Chinese Water Writing Cloth:advantages and disadvantages, selection tips, and maintenance methods.

Today I want to share some knowledge about water writing cloth for calligraphy. If you’ve shopped for Chinese writing supplies online, you’ve probably seen stores promoting the so-called “Fifth Treasure of the Study” — water writing cloth for brush calligraphy. Many people are curious about this innovative tool but have questions about how it works, which brands are good, whether it’s effective for practicing calligraphy, and how to select and maintain it. I’ve compiled information about water writing cloth to help answer these questions.

How Water Writing Cloth Works

Water writing cloth is made based on the principle that certain coatings become transparent when wet. Typically, these cloths use black velvet material as the base, coated with a specially processed environmentally-friendly white layer. This coating has a special property: it becomes transparent when it encounters water. The main component of the coating is silicon dioxide, which is also the main component of sand and the primary material used to make drinking glasses. The transparency when wet is mainly due to light reflection.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Practicing Calligraphy with Water Writing Cloth

Advantages

Before water writing cloth, there was water writing paper. Water writing cloth only began developing in late 2011. Overall, practicing brush calligraphy with water writing cloth has several benefits:

1. Clear water appears as ink, allowing thousands of uses. This is why it’s also called “ten-thousand-times water writing cloth.” Though ten thousand is just an approximate number, it’s certainly economical, saving paper and ink while being clean, hygienic, environmentally friendly, and efficient.
2. Long lifespan, durable for writing and washing, and doesn’t swell. (Most so-called “thickened water writing cloth” on the market is made of thick card paper, wallpaper, plastic paper, or non-woven fabric materials, none of which meet the standards for washing and thousands of uses.)
3. Low-carbon and environmentally friendly. It won’t dirty clothes, elbows, or indoor environments. It greatly reduces the paper needed for calligraphy practice, decreasing pollution from handmade paper production.
4. Convenient to use. No need to prepare ink, paper, or felt pads before use; no need to wash brushes or clean up waste paper afterward.

Just dip the brush in water—it creates realistic ink strokes without messy ink!

Although water writing cloth is not xuan paper (traditional Chinese calligraphy paper), it produces similar writing effects. Simply dip a new, clean brush in an appropriate amount of clear water and practice calligraphy on the water writing cloth to achieve the same dark black effect as ink on raw or processed xuan paper.

Being able to write characters with just a brush dipped in clear water is indeed very convenient and economical.

Disadvantages

Since you don’t use ink or xuan paper, when writing on water writing cloth, you miss the resistance feeling that comes with practicing on xuan paper, as well as the fragrance of ink. Your calligraphy works also cannot be preserved for long periods like works created with ink on xuan paper.

It’s fine for casual practice and fun, but for serious creative work, you still need to use a brush with ink on materials like xuan paper. (Note from Qiming: Beginners don’t need to buy very good xuan paper. When I was starting out, I liked to buy wholesale rough-edged paper. I recommend reading my other article “Top 10 Chinese Xuan Paper Brands (Including Types, Selection, Maintenance Methods, and Common Questions)” which covers knowledge about xuan paper and rough-edged paper that might be helpful.)

Selection Methods for Water Writing Cloth

The water writing cloth market is quite mixed in quality. Here are several selection tips to find good water writing cloth:

• Fabric quality: Water writing cloth typically uses velvet, but velvet comes in different grades. Better water writing cloths use Oxford cloth, which tends to be more reliable.

• Immediate blackening: This reflects the cloth’s good water absorption. Some poor-quality water writing cloths have poor absorption, so when you write with a brush dipped in water, it doesn’t appear very black. Sometimes you have to wait until you finish the entire character, yet the first stroke still hasn’t turned black, or you might even need to wait a while before it blackens. This defeats the feeling of natural writing. Poor-quality cloths should be avoided. Good water writing cloth turns black immediately when a stroke is written, synchronizing with the experience of writing with ink. Only this provides the authentic feeling of using ink.

The drying time shown in the picture above is ideal—not too fast or too slow. You have time to appreciate your work without delaying further practice. I remember buying two cloths and using them in rotation—writing on one, letting it dry, then writing on the other. By the time I finished with the second one, the first would be completely dry, allowing efficient use of time.

• Clear strokes without spreading: This means when water is applied, the strokes remain distinct rather than bleeding excessively, which would make characters difficult to recognize.

Maintenance Methods for Water Writing Cloth

1. Use clean brushes and clear water for writing
2. Avoid scratching the surface with sharp objects
3. Keep colored water, oil stains, and acidic/alkaline substances away from the cloth surface
4. For those who write quickly, consider buying several cloths to use alternately, as drying typically takes 2-5 minutes
5. Drying methods: Allow to air dry naturally; use highly absorbent materials like tissues to press and absorb moisture (Note: do not rub); or gently blow with warm air on both sides to accelerate the disappearance of writing
6. Don’t use water writing cloth on dining tables—any contact with grease will cause permanent black marks on the cloth

To explore more about Chinese calligraphy and the ‘Four Treasures of the Study’ (brush, ink, paper, and inkstone), check out these recommended articles:

Top 10 Chinese Calligraphy Brushes: The Ultimate Guide to Selection and Care

The 5 Best Chinese Ink Brands: Properties, Selection Criteria & Care Guide

Top 10 Chinese Xuan Paper Brands: Selection Guide & Care Tips

What are the four famous inkstones and Top Ten Inkstones: Types, Prices, Identification Methods, and Inkstone Care Tips