Joining a broken stick of ink

A while ago, I got some sticks of ink and brushes from a relative. I didn't have time to go through them until recently. That was when I found this.

At first, I thought I hit jackpot. The box had a price tag of 25,000 yen, but the ink inside is actually something else.😅 It was also cracked into three pieces.

 

So I tried to find a way to repair this broken stick of ink. On YouTube, I found a video that talked about how to join two sticks of ink. I thought the same method should work for trying to repair a broken stick of ink. I mean, the concept is the same, right?

 

The process is actually very simple. Ink is made of soot and gelatin. The concept is to melt the gelatin, and then let it harden again, using it as an adhesive. Use the stick of ink to make very, very thick ink, almost like paste. I did this by using a very small amount of water (about 2cm diameter) on an ink stone, then softly grinding the stick of ink to make ink that is very thick.

 

Then, using a small brush, I coated the areas to be joined with this thick ink. I then pressed them together by hand, and then used rubber bands to keep them in place while the stick of ink dries.

 

Once the ink has dried, the stick of ink was actually restored!

Guess this is another small piece of useful knowledge that I picked up, and I thought I would share it for anyone who might be wondering how to fix a broken stick of ink.

Soft goat hair calligraphy brush

I found a used soft goat hair calligraphy brush being sold online and decided to buy it. It was bought by the seller more than 30 years ago. For those who think that such a brush is old... well, goat hair brushes that are properly cared for actually become better with age. And this is a rare soft goat hair brush. They don't come cheap so it was nice to be able to find an old, used brush for a good price.

The brush, when wet with ink, is really really soft. It really depends on the skill of the user to maintain the shape of the brush. I tried writing a few characters with the brush and I really love how it can be used to express different types of lines. Really, it tests the skill of the user!

I just hope I can become skilled enough to fully use this soft goat hair calligraphy brush!

Mixed hair calligraphy brush 竹紋 from 久保田号

Recently, I found this mixed hair calligraphy brush 竹紋 from 久保田号 (size: 一号) being sold at a discount, and got it to give it a try because I need a brush of this size. It used both goat hair as well as white horse tail hair; the goat hair allows it to hold more ink, while the white horse tail hair gives its more spring and matches the colour of the goat hair.

It was very easy to write with this brush because of the spring provided by the horse tail hair.

I will probably be using this brush for the work that I will be submitting for the upcoming exhibition, after I try it on a larger piece of paper.

Hanlu 寒露

After the autumn equinox, or 秋分, comes Hanlu, or 寒露, another of the 二十四節気 24 solar terms. It literally means cold dew, signifying that the weather is turning colder.

 

 

New light novels from Kyoto Animation

Today, Kyoto Animation announced two new light novels under its KA Esuma brand.

 

The first is 草原の輝き (Sougen no Kagayaki) by Yoshida Reiko (who did the screenplay for Violet Evergarden series, among other things).

(Source: KA Esuma editorial board X account)

This is a story about a teenager who left for a public school (as in the boarding school in England where your parents have to be somebody in order for you to enroll, something like Eton) to escape from having to live with his mother's new family after she remarried. The story is set in a school, where he meets other students and I guess it will be something like Free! and Tsurune.
 

The other is MOON FIGHTERS! by Gatoh Shoji (who wrote the Full Metal Panic! series as well as Amagi Brilliant Park).

(Source: KA Esuma editorial board X account)

This is a sci-fi novel set in the future when people can easily travel to the moon. It follows a group of guys who solve problems that occur on the moon. I guess this makes it something like Amagi Brilliant Park, but on the moon, with an all-guy cast?

Both of the authors are script writers, and KyoAni has a habit of making anime based on KA Esuma books. I speculate that these two light novels are actually the stories for upcoming KyoAni anime series, although it won't be that soon.

First, a while ago, KyoAni announced that one of its light novels, 二十世紀電氣目録 (20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku, or "20th Century Electricity Catalog") will be made into an anime. Of course, this was before the tragic fire, so it is unknown when this anime would actually be shown, if ever. But I speculate that we may see it in 2024, if it is still in the works, after season 3 of Sound! Euphonium airs in spring 2024.

So 2024 will be Sound! Euphonium Season 3, maybe followed by 二十世紀電氣目録, and 2025 may see another season of Tsurune. That means, if we are lucky, one of these two new light novels may be adapted into an anime that airs in 2025 or 2026. In terms of timing, this roughly two-year gap is also about the same as recent KyoAni series like Violet Evergarden (published in December 2015, with anime in January 2018) and Tsurune (published in December 2016, with anime in October 2018).

Something to look forward to! Especially since Yoshida Reiko is a really established scriptwriter, with many many great works under her name, and has worked with KyoAni on many series too.

