Paper and ink

Guanghwa was my source of rolls of  moon palace paper (made in Japan; left) and rice (xuan) paper, and japanese and chinese ink. Not sure what the difference between the inks is; this is all with chinese ink, both "straight" - it's very thick - and diluted. Some of the words show through the ink in certain lights - the graphite especially.

The rice paper is unsized and very absorbent. It seems very delicate. Grass and mulberry bark papers are available too.

I bought liquid ink but ink sticks are available too, of which the website says:

Traditional ink sticks are mixtures of soot and glue, prepared with preservative a fragrance. The two main types used are oil soot and pine soot.

Oil soot creates the blackest of inks, giving a warm rich colour. It is ideal for general use.

If a colder, bluer and less shiny colour is required, ink prepared from pine soot is ideal. It also has less glue and is ideal for painting in the Meticulous style.

The "Meticulous style" definitely isn't the one I'm using! Perhaps further ink experiments will be less unbridled. I'm looking to have the writing covered with ink, but still visible in certain lights - this goes back to a (large!) work by Claude Horstmann I saw some years ago -