| (1) Bamboo pen: The bamboo pen is the Chinese traditional inside-bottle painting tool. The pen stock is select material from soon to mature tender bamboo. A smooth round stick is tapered to a thin end about 0.5~2 centimeter from the end. It is then heated with the light irons to form a slight arching upward curve. The early inside-bottle painters who extensively used the bamboo pen state its characteristic as a brush that produces vigorous, powerful lines but that neat, exquisite lines were not easy to outline. |