Hukaiwen Ink Block Handmade Fine Oil Soot Ink Stick for Chinese Japanese Calligraphy and Painting (lacqure Oil TQW 62G)

with only one 5 stars review, I wanted to give it a shot. But the result was very disappointing. I don't get as a deep dark color as I wished. Even though I was grinding for 15 minutes, I only got a light grey color. If it's the only ink stick I have, I would blame my ink stone. I have another one to compare, which is cheaper and smoother than Tangmo. With the cheaper stick, I get a darker color with less effort. The last thing I was disappointed about it is that I cannot get the smearing effect when I paint on rice papers. I wish I could return this product. I could get three sticks of the other with the price I paid for one Tangmo.

This ink block is a piece of craft or art by itself. It comes with a pleasant herbal smell. I didn’t spend much time grinding it before trying to create a work shown in picture, so the word itself may look pale.

This particular ink stick was a revelatory catharsis for me, because it provided the basis for me to make a connection between high quality and Hukaiwen ink sticks.During the forty years that I collected Chinese ink sticks, I had always regarded this particular ink stick - the subject of this customer review - as one of just a few ink sticks as my very best ink sticks.Then - lo and behold! - I spot this ink stick on Amazon! However, it took me some time for the Hukaiwen name, and this name's significance, to enter into my consciousness. When tha happened was a cathartic moment, because it confirmed to me not only the quality of this particular ink stick, but also - vice versa - the quality of Hukaiwen ink sticks.This ink stick was also revelatory to me in another way. For those forty years I collected Chinese ink sticks, I always believed this ink stick was made of pine soot, only to discover on Amazon that this ink stick is actually made of lacquer soot.Hukaiwen also designates this ink stick as "hand made," and only a few Hukaiwen ink sticks are so designated.Most of the Chinese ink stick offered on Amazon are from the Hukaiwen ink factory. For articles with background information on the historic and highly regarded Hukaiwen ink factory, Goggle "hukaiwen,"This particular ink stick is one of a few offerings on Amazon of Hukaiwen ink sticks made of lacquer soot; it's also 50% more expensive than some of Hukaiwen's other lacquer soot ink sticksLacquer soot ink sticks are made of burnt raw lacquer soot, which may contain a variety of different main ingredients, depending on how the lacquer is made. To add to this mystery, an article on Google states that Hukaimen ink sticks are made of "secret ingredients (highly confidential)."To conclude, the surface of this particular ink stick has a ""sheen" of either "flat" or "matte,'" which makes the surface of this ink stick look very similar to an ink stick made from pine soot. However, I do not know if this surface matte appearance is only "skin deep," and the ink actually produced has a different sheen, e.g., of higher gloss.

Superb. Top quality. For the ones who use traditional materials and work on very observant paper this quality of ink stick is really important. Love it.