Note: I am not sure why KyoAni asked Gatoh Shinji to write a light novel, given the controversy surrounding his past remarks about Greta Thunberg.

Ink: solid or liquid? 萬世 ink stick from 日本製墨 vs 墨の華 liquid ink from 開明

I have heard people say that, while you can use liquid ink for calligraphy practice, you cannot use it for final works because the ink will run when water is applied (a necessary step for mounting calligraphy works). Solid ink, which refers to ink sticks that are used to make ink, do not have this issue.

So I decided to test if this is actually true.

I have the liquid ink that I usually use, which is 墨の華 from a company called 開明. For solid ink, it is a stick of 萬世 from 日本製墨. I took several pieces of 半紙 paper (around 24.3cm by 33.4cm) and wrote the characters 固形 using ink made from the stick of ink, and 液体 using the liquid ink.

After three days, I sprayed water to wet the paper. This is part of the mounting process. I then checked to see if there is any running of ink.

The following is a closer look at each of them. 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).

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)

 

It can be seen that, for Unknown paper 1, 玉蘭, Kuretake practice paper, and 雷鳥, the words written in liquid ink had some running. Meanwhile, all words written in solid ink did not run. I think we can safely conclude that solid ink does not run, while liquid ink may or may not run depending on the paper.

Of course, 墨の華 is not the more expensive liquid ink that is meant for final works. I do have liquid ink that is meant for final works (got them for the upcoming exhibition) and so I guess I will give that a try to see if there is any difference.

 

The end of Suzume's adventure

Suzume's adventure, which started on 25 September 2023, took her to her hometown in Tohoku, reaching on the day of a full moon which turned out to be 29 September 2023. She managed to save Sota and both of them returned to this world the next morning on 30 September 2023, which means today is the final day in Suzume's adventure.

The weather wasn't really clear last night, but the full moon shown through the thin clouds. It was also the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, which meant that it was the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival too.

This was probably the moon that Suzume saw when she entered the other world to save Sota.

Past midnight, the moon was a bit whiter.

I like to think that this is the moon that they saw in the other world.

This full moon is also the last supermoon of the year. If this was intention, the director Shinkai Makoto really did a lot of work for the setting.

 

While Suzume's adventure may have ended today, the movie is back in cinemas in Japan until 5 October 2023.

Blog posts related to Suzume no Tojimari: 

Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり) at IMAX

Diving into Suzume no Tojimari

"Director's retake" of Suzume

Suzume no Tojimari all-Japan stage greeting

Director Shinkai Makoto in person at Dolby Cinema screening of Suzume no Tojimari

Suzume stage event with director Shinkai Makoto

Final screening of Suzume in Japan with live broadcast of stage event

Suzume—Tamaki’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～環さんのものがたり～)

Suzume—Serizawa’s Story (unofficial translation of 小説すずめの戸締まり～芹澤のものがたり～)

 

Watching The Silent Service on opening day

The Silent Service (沈黙の艦隊) live adaptation movie opened in Japanese theatres today, and having watched the anime in the past, plus flipped through a few pages of the manga, I was really excited to see how they would portray the U.S. in this story (which didn't put the U.S. in a very flattering light...) Especially because the JMSDF, which is very close to the US Navy, was cooperating in the filming of the movie.

The theatre was more packed than I expected. It was the first show of the day, at its largest screen, and the place was more or less full! This is very much in contrast to when I watched Alice to Therese no Maboroshi Kōjō recently.

The movie itself was slightly less than 2 hours (I think around 115 minutes) but it was really exciting throughout the entire movie. There was dialogue and action, and even the dialogue was well paced to make sure that it didn't become too lengthy. A lot of the action had to be done by computer graphics (since it took place underwater and involved submarines) but the quality was really good.

Right at the start of the movie, there was an implosion, which, given the recency of the Titan submersible incident, many would understand what it is about. This was followed by almost two hours of action, explosions, political talk, followed by more action, explosions, and there was really no time to take your eyes off the screen. I was truly glad I finished my popcorn at the start of the movie.

As for the story, it adapted until the part when Seabat/Yamato was about to head towards the first country it wants to seek an alliance with. I did notice some changes to the story. For example, Hayami, the XO of Tatsunami has been changed to a female officer, and there were a few original characters added to the story to provide a different backstory for Kaieda and Fukamachi. This new backstory was probably added to bring in more actors for the movie and maybe some other plot lines in sequels, but at least it didn't get in the way of the main story. Having female crew in a JMSDF submarine, though, was an interesting take, since this story was written back in a time when women were not allowed to serve onboard combatants in the JMSDF, much less say a submarine. Today, though, women are allowed to serve onboard JMSDF submarines (a very recent development) so it is not really that bad an idea to have a female XO.

