15 November 2016
Talking Seals
Right or Left Hand?
Are you right or left handed? It wouldn’t have mattered in old China.
1 November 2016
Japanese Seal Video
Today I accidentally came across an old video on YouTube about Japanese seals.
16 October 2016
The Japanese Seal Dilemma
Do these Japanese seals look similar? Can you tell by looking whether they are made by the same artist or by several?
1 October 2016
Shallow Relief
Seal stones will sometimes come decorated on their sides with shallow relief carving.
15 September 2016
A Great MacGuffin
Someone recently sent information about a small Chinese seal made from carnelian “found lying on open ground in the bush in Dar es Salaam (East Africa) in 1948 and may well have been lying there for many years.”
15 August 2016
Try a Little Color
Most carvers will sign their name on the side of a finished seal. Depending on the color of the stone you may want to fill in these lines with paint.
1 August 2016
Seal Phrase: Using What You’ve Learned From Books
The Chinese phrase shudaoyongshifanghenshao 書到用時方恨少 can be translated into English as “It’s when you are using what you’ve learned from books that you wish you had read more books.”
15 July 2016
Try Gouache
Try using some red and white paint—gouache works well for this as it dries quickly and is water soluble—to experiment with seal modifications.
1 July 2016
