How was the pen invented?

Since ancient times, it has been Montaigne who invented the pen, but there is no such thing as writing a pen in Historical Records and Biography of Montaigne. Only Zhang Hua's Natural History has a record of "Meng Tian writing". In 22 1 BC, Qin unified the whole world, and Meng Tian was honored as literature and history for his merits. This position is related to the use of pen, because writing, writing and copying official documents are the responsibilities of historians, which may lead to Meng Tian.

There is a passage in Ma Su's Notes on China in Ancient and Modern Times, which may explain the misunderstanding that Meng Tiandu invented the pen. "Niu Xiang asked," in ancient times, there was a book, and there must be a pen. The world said that Meng Tian made a pen. "He replied," Since Meng Tian, the ear pens of Qin Dynasty have been made, with wood (also called dead wood) as the tube, deer hair as the column and wool as the quilt, not rabbit hair and bamboo tube. "

In fact, before Meng Tian, ancient literature used pens for a long time. For example, Er Ya Shi Qi has irregular pens, The Book of Rites, Quli has a history of pens, and literati have words. The original works include woodcuts at the beginning of Fuxi, Xuanyuanyi's knife books, Yu Shun's pens, and lacquer books for housing construction. Tell my son the story of "Pick up the pen and accept the words". According to the historical facts of Shangshu and Quli, Xu Jian clearly explained the reason why Meng Tian made a pen in his Notes for Beginners: or at that time, many countries did not have the name of a pen, only Qin had it, and Meng Tian even "gained or lost" (improved) a pen.

Who invented the pen? I'm afraid it's hard to find the answer. It can only be said that some people in the Neolithic age. From the ancient cultural relics discovered in recent years, it can be proved that the characters and pictures on bamboo slips and silk books were written with a brush, and the bamboo poles unearthed in kind also have a brush. For example, in 1954, the pens, pen containers and penholders of the Warring States period (the whole pen was put into the sleeve) were made of bamboo, and the pens were made of animal hair. The length of this suit is 23.5 cm. Obviously, the inscriptions on Shang and Zhou bronzes were not written with hard pen. It can be seen that Oracle Bone Inscriptions of the Yin Dynasty in Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written with a brush and then engraved. Academician Dong Zuobin of Academia Sinica also said in "A Case Study of Dating in Oracle Bone Inscriptions" that from BC 1400 to BC 1200, useful writing brush and ink had been written on cattle bones.

In earlier prehistoric times, painted pottery from Neolithic sites such as Yangshao and Xi Banpo in Henan Province had to be colored with soft brushes. Painted pottery found in Xindian, Gansu, has figures, birds, big wheels and other patterns. Some scholars think this is the original picture of China. In the past 100 years, many ancient pottery wares were unearthed one after another. By the time of the Qin Dynasty, more than 800 words of Wen Tao had been collected.

The historical origin of pens

The original brush and pen tube

We only know that the handwriting on Oracle Bone Inscriptions and pottery is soft brush hair, but we are not sure whether it is plant fiber or animal hair. However, because the softness of plant fiber is not enough, it is easy to break, and its possibility is small. For example, what animal is it? There are still many unknowns. The Warring States brush unearthed in Changsha is handed down as rabbit hair, which is something from 300 BC to 400 BC, as early as 1400 BC.

Fortunately, there is the word "pen" in both Jin Qi and Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Luo Zhenyu and others interpreted it as hieroglyphics, just like holding a pen. As can be seen from the inscription above and Oracle Bone Inscriptions, most people hold the pen with their right hand as well as their left hand. Most of the pen tips are forked, and some words are not forked.

Pencils for modern woodworking proofing. Mo Dou was used decades ago. In addition to ink lines, both ends of bamboo pieces are also made into flat filiform bamboo pens. This pen can only draw straight lines, not write. When I was traveling in the mountains of northern Thailand and Indonesia, I saw the words on the Buddhist Bayeux Sutra, even like iron lines, and the pen marks went deep into Bayeux. I also saw people in Licen Island sharpen bamboo poles, dip them in ink and make dense fine strokes, bamboo and bamboo. If the lines are too thick after use, you can sharpen the bamboo pen with a knife at any time. It can be inferred from this example that bamboo pens that can be used for a long time and can be made from local materials should be similar to the original pens before the use of brush pens, or there should be a hard pen for a while before the use of soft pens such as animal hair.

