Chapter 5 Section 4 Types and Production of Brushes

"History of Pens" records: ""Kaopan Yushi" said: 'The method of making pens is to point, neat, round, and healthy as the four virtues.'" Sharp: refers to the tip of the pen as sharp as a cone, which is good for hooking and pressing when writing. Qi: It means that the tip of the pen should be neat on the basis of sharpness, just like cutting with a knife, without uneven phenomenon, which is conducive to even ink spit when writing. Round: Refers to the tip of the pen being round and straight, with no unevenness or bifurcation, which is conducive to fluent writing.

Jian: Refers to the flexible tip of the pen, which is both soft and rigid, which is good for showing pen force when writing. The above four points ("four virtues") are the performance of brushes and the main basis for classification and production.Brush nibs can be divided into "five cents" according to their functions and uses, namely sheep cents, purple cents, Jian cents, wolf cents and chicken cents.Their characteristics are as follows: Yanghao generally refers to goat hair. Goat hair is thin, tender, white in color and clean in quality. Therefore, it is soft, long, sharp, firm in softness, smooth in roundness, moderate in rotation, and comfortable and restrained.

According to the length of the front and the thickness of the pen tip, Yanghao can be divided into long front and short front (in terms of the length of the pen tip), thick front and thin front (in terms of the thickness of the pen tip).There are "clean", "pure" and "suspended" points. "Clean" and "pure" refer to no hair. "Sleeping" means that after sleeping in the open, the vellus hair can degrease by itself, and has the effect of moistening ink.Sometimes in front of the name of the brush hair, words such as "superior", "refined" and "addition" are used to mark the quality of the brush hair.Yanghao is suitable for all kinds of calligraphy styles, and is also suitable for painting Chinese paintings, especially freehand brushwork.

Zihao is the opposite of Yanghao. It is made of a small group of the most elastic vellus hairs on the back of the hare. The hairs are hard and sharp.Mountain hare hairs are divided into three grades: purple hairs are the hardest, followed by pekoe hairs, and flower hairs are the second.The Zihao pen named "Zigui" is made of pure winter Zihao, which is very rare.Zihao is suitable for painting fine brushwork. Jianhao is made of sheep's hair, rabbit hair or wolf hair. Its nature is between soft and hard, and it is hard and soft.Zihao is the heart of Jianhao, and Yanghao is the quilt. The common product names are "five purple and five sheep", "seven purple and three sheep", etc., and the number of purple and a few sheep refers to its proportion.It is also suitable for writing in small and medium case.

Wolf hair is also called weasel tail hair, and weasel is commonly known as weasel.Langhao is stiff in nature, strong in elasticity, sharp and strong, and its elasticity is second only to Zihao.It is better to collect wolf hair in winter, which is called "northern wolf hair in winter".Famous product names include "Langhao orchid bamboo" and "Special Leopard Langhao" (mixed with a small amount of Leopard hair).Langhao is suitable for small and medium regular script and cursive, and also suitable for painting. Chicken hair is the softest kind of brush, and it is extremely soft.Made of white-haired black-bone chicken down, also known as chicken down pen.Chicken hair is suitable for painting.

As for the types of brushes, they are also classified according to the origin of the raw materials, such as Huzhou Hubi (goat hair, mountain rabbit hair), Yangzhou water brush (yellow weasel hair), Xuanzhou Xuanbi (mountain rabbit hair) and so on. There are different types of brushes, and the production methods and processes are also slightly different. Let us take Hu brushes as an example to briefly introduce them. The pen material process refers to the classification of the hairs used for making pens, that is, the selection and classification of the hairs according to the length, thickness, color, and sharpness of the hairs.

The water basin process, also known as water work, is to make semi-finished pen tips from the brush-making hair that has been sorted.In the production of Hubi, it is one of the most complicated and critical processes. "Bi History" said: "The brushwork is the most difficult, and the choice is fine." Because millet materials are different in oblateness, straightness, length, thickness, etc., it is necessary to comb the degreased millet material repeatedly with a horn comb (mostly horn combs) in a water basin for further sorting and classification. The picking work in the water basin process requires extremely fine detail, requiring selection, classification, and combination root by root.Made into blade-like "knife head hair".Then remove the bad hair, carry out "alignment" and shape it into a brush head.

According to the different materials, the water basin process is divided into two kinds of water basins, mixed water basins and so on. Knot is to ligate the tip of the pen, also called "tie hair".It is a semi-finished product made by the water basin process, which is ligated and bonded to make a nib. "History of Pens" said: "It is very important to bind the pen, and it will be unusable if it comes out." Tube selection is the process of selecting pen tubes.There are certain requirements for pipe diameter, pipe length, roundness and straightness.It is also necessary to remove pipe materials that are dry, cracked, moth-eaten, withered skin color, and uneven in thickness.

The assembly process is to assemble the nib and the pen tube.File the two ends of the pen tube flat first, and then dig out one end to form a cavity. The size of the hole should be suitable for the thickness of the pen tip to fit the pen tip.Assembly work also includes fitting the cap. The inlay process is to process and decorate the pen tube with decorative items (such as horns, etc.) to make it beautiful.Inlays are divided into head and tail.The inlaid head is also called the loading bucket, and the inlaid tail is also called the hanging head.In terms of craftsmanship, it is required that the mouth and surface are evenly moved, the starting line is smooth, the connection is tight, the thread is clear, and so on.

The barrel of the pen is inlaid and processed, or it is exquisite and gorgeous, or it is simple and elegant, so that it is both excellent in operation and appreciation, and good in use and view. Choosing a pen, also known as choosing a brush, is a special skill like the water basin craft. Selecting and wiping is to twist the pen hairs into the shape of the nib, remove the curved hairs, and wipe the nib.After the nib is selected and wiped, it can have the performance of being sharp, neat, round and strong, and the appearance is also sharp and delicate, and the shape is beautiful. The engraving process is the process of engraving pen names, trademarks, inscriptions, etc. on the pen barrel.It is required that the layout should be beautiful and evenly arranged according to the number of characters and font style.

The engraved pen barrel has the artistic effect of "relief".Adding mosaic decoration and painted brocade ornaments make the pens and pens pleasing to the eye. The above are the main processes in the production of "Hubi". In fact, the production of a "Hubi" has to go through more than 100 processes from start to finish. The production technology is complicated and the craftsmanship requires fine workmanship.It is precisely because of the "skills in the world" of Hu pens that among all the pens, "Zhupan Yudun [duidui] is the only leader".