International politics and U.S. arrogance was one aspect of the original manga and anime adaptation, and I was surprised that they kept this element. Okay, this is a key part of the story, but given Japan's relationship with the U.S., I would have thought they would have somehow changed the story to not make the U.S. look like baddies. Well, I think they managed to at least tone it down a bit, keeping this element without destroying one of the key elements of the story. The U.S. is still portrayed as a superpower that, to protect its own interest, is willing to act on its own without consulting its allies, no matter how close that relationship may be. The US Navy is competent but arrogant, and that arrogance led to its downfall in encounters with the Seabat/Yamato.

Given the point where the movie ended, there is probably a chance for sequels, depending on the movie's performance at the box office and streaming platforms. I am looking forward to Amazon announcing the sequel!

Official movie website in Japanese

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, or 中秋, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month (八月十五 or 8月15日) of the Chinese (lunar) calendar.

I also tried writing in a more cursive style, but I don't think I fully expressed the cultural meaning of this day in this.

 

Trivia: Today (29 September 2023) is also the setting for the end of Suzume's journey in the movie Suzume.

 

Processed paper for calligraphy practice

For calligraphy, you need a calligraphy brush, paper, ink, and an ink stone if you are not using liquid ink. Ink stones can last a long, long time and would not count as consumables. Calligraphy brushes can also last quite a while if you take care of them; there are people who use good brushes for decades. A stick of solid ink can last quite a while too, although liquid ink tends to be used up a bit faster. And unless you are writing with water instead of ink, paper tends to be used up the fastest.

Paper is needed for drafting works. Paper is needed for practice. Paper is needed to write final pieces of works. Paper is also not really cheap. I am therefore always looking for cheap paper that can be used for practice so that I do not have to practise using the more costly paper that I have.

So when I see cheap paper on auction sites and such, and they look decent enough for practice (paper that is REALLY cheap can be worthless even for practice because they absorb ink in different ways than good calligraphy paper), I try to get my hands on them. I pay prices that I would pay for practice paper (or cheaper) because my main purpose is to use them for practice.

This means that, sometimes, I end up with this.

This is a special type of paper where coloured ink was used in the production process to decorate the paper. Such paper is usually used for pieces that will be exhibited or sold. Instead, I am using it for practice... Anyway, in this post, I shall call them "Yellow Sumi" and "Pink Sumi".

I also got some coloured and plain paper printed with designs in gold.

Obviously, these types of paper are also used for final works, but I paid the price of practice paper for them, with the intention to use them for practice. One set was paper that had been sprinkled with gold flakes. In this post, I will refer to them as "Purple Gold", "Plain Gold", "Orange Gold", and "Gold Flakes".

First, Purple Gold is actually quite thick. It absorbs more ink than I am used to, making the resulting work look a bit dry if I use the brushes I usually use on normal calligraphy paper. Plain Gold, though, is basically the same paper as typical calligraphy paper, so writing on it was more or less the same as usual.

Orange Gold is more or less the same thickness as Plain Gold, so it also writes about the same as typical calligraphy paper. Gold Flakes, though, is slightly thicker, but it still writes like normal calligraphy paper (there is calligraphy paper that is slightly thicker too).

Yellow Sumi and Pink Sumi are both the same type of paper, about the same thickness as Gold Flakes (which means they are about the same thickness and normal, thicker calligraphy paper).

Oh, there is also something about writing on those types with gold on them... you end up contaminating your ink with gold powder picked up by the brush when writing. So if I am going to write something on a plain piece of paper after practising on these types of "gold processed" paper, it will be necessary to change ink and wash the brush first.

Purple Gold is also a bit too thick, so it can only be used with a brush that carries a lot of ink (goat hair ones). I will probably end up using it for drafting new pieces and a bit of initial practice. The others are similar enough to normal calligraphy paper that I can use them for practice in general.

Hopefully, there will also be a day when I get to use such paper for my final works. Although I need to figure out how to properly match the works with the paper first. 😅

Update 20 October 2023: I recently got some more processed paper. There is paper that is dyed with a blue tint "Blue Dye", with a brown tint "Brown Dye", and also with a light blue pattern "Light Blue Pattern". I also got some orange paper with gold dragons on them "Orange Gold Dragon". Here's how they look when I used them for practice. All of them felt like normal calligraphy paper and absorbed ink in more or less the same way.

Blue Dye

Brown Dye

Light Blue Pattern

The patterns on "Light Blue Patten" shows through the ink.

Orange Dragon

I actually have red paper too, but those would be used for Chinese New Year stuff.