Creating a catalogue of paper

Calligraphy paper such as xuan paper is not cheap. And it is also an item that gets consumed quickly in practice. I try to overcome this issue by buying paper from auction and other resale sites (like Mercari). One issue is that most of these resellers do not have much knowledge about calligraphy, and so I usually just buy paper for the purpose of practice, paying the price I would for practice paper. Then, when the paper arrives, I give it a try to see if it can be used for anything other than practice. Or if it is so bad that it should be used for initial drafts instead.

This also means I end up with all kinds of paper with different names, all in small quantities, and it can be difficult to remember what paper to use for what purpose. So I went about creating my own catalogue of paper.

It is a simple process. Cut two pieces of each paper, write down its name in pencil, then use a goat hair brush to write characters on one piece, and a bear hair brush to write characters on another piece.

Then, collect all those written with the goat hair brush into a stack, and those with the bear hair brush into another stack, and tada! Catalogues of paper!

Now, when I want to find paper that achieves a certain effect when writing, I just have to flip through the catalogues based on whether I am using a soft brush (goat hair) or a harder one (bear hair) to select the paper that I want.

When I get new paper, all I need to do is repeat this process, then add to the catalogue. Simple, primitive, but effective! I can even write notes on the catalogues too.

Anyway, now that I have submitted my piece for the upcoming exhibition, my rate of posts on calligraphy should slow down for a while. Until the deadlines for the next two exhibitions draw nearer next year.

Update 31 October 2023: I try to keep this cataloging process as "scientific" as possible, using the same ink (玉品 made with 40ml of water using an ink machine running for 1 hour; 玉品 is a readily available stick ink from 墨運堂), and the same goat hair brush (精品純羊毫 "天") and bear hair brush (large 水墨丹青). This means that when I get additional paper, I can repeat the process.

Shuangjiang 霜降

After Hanlu, or 寒露, comes Shuangjiang, or 霜降, another of the 二十四節気 24 solar terms. It literally means the coming of frost, signifying that the weather has turned cold and autumn is at its end.

 

Submitting for an exhibition

About 7 weeks ago, I wrote about preparing for an exhibition. Well, today, I finally submitted a work for that exhibition. It was the first piece that I ever submitted on my own. In the past, I had always worked with my calligraphy teacher when submitting for exhibitions. This time, I had to go through the entire process on my own, from thinking about what to write, composing the piece, practising it, writing the final work, and filling in the required forms for submission. It was a learning process and I learnt a lot from it.

This was the trash generated.

A point of reflection. When practising, I had written pieces, then put them aside, thinking to look through them the next day.

 

But instead, I ended up just writing and writing each day, with very little time spent reviewing the pieces I wrote. As a result, I became much better at using goat hair calligraphy brushes to write the way I want, but the overall composition could be further improved. This is a lesson that I hope to apply in my next work.

The piece I submitted will be revealed after the exhibition selection results are out. Meanwhile, time to start working on the next pieces for two exhibitions next year. Wish me luck! 😉

Update 10 December 2023: The piece was actually selected for the exhibition, and I went to see it on display today at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (東京都美術館).

 

After looking at all the works by various masters, I finally saw my own piece.

I am not very satisfied with it, but I guess I should count myself lucky that it even got selected.

Trying out two goat hair calligraphy brushes

After testing out the soft goat hair calligraphy brush, I got more confident in my ability to handle soft brushes. I mean, you can't get any softer than a soft goat hair brush. This prompted me to attempt writing more with goat hair calligraphy brushes. I got two of them on auction sites. Both are made fully with goat hair, but not the soft ones.

This is the first one that I tried this time. It is a 双喜牌金鼎大号 Hu brush. I couldn't find any references online to what the original retail price was, but I got it for a relatively good price at an auction.

The length of the hair is around 80mm with a diameter of 14mm. It writes very nicely, but the hairs have a tendency to split into two groups when it gets a bit dryer.  I think it could also be my fault, because I didn't really start the brush very well. Here is something written with this brush.

 

The next brush is this 精品純羊毫 "天" from 東京宝玉堂. The original retail price is supposed to be 15,000 yen, but I could not find any online references to confirm. I got it for less than a fifth of that price, though.

The hair is 78mm long with a diameter of 10mm. It writes very well, and can be used to express a variety of strokes by varying speed and such. Here is something written with this brush.

