Chinese ink

Drawing made with Chinese ink

A sumi bar, the suzuri and the fude.

India ink is an ink used mainly in Chinese, Japanese and Korean calligraphy, in which sumi-e is most frequently used (墨絵, sumi e^?). Later, it arrived in Japan during the XIV century of the Muromachi era and was used to make monochrome ink paintings, which had a profound influence of Chinese culture and that was propagated by Zen monks, precursors of the sumi-e technique.

Preparation

India ink is the dust or soot that is collected from the fumes produced by the combustion of resinous materials, called carbon black, dissolved in water. It does not need a binder, since the carbon molecules are in colloidal suspension and when they dry, they form a waterproof layer. A binder such as gelatin or, more frequently, shellac can be added to increase its durability after drying. By adding a binder, the resulting ink may or may not be waterproof.

Liquid ink used to be used from solid sticks. The bars, rectangular, circular or canoe-shaped tablets, were rubbed by a rough stone specially designed for this purpose called in Japanese suzuri (硯, suzuri^?). These stones, of various shapes and appearances, all have in common that they are made of a rough material and have a cavity for the ink. Generally, the stones of Chinese origin have a concave shape with the lower central part, and the Japanese ones are usually mostly flat with one end downwards.

On these stones a little water is poured and the tablet is ground on these, gradually breaking down the ink, which mixes with the water that accumulates in the cavity of the stone. This process can be continued until the ink reaches the density required for use, which usually takes a few minutes.