First - Carol DuBosch posted this image of MonkeyBarCaps on Facebook. If you do not follow her on Facebook - you might want to do a search and surf through all her images.
Also - Marie Fredriksson posted a link to YouTube video that shows a man making ink sticks. If you have never had the opportunity to use ink made by grinding an ink stick on an ink stone, you are missing out on the best ink ever.
There are several things in the 8 1/2 minute video that are amazing (to ink nerds) and one thing that struck me as resonating with many people who were drawn to the arts as youngsters. We liked to play in mud. I've met so many artists who remember fondly how much fun it was to play in dirt or mud. He has a couple other comments about the stubbornness of being an artist/craftsman and so on and so forth.
Japanese ink artisan
Here is the link that will fill the rest of the week. All kinds of videos on cool stuff in Japan. Some is art and craft related - other is more tourist related since the videos are done by ANA - Japan's largest commercial airline.
Happy surfing.
Is Japan cool
P.S.
That ink in the DuBosch example is Bister ink - a new ink available through John Neal. People are raving about it. You mix it yourself from powder - like walnut ink. Or maybe it is colored walnut ink. No time to digest all the info. You can Google it and go to the page on the manufacturer's website if you need even more info.
Here is an article about it:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.johnnealbooks.com/downloads/16-1_Bister.pdf
Here is where to order it:
https://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/bister
I've been enjoying Carol's Monkey Bar Caps postings on FB and Insta. Did you catch her explanation of the name? I thought it was because they kind of looked like monkey bars...but she said it was because when she writes them, making them all connect reminds her of the stre-e-etching she did as a kid to reach from one part of the monkey bars to another. :)
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