Existing comment:
Stone to Paper
Almost two thousand years ago, long before photography and digital scanning. Chinese scholars identified a way to share information with society at large through stone carvings set up in public locations. All that was needed to create portable reproductions in the form of rubbings was strong pliable paper, a natural glue, liquid ink, and soft, absorbent silk-covered pads.
As in centuries past, Chinese rubbings made by temporarily attaching paper to a stone surface with a diluted water-based adhesive. Tampers -- cotton wadding wrapped in soft silk -- are used to press the paper into the carved depressions and to extract moisture. After the paper drives, ink is carefully applied with inked tampers. The paper pressed into the carved-out areas remains white while the raised surface becomes black. If done properly, the ink will not soak through the paper and stain the surface. When the paper is peeled off, the stone surface is washed to remove any remaining adhesive.
This method of ink rubbing translates complicated surfaces into high contrast black-and-white images that copy the scale of the original. Such reproductions are particularly helpful when documenting Buddhist stone sculpture with mottled gray surfaces, such as those of the Cosmic Buddha. |