Ink Sticks More Precious Than Gold | Artisans E3

Painters in China traditionally use solid ink sticks instead of liquid ink. These ink sticks are still often made by artisans who spend more than a year collecting ash, pounding, moulding, and painting each bar by hand.
This is the third episode of our “Artisans” series, where we explore China’s rich art history and its dedicated creators.
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0:00 Hui ink sticks
1:00 The history
1:37 How it’s made
6:12 Inspiration from car batteries
If you liked this video, we have more videos about Chinese artisans:
Tibetan Artist is a Master of the Ancient Technique of Cloisonne With His Vivid Buddha Paintings
• Tibetan Artist is a Ma...
How China’s Most Valuable Inkstones are Made | Artisans E2
• How China’s Most Valua...
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Producer: Lyn Yang
Videographer: Patrick Wong
Editor: Cliff Man
Mastering: César del Giudice
#China #art #calligraphy

[@mr.wookiesack]

It's a cool process. It looks like it hasn't changed much in 1000s of years. The guy collecting lamp black has a rough job. He has lungs that look like ink

[@silverdimensions]

Absolutely amazing! After seeing Liziqi use her ink stone, ink stick and brush in calligraphy on paper she made, I could see the artistic skill used in every piece that was used. Especially after watching your video on the ink stones and the excellent workmanship that goes into making those, this video compliments that one perfectly in the materials, work and artistic detail that goes into making quality ink sticks. Hopefully you will continue with the Four Treasures of the Study in the making of the brushes and paper! Thank you so much! 😃👋👋

[@nixfi8213]

This is literally so satisfying, I almost want to eat them.

[@jefflokanata]

It is edible as a medicine also 😅 . But you have to carefully choose the brand …

[@skepticfucker280]

Wow, I wish I had a stick of this to save forever.

[@GordonGordon]

This is a great video about the process. Thanks for making it!

[@suzylu333]

what amazing craftsmanship!

[@johnnykwon8173]

Sorry to correct you, but it is not exactly ash. It is soot.

[@Goldthread]

Guess how much one piece costs?

[@iamdawt]

I don't know, but whatever it is, they earn every bit. They put their heart and soul into their hard work.

[@MsAnthropoLogic]

I have no idea, but I’m sure they considered the effort put on every piece.

[@Jimux]

around $100-$200 per stick?

[@rickrollrizal2747]

About 10 to 15 bear lives each

[@mitchellquartero]

$500-$1,000

[@vivianlaw13]

Waiting for the day you offer some of these beautifully crafted items to the rest of the world... where your website offering these so those of us who can't travel to China can give support your company and the artist... you have so many amazing artists that you introduce to us, some needs funds yet you don't even offer a link to them so we can support their work...

[@lindapindabelinda3570]

This looks very cool, and I was looking forward to getting an ink stick and trying it, until they mentioned bear bile as an ingredient.

[@miaomiaochan]

I'm fairly certain bear bile is not a common ingredient in inksticks, as recipes vary from maker to maker. What all inksticks do have in common, however, is that they're not vegan-friendly, as they all contain animal-derived binders.

[@Tidde]

3:19 aren't there any alternatives to bear bile? From what I've understood aren't bear bile farms really harmful?

[@simonlinser8286]

Yeah dude of course they are. Of course there's not a better thing to use, they're putting TC medicine in ink, you think you'll convince them to just skip the bear bile? Good luck. Also if you've ever seen black bile, it's really black like scary looking black so it probably does add to the depth and opacity but... yeah i thought the exact same thing too. Poor bears.

[@rickrollrizal2747]

It's China. Japanese ink makers don't use bear bile

[@neggy2926]

Not "Ash" but "Soot"

[@Hchris101]

Very cool 😎

[@glowingforthe1654]

Never complaining about the price of ink again 0.0

[@evansamekudzi5612]

More like soot. Or maybe soot is a variant of ash...

[@kaksoispistev5403]

Yeah, it's pine soot

[@grytshrt]

beautiful, but the use of bear bile is troubling. I have a hard time believing that it's effect on the end product is worth the cost of suffering and conservation, if it can't be omitted, perhaps a suitable substitute can be found?

[@rickrollrizal2747]

Go buy Japanese ink sticks instead. They don't use bear bile

[@philipthao8527]

i thought of a video idea. can you guys do a video tutorial of how to open Asian ingredients properly? an example is kwong hung seng sauce. do you cut that little blue cap or used a tool to open the whole cap? LOL

[@mayhudson]

wont the decorations in gold and red affect the black ink when you grind in those parts?

[@Autogyro.001]

They don't really. You can see small flecks of the decorations when you grind the ink, but they don't really come out in the writing. They're ground too small when you grind the ink on the stone.

[@supervincemus]

What’s the name of the ink factory in the video so I can buy from it?

[@Catthepunk]

This looks so cool, but my lungs could not😩

[@donnienguyen5698]

I have one of their ink sticks

[@anxiousduck]

How much do these cost? I saw they are like 650-ish yuan on Taobao, while Japanese ones are like 2000+ US dollars. That's like 4% of the price. I can't believe they use the same materials and process, and the price difference is so stark.