Zhao Xihu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, said, "In ancient times, bamboo was used for painting." Notes on Picking Up Records recorded Ren Shuben's "Cutting Jing into a Pen", "White Hole with Six Sticks" and "Jade Tan as a Pen". "Southern History" also said that Tao Hongjing "painted a gray middle school book". These documents are recorded after Wei and Jin Dynasties. Pens made of sharpened reeds and branches and forked pens were found in Hotan and Niya. These pens should have started from the third century. This kind of object is consistent with the records in ancient literature, and it also proves that hard pen was used in the middle ages and may be used in ancient times.

1932, a pen made in China was discovered in Zuojuyan, Northwest China. Instead of using a bamboo tube, it was made of four wood chips and tied with two hemp ropes. Juyan also found some pen tips made of wool without pipes. Does this mean that rubber pens are tied up with wood chips for reuse because of poor paint when they are put into bamboo tubes, or that pens before the Han Dynasty were all round bamboo tubes with wood chips?

Shan Wei, a master of writing brush in the Three Kingdoms period, once said in his Calligraphy Classics that tough hair should be used as the front, followed by supple hair, and tied with hemp rope. Hair should be "fixed with paint solution" when it enters the bone, and then "treated with seaweed" after it is straightened, so that it can be soaked in ink and will not deteriorate all day. It can be seen that the writing in the Three Kingdoms period is the same as it is now, and it can be done very well.

Changes of pen-making materials

Bamboo and wood are the main materials of pen tubes, which have not changed so far. This is a pen that is really used for writing. The pen holder used by Emperor Tiandi in the Han Dynasty was "wrongly loaded", that is to say, the lower part of the pen holder was decorated with gold plating and precious stones. In the past, the crown prince gave it a "paint pen" at the beginning of worship. Among Tsao Gong's utensils, there is a "color glass pen". Emperor Wu of Jin gave Zhang Hua a "Lin Jiao Pen" and "Ban Zhu Guan", which is a beautiful record of articles written by loyal ministers and righteous men. Ouyang Tong, the son of Ou Yangxun, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, likes pens made of ivory or rhinoceros horn. In autumn, the hair of raccoons is wrapped in the hair of fat rabbits. It can be seen that since the Jin Dynasty, the types of pen tubes have increased day by day. Wang Xizhi disapproved of this heavy brush tube, and said in his "The Classic of Pen": "In the past,

The main function of a pen is to record. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, in addition to recording, the function of calligraphy art has been added, that is, it must meet the artistic expression requirements of calligraphers, which has been implicated in the study of hair quality and production methods.

Wang Xizhi's "Bi Jing" said that Zhao was the best one to use rabbit hair in Han Dynasty, because Zhao Guangze had more fine grass, rabbits gained weight after eating, and the harvest season was better in August, tender and smooth in July and crisp and bald in September. In the pen classics, the mixture of human hair and blue wool is also mentioned. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the author tried all kinds of animal hair, except the rabbit mentioned above. "Natural History" includes tiger servant hair, pheasant hair, Tao secluded sheep beard and so on. Nowadays, the popular fetal writing brush in Taiwan Province Province was also created from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It is recorded in "The Story of Youyang Leaving the Country" that "there was a laundry list in the Southern Dynasties, and Xiao Ziyun tasted books with a pen and used fetal hair with his heart".

After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, various animal hairs were used, such as wolf hair, orangutan hair, stone rat hair, mink hair, duck hair, pig hair, chicken foot hair and so on. As pen-making materials, ox ear hair and horsehair are not recorded in earlier ancient books. It seems nearly a hundred years ago.

