Review on Hukaiwen Ink Block Easyou Handmade Fine Lacquer Soot Ink Stick for Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy and Painting - CdqTzhk 31g by Denise Davis

I had calligraphy ink sticks as a child and with the recent resurgence of my interest in calligraphy and watercolor painting I bought several colored ink sticks for artists and most likely a black ink stick for students. The seller (Easyou) recommended I try this discounted mascara as I probably shouldn't be using student mascara. The smell of this mascara is much more pleasant. While a student ink pen is very easy to sharpen with an ink stone, this one requires a bit more work. Just to put it in perspective, the previous ink pen I bought gave me black ink in less than a minute. This gave a dark ink that was usable and I was not dissatisfied with the color of the ink. The Hukaiwen Ink Block Handmade Fine Lacquer Smoke ink pen immediately became different. I could tell immediately by rubbing it against my inkstone that it was a harder inkstick. As I rubbed, I remembered that when I told a work colleague that I was painting Chinese watercolors, she asked her husband to grind the ink for me (she was joking, of course, since we always see women grinding ink for their experts Chinese historical TV show). If I don't need ink rubbing experience, there's liquid ink. The results are far better and the finishes of the two ink sticks were very different. Even if you look at the ink sticks after polishing, you can see that this ink stick has a nice gloss and not the student's. The particle size is much smaller, which can be seen from the result. I have to say that the seller knows their product and I will no longer use student ink pens.