I am getting used to writing with goat hair calligraphy brushes and I really like how they can express a wider range of strokes compared to harder brushes. However, this set of three bear hair calligraphy brushes (carved with 水墨丹青) going for less than 1,500 yen on Aliexpress [affiliate link] is still one of the best brushes I have, in terms of ease of writing. The hair retains its shape very well so it is easy to write, it is smooth enough that it doesn't seem to drag on paper, and it holds enough ink that it can be used to express varying degrees of dryness as intended. Goat hair brushes are not very good at retaining their shapes, but this allows them to express a wider variety of stroke styles.

Recently, I have been writing a lot about calligraphy. At this rate, my blog is turning into a calligraphy blog. But I guess it can't be helped, since my recent focus is on calligraphy, with the submission deadline for the upcoming exhibition less than two weeks away.

2nd anniversary of Violet Evergarden The Movie's Blu-ray release

Two years ago, the Blu-ray for Violet Evergarden The Movie was released.

(with special outer case from Amazon Japan)

(with special cloth poster from Kyoanishop)

It came with a nice letter from Violet.

(Photo source: Violet Evergarden official X account)

There were also three audio commentaries. And I listened to them all, and took notes.

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

The third anniversary of the movie's release had recently passed, and I wrote about it here.

Time really flies. I can't imagine it has been years since the movie aired, and how I kept going back to the cinemas to watch it. And watched it every once in a while at home, after the Blu-ray was released. The story may have ended, but the memories continue to live.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie.

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)

 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

 

Comparing liquid inks for mountability

Previously, I compared 萬世 ink stick from 日本製墨 vs 墨の華 liquid ink from 開明 to see if liquid ink runs compared to solid ink. But I then realised that the box on 墨の華 says that I should wait a week at least before mounting any pieces written using it. I also have other liquid inks that are apparently okay for final works. The common understanding is that cheaper liquid inks use resins and will run when wet, while the more expensive ones use gelatin (like solid ink) and thus do not run when wet.

So this prompted me to try another experiment. I wrote different characters using the six liquid inks that I have on six different types of paper. I then watered down the ink (before some of them are thick 濃墨 or extra thick ink 超濃墨 that is usually used watered down) and repeated the same process for another six sheets of paper.

 

Basically, I had to write a total of 72 characters, switching paper for each character, diluting/changing ink every 6 characters, and washing the brush every 12 characters. It was a time-consuming process that took me about 1.5 hours to complete.

There are the characters I used for each type of ink.

華: 墨の華 from 開明

書: 妙品 書仙 from 開明 (uses gelatin? see below)

純: 書芸呉竹 純黒 from 呉竹 (uses gelatin)

美: 墨美人 濃墨 which is an original ink by キョー和

徳: 玄徳 超濃墨 from 呉竹

濃: 書芸呉竹 濃墨 from 呉竹 (uses gelatin)

And the watered down version:

I then let them dry for a week before spraying them with water like what is done during the mounting process.

Unwatered version on the top row, and watered down version:

For each type of paper, the first photo is before the paper is wet, followed by immediately after wetting the paper, and after the paper has dried (which I shifted to a white background to better see if there is any running of ink)

 

Unwatered versions:

Unknown paper 1 (paper that I found lying around, probably left over by my calligraphy teacher)

 

 

Unknown paper 2 (paper that I got from a distant relative, who was an artist)

 

 

玉蘭 (the paper that I usually used for submitting pieces in the past for grading; it is machine made but tries to imitate the style of handmade paper)

 

Kuretake practice paper (cheap practice paper for students)

 

 

白雪 (machine-made paper)

 

 

雷鳥 (machine-made paper that is of slightly better quality)

 

 

Watered down:

Unknown paper 1

 

 

Unknown paper 2

 

 

玉蘭

 

 

Kuretake practice paper

 

 

白雪

 

 

雷鳥

 

 

It is quite a surprise, but this time, there wasn't any significant running of ink, except for a bit of running for the characters written using 妙品 書仙 from 開明 (especially when written on Kuretake practice paper and 白雪 paper). This is actually quite a surprise for me, since this is supposed to be premium ink used for final works. The packaging implies it uses gelatin and even states that works written with it can be mounted.

In conclusion, I guess it means that, yes, even liquid ink can be used for final works that will be mounted. However, it is important to let them dry for at least a week before mounting.