Hi,

Years ago I took some Chinese painting classes, and the teacher told us the bottled ink does not last;  it’s a convenient form for students who need a lot of ink for practicing calligraphy, etc., but for a final painting or calligraphy work it’s best to grind the ink (stick) on an inkstone (suzuri) and use it the same day.  If you grind more than you need, you can’t really save it… it will degrade even over night.  You grind slowly until the consistency is about like half-and-half (light cream).  It’s a lovely perfect black. (Different brands of ink sticks sometimes vary in the tone of black ink they produce— Japanese ones tend to be more bluish black and Chinese more brownish black.)    I never knew that this ink can also be used to paint harpsichord keys!  How interesting!  

Renee  
> On Dec 19, 2016, at 11:11 AM, Chris Vandekerkhove <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> 
> 
> I just wanted to "repaint" some keys I've been working on by blacking
> patches of them once more using "Chinese ink". To my surprise my ink turned
> out very watery and not of all black but rather grayish. So apparently one
> cannot keep this ink for a long time? I must confess that my bottle is now
> at least 10 years old (the brand is "Pelican").
> 
> 
> 
> I bought some new stuff from a different manufacturer which (oh joy!) turns
> out to be darker than the night (Pagode ink). When browsing through the
> store, the cheaper inks were also labeled "Chinese ink" but displayed "for
> student purposes". Maybe the student version isn't supposed to be kept for
> more than a couple of years?
> 
> 
> 
> Now I have to find a way to remove the ink from my hands.
> 
> 
> 
> Happy playing/making to you all!
> 
> 
> 
> Chris.
> 
> 
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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
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