Types of writing brushes

Classify according to the thickness of written words

The nib must be glued to the pen holder, so it is classified according to the thickness of the pen holder. The classification method is that the thicker one is the first one, and gradually decreases in this order, which is called the second one, the third one ... the tenth one. At present, each pen has no fixed size, and each pen house determines it by itself or classifies pens according to customs. For example, the first one is a large nib with a diameter of one centimeter, and the second one is a medium nib with a diameter of one centimeter. Number 3 is a small pen with a diameter of 0. 6 centimeters. A set of pens consists of five dragon and phoenix wool pens: 1 No.2. The diameter is 5 cm, and the number 2 is 2. Diameter 2 cm, No.3 is 1. The diameter is 8 cm, and the number 4 is 1. The diameter is 5 cm, and the number 5 is 1. 3 cm in diameter. Therefore, the classification by the thickness of the pen is still irregular.

In addition, according to the size of the pen cover classification. Recently, the pen covers used for writing brushes are all plastic. At first, when the factory provided the custom format, the smallest classification method was O, which gradually increased and was called 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 65438+. There are 20 kinds of 13 half, 14, 14 half and 15, which are gradually recognized by the industry.

The thickness of the brush, in terms of habit, is roughly named as:

Guibi- you can write 0. 3 cm

Red bean pen-you can write 0. 5cm

Small pen-you can write one centimeter.

China pen-can write three centimeters.

Pen-you can write six centimeters.

Combination pen-can write ten centimeters.

Pick up a pen and you can write15cm.

Large size-you can write 20 cm.

Pen-can write 30 cm.

Giant pen-can write 60 cm

According to the length of the written words

In general, the length of the pen tip and the diameter of the pen tip have a fixed ratio, which is generally three to four times as straight as mushrooms after rain. When the diameter of the nib increases, the length of the nib increases at this rate. If it exceeds this ratio, it is called a long front and an ultra-long front; if it is less than this ratio, it is called a short front and an ultra-short front.

According to the hardness and softness of wool.

Each brush has different characteristics and performance, especially when wool is mixed together, showing a more rigid and flexible brushwork.

Rigid brush

Bristle brush is a pen made of wool, which has high hardness and strong elasticity. Generally, it is made of raccoon hair, mountain horse hair, ox ear hair, Ma Chong, pig hair, mink hair, rabbit hair and wolf tail hair, and its rigidity is divided into full rigidity, nine rigidity, eight rigidity and seven rigidity: six rigidity and five rigidity.

Flexible brush

Pens with pure hair and fine hair are all soft and the strokes are very tender. According to its softness and elasticity, it can be divided into full softness, nine softness, eight softness, seven softness, six softness and five softness. Except wool, horse hair, deer hair, cat hair and ape hair are all soft hairs. However, the long front pen with the same material can show more flexibility than the short front pen.

Double-sided brush

A pen made of hard wool and flexible wool is called a "double-strand brush"; If the proportion of rigid wool is increased, it is called "rigid double brush"; If the proportion of flexible wool is increased, it is called "flexible double-sided brush".

Due to different uses, in production and deployment, adding rigid wool to flexible wool can enhance the rigidity, and according to the different parts added, the rigidity of each part can be enhanced. For example, if you want the brush to have a soft nib and a strong waist, so that it can write slowly and straightly, and have enough elasticity, then the seasoning method is to use wool as the main room of the whole brush, and mix stiff cat hair, ox ear hair or pig hair in the abdomen and waist to strengthen it.

According to the different classification of wool

There are wool, horse hair, raccoon hair, rat hair, fragrant raccoon hair, chinchilla hair, deer hair, mountain horse hair, cow ear hair, rabbit hair, wolf hair and so on.

Bird brushes include chicken feathers, goose feathers, crane feathers and peacock feathers.

Plant pens include bamboo pens, lettuce pens, grass pens and wooden pens.

Other fetal brushes are made of human newborn baby's hair, sharp and thin, all commemorative pens, which can be written and treasured.

Pen material

Characteristics of pen wool

The main raw materials for making brush are wool, horse hair, inner hair, civet hair, flower rabbit hair, mountain rabbit hair, weasel tail hair, cow ear hair, mountain horse hair, bristles and other animal hair. But except in special circumstances, bird hair and plant materials are rarely made.

