#writing materials

[late-evening-sleeper]

Colors from Minerals: The Enduring Charm of Nature in Art and Culture

Mineral pigments are among the oldest materials ever used by humans in the creation of art. The wide range of hues comes from stones, earth, and minerals found in the natural world. Nature gifted these powerful pigments to be discovered, ground finely, and mixed with binders such as glue or fat, transforming them into colors for writing, painting, and decoration.

Shades of red and brown were derived from iron oxides and cinnabar. These warm tones often appeared in ancient murals, symbolizing vitality, sacred power, and life itself. Yellows, drawn from ochre or orpiment, came to represent sunlight and abundance.

Brilliant greens were sourced from copper-based minerals such as malachite and verdigris, carrying associations of nature, renewal, and fertility. By contrast, deep blues from azurite and lapis lazuli were rare and precious, reserved for the most significant works of art from Buddhist murals in ancient caves to depictions of the Virgin Mary in European cathedrals.

White tones, produced from gypsum, calcite, and kaolin, provided luminous foundations that heightened the brilliance of other colors. Black, created from charcoal and soot, added depth and weight, highlighting the dramatic interplay of light and shadow.

These mineral pigments were more than mere shades; they functioned as cultural codes, transmitting beliefs, devotion, and ways of life across civilizations. Beauty forged from stone, earth, and fire endures in works of art that still speak to us today.

Note: The accompanying photographs were taken from the exhibition section on culture at the Beijing Library.

The Evolution of Writing Materials

The story of writing began with stone and clay tablets, durable but heavy and difficult to transport. Later papyrus from Egypt allowed for more flexible writing, though it remained fragile against moisture.

In medieval Europe parchment made from animal skins became the main medium, strong and reusable on both sides, yet costly to produce.

A true turning point came in Han dynasty China with the invention of paper, light, inexpensive, and easy to mass produce. Paper transformed the spread of knowledge across regions and cultures.

Finally printing, from woodblocks in China to movable type in Europe, accelerated the reach of paper and made it the world’s primary medium for communication and learning.

I have to admit, the Beijing Library is truly impressive. It has dedicated areas for learning, reading, working, and even screenings of educational short films for children, as well as exhibitions on art and culture.

[birds-and-manuscripts]

When we think about what we write on, we tend to only consider a well-known triptych — papyrus, parchment, and paper. While these three materials are indeed emblematic for the history of writing, they are not the only ones. In fact, mankind has been writing on just about anything, from rocks to silk.

Writing materials can be divided as inorganic or organic, and the latter further defined as animal or plant-based. Let’s take a quick look at the possibilities (I will go into more detail in future posts).

Inorganic writing materials can be clay, metals, or minerals. Organic writing materials of vegetable origin can be leaves, wood, linen and papyrus, or paper. Animal-based materials can instead be bones, secretions such as silk, or leather and parchment.

We might think that the history of writing materials is merely an upward climb of progress, beginning with inorganic supplies and gradually moving on to simple organic ones, then to more elaborate organic ones, papyrus scrolls, parchment, and then paper at last. As any time we reduce history to progress, we would be mistaken. It is true that as a general rule writing materials through the ages became lighter and thus easier to transport, to write on and to store. It is also true that after the Middle Ages, most of the writing was done on parchment and then paper. Still, we must not oversimplify the reasons that factor into the choice of a certain writing supply.

When choosing what to write on, we would (and still do!) consider:

Avaiability.

What and why we are writing.

Who is writing and to whom.

If merely needing to write down transactions, a shard of pottery would probably suffice. If needing to jot down the shopping list for tonight’s dinner any scrap of paper will do. If writing an official document, one would choose something considered resistant to time, such as parchment. Probably a quite nice one as well.

The history of writing materials is complex and multifaceted, as history always is! But taking a look at what a text is written on can offer us interesting information about what goes on around it.

[writinginslowmotion]

[reyneclaw]

sociolinguistics i guess. the typical words and phrases i’ve been looking for (can confirm some!) 1, 2, 3 the question now is, which of them can have survived since then, or if all of them are more recent. i’m afaid this could require some deeper googling... or just get drunk and ask alan. he knows, and he’d pay more attention to it not being a native speaker (alicia knows but she’s probably never given it a thought).

[taupintaura-blog]

How to Write a Character Introduction

Here’s what I learned from reading “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and an amateur novella back to back. 

The first excerpt is from the amateur novella, the second from THT:

“The girl next her was smiling. Straightened hair framed a pair of large blue eyes, which sat at the apex of a small, rounded nose. The colors in her knitted jumper matched the shade of lipstick she was wearing, and her eyebrows were immaculately shaped, peaking in exactly the right spot and then swooping down to the middle of her face."

vs.

“Rita is in here, standing at the kitchen table, which has a top of chipped white enamel. She’s in her usual Martha’s dress, which is dull green, like a surgeon’s gown of the time before. The dress is much like mine in shape, long and concealing, but with a bib apron over it and without the white wings and the veil. She puts on the veil to go outside, but nobody much cares who sees the face of a Martha. Her sleeves are rolled to the elbow, showing her brown arms. She’s making bread, throwing the loaves for the final brief kneading and then the shaping. Rita sees me and nods, whether in greeting or in simple acknowledgment of my presence it’s hard to say, and wipes her floury hands on her apron and rummages in the kitchen drawer for the token book. Frowning, she tears out three tokens and hands them to me. Her face might be kindly if she would smile. But the frown isn’t personal: it’s the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck.”

All right, yes, the second one has a lot more prose. But do you see what it's doing? The plot doesn't stop at all in the second one. There's exposition about the world - she is an example of a Martha and she feels somewhat hostile towards the main character because their lives and privileges differ vastly.

Basically, what I learned was this:

The unskilled writer describes a character using only visuals. The skilled writer paints a picture of who a character is by their actions.

(That's true with Stephen King, too, going by people's favorite quotes from him.)

You don't even need to reveal the eye color, if it's not relevant. Just details that tell you… what kind of a character this is.

The introduction of the chauffeur is very good, too, and also something to learn from. Jaunty cap. Rolled up sleeves. Caressing a car. The main character inadvertently thinks about smelling him (via a believable/amusing train of thought). It doesn't say whether he has muscles or what color his eyes are, but your brain can fill in the picture quite well.

The unskilled writer draws a mere picture, presenting even the irrelevant details with the rest. The skilled writer shows us who the character is, in their surroundings, and lets the rest of the picture draw itself.

I think I've read this advice before, but I didn't really get it until I found these two examples. Plus, if I did read that advice before, it definitely didn't include anything about “describe their actions, or actions they seem like they would do”.

[heywriters]

Awesome! Thank y’all Pinners.

After the whole “Pinterest locked me out” debacle, I left the account to fend for itself for a while and focused on this blog instead. Anyway, I’m back to updating heywriters Pinterest, so it’s nice to see some reaction. 

Those of you who follow both social accounts, thanks a ton.

*silly post, but still proud*

[curriebelle]

do you always handwrite your first drafts or does it depend on the project?

Yep! I pretty much always write things out in ink first :) the only exception is if I don’t have access to a pen & paper, and then I’ll type notes out on my phone instead. Ink feels smoother than typing, it’s impossible to delete so you can’t second-guess yourself, and it’s easier to jump around and add notes.Also my writing is real big & messy so I have probably burned through 2 or 3 200-page spiral notebooks on WMT alone :’D