The Stunning Artwork of Making Eastern Calligraphy Ink Out of Soot & Glue

Discovered­ed in 1577, Kobaien stays Japan’s outdated­est guy­u­fac­tur­er of sumi ink sticks. Manufactured from soot and ani­mal glue, the ink stick—when flooring in opposition to an ink­stone, with a lit­tle water added—produces a beau­ti­ful black ink utilized by Japan­ese cal­lig­ra­phers. And, ceaselessly, a 200-gram ink stick from Kobaien can value over $1,000.

How can soot and ani­mal glue com­mand this type of top worth? Because the Busi­ness Insid­er video above displays, there’s a nice artwork to mak­ing each and every aspect—an artwork honed over the cen­turies. Watch­ing the arti­sans make the soot on my own, you imme­di­ate­ly appre­ci­ate the com­plex­i­ty underneath the appar­ent sim­plic­i­ty. Whilst you’re performed watch­ing how the ink will get made, you’ll undoubt­ed­ly need to look at the arti­sans mak­ing cal­lig­ra­phy brush­es, an artwork shape that has its personal fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry. Revel in!

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