Wool:

There are many kinds of sheep, and their hair must be straight, so only goat hair is more suitable. Because of the hot climate in the south of China, goat hair is thick and short, while the weather in the north is cold, and the wool is long, delicate and deep, which is a good pen-making product. Similarly, the wool quality of a sheep varies according to different body parts. The best is the excellent pioneer near the back.

Horse hair:

Horse hair can be divided into horse eye hair, horse armpit hair, foot hair, horse mane, horsetail hair and so on according to its different parts. Its colors are white hair, red hair and Miki Sayaka, which are produced in Japan, North America and Central and South America, and also in Northeast China and North China.

Cat hair:

There are many kinds of raccoon hair, among which black raccoon hair is sharper and more elastic, with weak roots and poor waist strength. When making brushes, other kinds of wool must be added to supplement the strength.

Beaver hair:

Cat hair produced in this province, also known as "pen cat", has a straight and powerful hair tip on its back, mixed with wool or wolf hair, which will make the writing brush more useful.

Flower rabbit hair:

Commonly known as the mountain rabbit, the whole body hair is soft, and the hair on the back is mature and straight and sharp every winter, which is a good material for writing brushes.

Weasel tail hair:

The weasel is very small, and only its tail hair can be used as a brush. It is the best material for writing brush. It is tough and elastic, and its hair is straight and wear-resistant. It is the main raw material of writing brush. Produced in Japan, South Korea, Northeast China and the mountainous areas in the south of the Yangtze River in North China.

Cow ear hair:

The hair behind and near the ears of cattle is tough, the bone is hard and straight, and the front is shallow, which is most suitable for the waist pad or pen belly of double-stranded brush.

Pig, pig hair:

Pig hair is rigid, elastic and tough, and it is a good food for large production. Putting pig hair on the belly and waist of the pen can make the pen strong, but the hair tip is short and the hair tip is shallow. No, it is mainly produced in the northeast and northwest, Sichuan is famous, and it is also produced in Taiwan Province Province. Although the amount is small, the hair quality is very good.

Nylon wool:

In addition to the above animal hair, recently, a synthetic wool, such as nylon, has been widely used. Although nylon wool has poor water absorption, it has the advantages of elasticity and wear resistance, so it is mixed into some brushes at present.

pen container

A well-made pen must be glued to the pen holder before writing, so special attention should be paid to the production of the pen holder. In addition to practicality, more attention should be paid to decoration and appreciation. The main production materials are as follows:

bamboo

From the word "pen", we can know that from ancient times to now, ordinary pen containers are made of bamboo. The bamboo produced in northern China is hard, thick and striped, while the bamboo produced in southern provinces is soft and light. Bamboo produced in Chiba, Kyoto, Hyogo, Okayama, Fukuoka, Qigong, Kagoshima and other places in Japan is very suitable for making pen holders. So is Guanyin Bamboo in Taiwan Province Province.

wood

Pen holders made by woodworking lathes are mostly used in large quantities to make up for the rough specifications that bamboo can't make. The wood used is hard, waterproof and will not bend and deform. Important woods are rosewood, ebony, mahogany, cypress, teak, bar, pine and so on. Paint it after it is made to increase luster and endurance.

Beast horn

The main animal horns are white horns and black horns, which have high hardness, no deformation, durability and are quite popular. They are processed by a hexagonal lathe and are processed into various pen shapes. After polishing, they are very bright. Some have full horns, some have front and rear horns, and the middle is made of bamboo or wood.

chemicals

Generally, the pen holders of chemicals are made of plastic, acrylic or urea, extruded from the machine to make strips and tubes, and then sawed to the required length to replace bamboo.

Pen holder is molded by injection molding machine according to the model, and then trimmed and polished by lathe workers. It has low price, abundant output and fixed specifications, and is widely used in the industry.

Elephant's tusks

Ivory, produced in Africa, Thailand and India, symbolizes nobility and auspiciousness and has been favored by the public since ancient times. Scholars in China also use it to make pens or carve patterns on them, which is not only expensive to use, but also enjoyable.

