Mo Ding or ink block usually uses the best tung oil, lights it with rushes, and covers a blue and white porcelain bowl above the flame. Unburned soot will remain on the inner wall of the porcelain bowl, and then these soot will be collected and used to make ink. Ink is carbon powder, and the particles of carbon powder are too big, so it can only be stuck on the surface of rice paper with glue. After a long time, the glue will fail, the toner will fall off, and the handwriting will slowly peel off.
The history of ink
In ancient times, people used Mo Ding, also known as China ink stick, which needed to be ground in an inkstone. Its ink-making technology usually includes cigarette refining, blending, making, sun drying, gold painting and so on. Mo Ding has always been loved and collected by scholars, calligraphers and painters. It is said that both Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms period and Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty liked to collect Mo Ding. Today, the ink in Four Treasures of the Study is usually called ink. When it comes to the history of ink painting, we have to mention it.