Chinese calligraphy - Preparing a brush for first use

When you buy a new brush, you want it to be pointy and hard (because of the 'glue'). If you buy a brush that's already loose, it's probably going to be a cheap one (therefore not bad).
Here I'm preparing the 'Prune dot' weasel hair brush from the brand Red Star. I bought this at the online webshop of Inkston (https://www.inkston.com ). This is an excellent brush for beginners!
If some hairs come loose during this process, don't worry, that's normal.

Common mistakes:
- soaking the brush in water for hours --- do not do this as it will damage the brush and won't make the hairs become loose.
- pushing the brush in ink without making it loose --- this won't have any effect at all. You'll still need to make the hairs loose and your fingers will probably be black from the ink.
#calligraphy