It's popular to make fetal writing brush recently. Many parents like to use ivory pens to make fetal brushes for their children as a permanent memorial.

metal

Made of precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. The pen holder and pen cover are also engraved with patterns, which is a decorative tube pen.

ceramic

Porcelain clay kiln is a kind of decorative tube pen, which is very precious and loved by emperors in past dynasties, such as Qianlong Imperial Pen and Yongzheng Imperial Kiln Porcelain Pen.

Paint stick

The pen container is a decorative tube pen. With beautiful things and colored paint, Zhu and samarium uranium are piled up, and the beauty of the tube is appreciated while writing.

jade

Since ancient times, emperors and generals have always had a soft spot for jade, and penholders naturally like to match jade. Jade carving pen is an elegant literary game pen in Qing Dynasty.

Making of writing brush

The pen has four virtues: sharp, neat, round and healthy. "Sharp" means that the pen tip should be sharp, and the deeper the pen tip, the better. The so-called sharp point is extremely sharp. "Qi" means that the whole nib should be even and tidy, the front of the nib should be flat, the nib should be neat and tidy, and the time should be as sharp as a point. "Round" means that the ingredients should complement each other, and the brush points should be uniform, so that you can move freely, wave and rotate smoothly, and your head is not dry, such as flowing water. It is not only the writing brush that has made these four virtues, but also the painter's choice of pens.

As the saying goes, "if a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first." Famous paintings and Mo Bao can only be handed down from generation to generation with famous pens, so pen-making is like a rigorous art; It is no exaggeration to compare a brush made by a skilled master to a work of art, so there are famous artists in China who make famous pens and provide them to calligraphers. The brush-making method in Taiwan Province Province is handed down from the local tradition, and at the same time, it combines the skills of famous artists from all over China, and then takes Japanese technology into account, so that a unique skill is born. Recently, modern science and technology have been used for analysis and research, and the writing brush has been made more elaborate, which not only lays the foundation stone at home, but also enjoys international meals. This paper summarizes the process of making brush.

Choose wool, fold it and wash it, soak it in water to remove the hair pedicle, and remove the fluff and wash it.

Mix the cut wool, comb the wool, pick up the wool and roll it into a pen.

Pick up the hair at the root of the pen and brush it.

, fixed pen quality inspection pen tip pen cover, lettering, packaging completed.

Wool selection

In the past, animal hair used to make writing brushes was obtained by hunting in the mountains. It is necessary to corrode and soften the whole animal skin first, and then grab the animal hair and arrange it. At present, this work has been handled by professional fur companies, bundled into a whole bundle, and the whole raw hair is reserved. Therefore, the step of selecting wool to make pens now stops at selecting the length and thickness of raw wool, the advantages and disadvantages of wool tip and hair body, and identifying its elasticity to cooperate with pen making.

Overlapping wool

Pivot the whole raw hair with nails to remove the residual skin and tear it, then lay it neatly according to the root of the hair and arrange the hair according to the length. Then grab the wool of the same length with one hand, and gently comb it with the other hand and fold it into a thin bundle for use.

Wash wool and soak it in water

Hold piles of wool in both hands, turn the table upside down to make the hair roots flush, then soak them in water for cleaning, and finally soak the cleaned wool in water for six to twenty-four hours according to the properties of wool.

Under special circumstances, when animal hair contains too much oil or the impurities secreted have a heavy smell, it is generally washed with detergent or limewater. The cleaning process must be skilled, quantitative and timed. If you use too much lime water or soak it for too long, it will corrode your hair, causing it to break, rot, be fragile, lose its elasticity and become dry and unusable. However, the wool after disinfection and cleaning still needs to be washed with water or soaked in water for a long time.

Remove hair and fluff.

Comb hair roots with ox bone comb, remove impurities, and comb off fluff and waste hair. The key point is to pinch the hair root by hand, comb off the fluff along the hairline direction, comb it several times, and finally comb it to the hair root with fine fluff.

