled, essentially differentiated shades of black.