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WHAT THIS CATEGORY IS ABOUT
This section is dedicated to tools and accessories related to and used for the traditional art of Chinese seal carving.
On one hand there are the tools which are required to carve a Chinese seal stone by yourself. Some of them we think you do not need to purchase from us since it would be easier and cheaper to purvey you with them in one of your local Do-it-Yourself markets. These are the sand paper on one hand which is used to level off or trim the surface of the stone base once the carving is applied. In case the base of the seal stone was not entirely flat before the carving pattern was applied the result could be that certain characters or symbols are standing out leading to the chop impression not being even. In such a situation you flatten this character or symbol on the seal stone by means of the sand paper. The other one is a permanent marker which you can use to sketch your carving design on the surface of the stone before moving ahead with the process of carving your stone.
Then there are two more tools which you need. One being the carving stand - it is a kind of wooden apparatus with a bar clamp which normally comes in round or square shape allowing you to affix the stone so it does not move or slip while you are carving it. The other tool needed is one or a set of carving knives (most carvers do all the carvings with one and the same carving knife so one should suffice).
When it comes to accessories you will soon be able to find a wide range of seal paste containers and traditional Chinese seal pastes in different colors ranging from blue to different shades of red. These seal pastes are made of different components - mostly natural colors - the most famous one presumably being red Chinese seal paste made of Cinnabar.
The Chinese seal paste containers are used to store the seal paste safely and prevent it from drying out. At the same time they have a decorative value and are a nice Chinese-inspired object in your study. Chinese seal paste containers are traditionally made of ceramic, stone and in some cases hand carved wood with hand carved decorative ornaments and traditional Chinese patterns.
Another product type this section offers you is a large overview of traditional Chinese and Japanese seal pastes to be used with your Oriental chop stamp - most of them containing the same traditional ingredients which have been used for Oriental seal paste for many centuries and of which the composition remains a secret until today.
There are two main types of seal pastes - the refill packs allowing you to use the paste with a seal paste container you already own and which you want to refill with a seal paste of the same color or a new color you want to try out. The other type you can find here are seal-paste sets including the seal paste which is already placed in an original Chinese seal paste container - mostly made of Chinese ceramic.
Whereas many artists in the West only know one type of seal-paste, often the cheaper types that come in a tin-container, there any more colors and types being used in Chinese calligraphy and Sumi painting (Shuimohua / 水墨画). Unknown to many people, the imprint of a Chinese seal on an Oriental artwork is more than just a signature of the artist but an important design element contributing to the composition and balance of the entire painting.
For this reason, we decided to not only offer the most widely used seal pastes in the common shade of red but to offer you seal pastes in 8 different shades of red. In addition to that, we also carry Chinese seal past in unusual colors such as black, gold and sapphire blue so you can vary the imprint or work with several seal stones at the same time - such as using a Chinese signature seal and a Chinese zodiac seal in different colors on your artwork.