[@cisp360]

650 Yuan is about $80, which is a reasonable price for a good inkstick. The most expensive inksticks I saw on a Japanese art store is about $1000-$2000, but I think inksticks have diminishing value. In other words, $80 will guarantee you get a very good inkstick.

[@myprideable]

Labor cost in Japan is orders of magnitude higher than China.

[@missgefick]

I want to buy this. Where are the original products of this family?

[@SundayJones-mu2ig]

GoldThread seems to never provide links or contact information for the Artist.

[@FriendChicken]

Its not ash that they collect. It's the soot.

[@lifesyphon1]

Music is too loud.

[@archydragon5213]

Would use a mechine will sage time and money

[@johnnykwon8173]

My question is have they ever considered incorporating perishable squid ink?

[@rickrollrizal2747]

Those aren't sustainable or easy to get in large quantities

[@fuckedupbody4194]

They could actually drastically decrease drying time of said ink sticks if they’re stored in a climate controlled room. It might be a bit cost prohibitive but it would allow them to rapidly ramp up production as they wouldn't have to wait for the 1 year drying time. Though it might not be a good idea if their procurement of raw materials, namely soot, isn't able to keep up with demands from production. Another thing that they might want to do is have high quality CNC machined molds. With a quality design, you would be able to procure high quality and detailed metal molds, which would allow you to create more complicated or stylized molds that can be sold more a higher profit. It might sound silly but people judge products based on looks first; so if your ink stick is the most detailed or stylized stick, users might be incentivized to buy it based on the fact that its a high quality looking product from a quality brand. Another is that the detailed ink stone might capture the interest of consumers that might be interested in looking to buy it as a decorative or collectable(chinese history collection?) gift for someone.

[@cong-organic]

What's best about the molds is that they are hand carved and passed on generations, I don't think CNC machined molds would make any good impression on the brand.

[@miaomiaochan]

Which would you pay more for - a watch that's one of millions that rolled off an assembly line that year, or a watch that was assembled by skilled artisans with years of experience in the art of watchmaking? A sweatshop dress from Zara or a couture dress? My point is that you aren't considering how much value will be lost upon mechanizing the process. Inksticks have been made using tried-and-true techniques, know-how, and recipes that have been passed down for generations; if you take too much of this away in the interest of increasing production, you lose these intangible qualities that make up the bulk of their value and make them so highly sought-after. With all the criticism of China for its sweatshop labor and mass-produced consumer goods, you'd think that the continued existence of handmade artisanal goods made the old-fashioned way would be a positive thing. Apparently not!

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Inksticks aren't really a hot commodity that you want to pay premium capital to mechanize production...

[@dan339dan]

We have cheap ink sticks produced in factories already. All students must take Chinese calligraphy in their primary schools for some time. They would only buy the cheap mass produced ink sticks or liquid ink bottles. The traditional creation process is pretty much a cultural/legacy skill people want to pay money to feel the "craftsmanship"/"human touch".

[@quarion125]

There are factory-made ink sticks with efficient modern processes, they are really cheap, and no one is going to film those.

[@jivatma]

I think it's soot not ash

[@ima1sthumanonearth8]

🙃

[@jorgewilliam8919]

It's not ash, its soot

[@planje4740]

- а ја ти некада мислим да јапанци пуно претјерују

[@highestkiller4627]

look hazardous as fook

[@moolacue]

I will purchase anything from Japan. I've realized that no matter what, they make a good product. Cancer aside.

[@yanyuanzhang-uv2oy]

"Japan" Lmao

[@rickrollrizal2747]

Now they're getting destroyed by online shopping cheap products

[@fredtan1506]

Now, I'm convinced of the power of America. He wears a Nike knitted cap, not Li-Ning. Chinese people should make effort to promote everything home-grown.

[@olivier2553]

But the Nike cap has been probably made locally and most probably never entered a Nike shop or Nike inventory...

[@xmb6793]

you make it like chinese are forbidden to use american brand... it's up to him what he want to wear. and in chinese brand like ANTA is more popular than lining.

[@fredtan1506]

@@xmb6793 American presidents promote, " buy American". So, it's ok to promote "buy Korean", or buy,"made in India", etc.

[@fredtan1506]

I didn't say don't buy made in USA. I said promote buying local.

[@purrigato8505]

as i grow older i start to search, learn and trying to appreciate my own heritages, as i work in art field, it is really disheartening to see many young chinese still promoting none their own but japanese - samurai pop culture, they are losing their identity, and chinese government are inadvertently taking the blame in this process, with their strict stupid rules of what are allowed thus stifling creativities, also lacks of IP protections making people not appreciating genuine idea, just look at their movies nowadays, full of stupid incoherent plots

[@moolacue]

Ok I watched it almost all the way until you started painting shit all over the place American style. If your product was the one. It would need no branding.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Dude, you really didn't understand traditional Chinese aesthetics then...