Are you ready to Suminagashi?
You will need:
- Rice paper or plant-based paper
- Cut paper into pieces at least 1 inch smaller than water tray on all sides
- I got plant based paper from Hanji and rice paper from ARTiculation
- Tray or basin filled with room temperature water, about 1 inch deep
- I bought a cat litter box from Dollarama, but it could be anything from a takeout container to baking tray to inflatable pool, depending on how large you want to work
- Chinese brushes x 2
- Brush A: One for Ink only (I would suggest a brush larger than .5 inch for brush A)
- Brush B: One for dish soap + water mix only
- Paper towel
- One pearl-sized drop of dish soap diluted in ½ cup water
- Japanese Sumi ink
- I got some from ARTiculation
- Area or surface for drying (you could use some cardboard or a drying rack)
Two Different Suminagashi methods:
TREE TRUNK LOOK
- If you have a couple of extra minutes, try a meditation exercise before you start:
- Sit up straight, close your eyes, and connect with your inner stillness.
- Get all materials ready, including a space for drying your work.
- Hold Brush A in one hand, and hold Brush B in other hand (Make sure the tip of the brush is pointed, ensure it holds enough ink, not too much and not too little)
- Start dipping the tip of Brush A and Brush B into the water, alternating between the two.
- Continue as much or as little as you like.
SWISH LOOK
- Simply swish or swirl the brushes in the water. Reflect your emotional state without thinking too much.
- If the ink gets too muddy or dark, just dip Brush B (dish soap/water) almost as an eraser. Try to let the water do its work rather than trying to control the flow too much.
Time to place your paper:
When you think you are done with your ink design, carefully place the paper into the basin, directly onto the ink. Then pull your paper back up, slowly.
*Tip: try placing the paper into the centre of the tray. This will help catch the areas with the most ink.
Let your work dry:
Place your paper flat on the drying surface. I bought myself a big sheet of cardboard so that I can lay my finished papers flat. You can also hang to dry!
Observe your work and reflect on the self.
I hope you enjoyed this activity! Feel free to share your work on social media, and tag us @mocatoronto so that we can see how your Suminagashi piece turned out.
