Moon-bang-sa-woo

Rice paper, brush, ink stone and ink stick are mom’s studying four friends.

The brush holder holds brushes of all sizes and has two wheels that rotate. Mom uses thin brushes for writing letters, a medium one for calligraphy and all sizes for painting.  

Brushes are made from animal hair glued into a bamboo handle with a loop on the end for hanging to dry. Many types of animal hair are used in making brushes including rabbit, sable, horse and fox. The different types of hair used in the bootdetermine its price and what it is used for.

This turtle shaped byu-roo is made from slate and is for making ink. The shell shaped lid comes off to reveal a small well for water and a flat area for grinding the ink stick on. Rubbing the ink stick against the flat section of the stone with a little water in it makes the ink. The stick is rubbed in a circular clockwise motion while being held up.

Muk, the ink stick is made from soot collected after the burning of pine. Grandfather said that high quality muk gives a wide range of grays.

When grandfather was alive, I used to grind the ink for his early morning practice.
I miss grandfather when I smell the ink.