Huimo Ink-stick and Sheyan Inkstone

Huimo Ink-stick

Ink is made from a mixture of soot and resin, molded into stick form. The most commonly used to make ink are pine soot, oil soot, and lacquer soot. A good ink stick is finely grained and has an even and smooth texture. It is firm and not sticky. It is pure, solid black in color, without murkiness or roughness. The control of hue is crucial to the success of a work in ink.

The most celebrated ink-stick was "Hui-mo", made from the pines that grow on Huangshan City, known as Huizhou in the past. The trees are burned and the soot left after burning makes excellent ink-stick material. Xi, a famous ink maker, moved to Shexian County in Huizhou at the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). His method for making ink-stick from pine soot was handed down to later generations. Such an ink-stick has enjoyed a good reputation for more than a thousand years. The Huizhou ink-stick ( also called Hui ink-stick, or simply Hui-mo) has magic qualities. It is as hard as stone and does not deteriorate for as long as ten years. The ink produced from the Huizhou ink-stick is as black as black paint. Many charming stories and anecdotes about the Hui ink-stick have been recounted in literary circles, past and present. Ink-sticks fall into three major categories, according to the chief materials used in manufacturing theme. The pine-soot ink-stick, a mixture of pine soot, the main part, a certain amount of glue, medicinal material and spices. The oil-soot ink-stick, tung oil, sesame oil, rapeseed oil or petroleum is burned and the soot is mixed with gelatin, medicinal material and spices. The oil and pine-soot ink-stick, a mixture of the previous materials for making the oil-soot ink-stick and pine-soot ink-stick. Proportions vary, and the quality of the ink-stick differs accordingly.

Sheyan Inkstone

Most ink slabs, modern or ancient, were made of stone. The earliest ink slab was made of stone and acquired the greatest popularity. Ink stones or ink slabs have been classified into three categories since the Tang Dynasty: Duan, She and Tao.
It is named after Shezhou Prefecture, another old name of today's Huangshna City, where it was first produced in the Tang Dynasty. Many counties under the jurisdiction of this prefecture produce She ink slabs, but the best come from Mount Longwei, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province. Sometimes She ink slabs are referred to as Longwei ink slabs. To use ink in the traditional stick form, an inkstone is required. As the name suggests, most inkstones are made of stone or bricks. The stone used must be of relatively fine whetstone materials to facilitate the grinding of the ink without harming the bristles of the brush pen. Today, many students use an ink-bottle to replace the ink-stick and inkstone.