Qi Maofeng

Wool is long and short, and the first stage begins at the level of hair roots. The next job is to flatten the hair. Usually take a flat board (made of animal bones or acrylic board) about five centimeters wide and coat the front end of a bunch of wool with powder to make it wet and not slippery. Hold the fluff in your right hand, hold the flush plate in your left hand, and gently press along the edge line of the flush plate with your thumb to hold the hair of your right hand.

Cutting size

After the hair ends are aligned, arrange the wool in order and cut it into the required length according to the length. So far, the hair ends and roots are aligned, which can be called "spare wool sheets". Because the hair root is hard, it will be used as a reference point in future work.

Wool blended material

In order to make brushes with different uses and strokes, all kinds of wool should be mixed in an appropriate proportion. In addition, it is necessary to cut different lengths of wool according to the type of pen, and reasonably distribute the materials of pen holder and pen quilt according to the main hair, abdominal hair and waist hair, so as to make a good quality brush.

Carding wool sheet

After the wool is blended, it must be carefully combed: the blended wool is mixed and ground, then combed from the root of the wool to the tip of the pen with an ox bone comb, carefully combed, and then rolled back to be mixed, ground and combed. This is repeated many times until the whole wool is evenly mixed, and the finished writing brush can reach a "round" state when writing.

Wool picking piece

Hold the combed hair in your left hand, hold a fine-pointed knife or a flat-edged knife in your right hand, and pick out foreign objects, coarse hair and broken hair with your index finger, so that your hair will be more tidy. In fact, it is impossible for a master to make a brush.

Rolling pen holder

Wet the selected rough parts with glue, then lay them flat on the board, gently press the left index finger, and flatten the knife with the right hand. Pick out the required amount of brush and lay them flat on the flat board, then clamp them flat on your fingers, slowly roll them into a pen column with your thumb, and then bounce them on the flat board to make the pen root neat and the pen column more round and full.

Pen-picking column hair

The rolled pen also needs to use a fine-pointed knife and forefinger to remove the foreign matter between the hair tip and the long hair that can't keep up with the hair tip, and try to shake the pen tip to see if it is sharp and whether the pen force meets the requirements.

Brush coating

The pen holder is ready, dried and fixed. The brush is laid on the pen holder and rolled into a complete nib.

Zabigen

When the pen tip is dried or dried, the root of the pen can be tied with cotton thread, and the force should be uniform to avoid deformation. Then apply a fixing agent to the tied root, which can strengthen the nib and prevent the bristles from falling off. In ancient times, it was painted with raw lacquer, but in modern times, it was replaced by super glue due to the development of science and technology.

Upper penholder

The top of the pen holder is chiseled with a round hole, which matches the pen tip. When the pen holder is put on, the adhesive is coated on the top of the pen holder and the root of the pen tip, and then the pen tip is put into the pen to dry, thus completing the writing brush.

In ancient times, rosin was used as an adhesive. In fact, rosin itself is quite brittle and cannot be used directly. Many manufacturers use rosin to stick, and it will fall off easily soon. Therefore, some people say that rosin cannot stick to pens. In fact, if you know how to mix oil and boil rosin size, you can make the pen stick firmly and never drop it. This set of kung fu was handed down from master and apprentice.

Since the 1950s, manufacturers have adopted strong adhesives, such as Nanbao 800, Nanbao 906, friendly super adhesives, and some have also adopted quick-drying instant adhesives.

Whole pen, bristles, fixed pen type

The last step of making a brush is to brush, brush and brush the shape. After the adhesive between the brush and the pen holder is completely dried, brush it towards the nib with a steel brush or brush comb to remove the residual foreign hair and short hair, so that the nib is naturally smooth. Then soak in the soaked seaweed glue, and then arrange the pen shape to make the pen tip round and smooth.

Quality inspection nib

After the whole brush is finished, test the water again to see if the brush tip is round and can rotate freely. If there is any foreign hair and bad hair, it will naturally jump out during the rotation, so it needs to be trimmed and glued to complete a good pen without defects.

Cover, font and packaging.

The finished brush must be protected with a pen cover, engraved or labeled on the pen holder for classification, and then packaged.