Dragon Sumie Kakejiku

This is a dragon sumi painting from a friend of an artist that lives in Minnesota. Color inks take an extra step to prepare to make a scroll. They tend to bleed very easily when water is even applied to the back of the painting. So you are required to either apply nijimi tome spray, or a liquid dousa eki. The dousa eki is a liquid that is even be better to be applied to the paper or silk before it is painted.
This particular scroll is done in the fukuro hyougu style. I applied a 1.5 bun measured suji in gold around the painting to provide a relief to the cloth and painting. This painting is so powerful, I wanted to utilize a simple mounting style.
Yes, my studio is a little messy.
If you have a painting that you would like mounted or remounted into a scroll contact to Jonathan Maples at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Wallscroll

(This scroll is sold and is no longer available.)

In continuing my theme of having scrolls available that would work with North American bonsai, I had this Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep painted by Mariusz Szmerdt. He is very talented, and made this work.

The scroll is made in the Fukuro Hyougu style, with a navy Suji, of 1 bun (about 3mm) surrounding the artwork. It is finished with a Hida Lacquered Jikusaki and a Kon (navy) hanging string.

Enso Scroll for Bonsai/Suiseki Enthusiast

This scroll was made for a bonsai/suiseki enthusiast in California. He wanted an Enso that was larger, but I said if we wanted to use it for a display then we would have to create more whitespace for the piece. Hence the very large unpainted section at the top and middle. With the Enso near the bottom, it could compete with the main piece, but I think it actually works better to have the painting section so near to the main display piece.

The scroll was done in a black cloth which is very dark, but it seems to work well with the painting. I recommended to do this scroll in the most informal Fukuro Hyougu style. But I did two things to help spruce up the simplicity of the scroll. I placed a 0.5 bun (1.5 millimeter) red suji around the entire artwork, and then I placed three suji horizontally along the Ten and Chi of the scroll. 1 suji on top and 2 suji on the bottom. The scroll is then completed with the Akebono style wooden jikusaki. This mixes a black and reddish orange lacquer over the wood. It is completed with the Kogecha (Navy/Dark Brown) hanging string.

Dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	70	8.35
筋	Suji	0.5	0.06
天	Partition Bottom	44	5.25
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	130	15.51
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	424	50.58
柱	Pillars	25	2.98
地	Chi First Partition	17	2.03
筋	Suji	1	0.12
地	Middle Partition	15	1.79
地	Bottom Partition	40	4.77
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	180	21.47
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	611.5	72.95

Dee Teller Calligraphy #15 - Meditation

This was the 15th kakejiku made in preparation for Dee Tellers exhibition at Asia Speaks. This scroll is also done in the Fukuro Hyougu style. I think the gold medallions in the paper are highlighted by the silver cloth. This calligraphy is strong, so I used the informal style to put the calligraphy in the forefront. The scroll is completed with and Enshu Shitan Jikusaki, which is rosewood with a lip at the end.











Dimensions as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	120	14.31
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	195	23.26
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	335	39.96
柱	Pillars	23	2.74
地	Chi	70	8.35
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	241	28.75
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	525	62.63

Dee Teller Sumie #6 Color in the Garden

This scroll titled Color from the Garden, is the 6th in Dee Teller's series of works being prepared for an exhibition. She is a very talented artist who has taught in China. The two characters are represented in the painting with Garden 園 En in Japanese and Color 色 Iro. When I first saw this sumie, my first thought was to the Autumn season and the colors of the Maize or indian corn. I wanted to stay true to that so I used the light brown cloth or kireji with the gold suji in order to emphasize the feeling of Fall to the viewer. Suji are the lines of cloth attached to the fabric of the scroll. The speckled ceramic Jikusaki is a nice break from the complete solid of the informal Fukuro Hyougu scroll style. I used the Kincha color which is similar to this brown for the hanging string.

Dimensions of the Scroll as follows:

 Name in Kanji (Name in English) Size in Bun (Inches)

天 (Ten) 80 (9.54)

筋 (Suji) 0.5 (0.06)

天 (Partition Bottom) 35 (4.18)

紙本の幅さ (Artwork Width) 149 (17.77)

紙本の長さ (Artwork Length) 108 (12.88)

柱 (Pillars) 18 (2.15)

地 (Chi First Partition) 20 (2.39)

筋 (Suji) 1 (0.12)

地 (Middle Partition) 15 (1.79)

地 (Bottom Partition) 40 (4.77)

掛け軸の幅さ (Scroll Width) 185 (22.07)

掛け軸の長さ (Scroll Length) 299.5 (35.73)

Spirit Woman Shodo Kakejiku Dee Teller Number 5

This is the fifth scroll in a series by Dee Teller. Her writing and work is very fluid and beautiful. This is titled Spirit Woman, and the second character is definitely easy to read as woman or onna in Japanese 女. The first character is in a Full cursive, and I need to confirm with the artist what the characters are.

For this scroll, I thought it would be best to use the most informal scroll style and mounted the art in a Fukuro Hyougu style. The slightly off white silk with the peach colored paper provides an inconspicuous backdrop for the scroll. I used black suji that are 0.5 bun, to border the Top (Ten) and Bottom (Chi) sections of the scroll. It is finalized with a resin jikusaki that really mirrors a true ivory, without having to kill any elephants...

Scroll Dimensions are as follows:

Name in Kanji	Name in English	Size in Bun	Size in Inches
天	Ten	69	8.23
筋	Suji	0.5	0.06
天	Partition Bottom	45	5.37
紙本の幅さ	Artwork Width	76	9.07
紙本の長さ	Artwork Length	212	25.29
柱	Pillars	20	2.39
地	Chi First Partition	24	2.86
筋	Suji	1	0.12
地	Middle Partition	15	1.79
地	Bottom Partition	40	4.77
掛け軸の幅さ	Scroll Width	116	13.84
掛け軸の長さ	Scroll Length	406.5	48.49

Migrating Geese Fukuro Hyougu

This scroll is no longer for sale. Artist is Darlene Dihel. It was purchased by a bonsai artist at the Bonsai in the Bluegrass convention.

If you would like to order a custom scroll there are three ways to get started: 1. Go to my shopping site at www.shop.customjapanesecalligraphy.com 2. Download my scroll design workbook from my website at www.customjapanesecalligraphy.com to read about the concepts behind kakejiku or wallscroll design. 3. E-mail to me directly at sales@customjapanesecalligraphy.com

This scroll is my favorite of the three. It is in the Fukuro Hyougu style with one suji in the Ten section and two suji in the Chi Section. I used the navy cloth to symbolize the night, along with the Kogecha kakehimo and black plastic Jikusaki to give the feel of night. The Orchid suji is used to contrast strongly with the dark cloth.

Dimensions as follows:
Kanji English Name Size in A. Bun B. Millimeters C. Inches


天 Ten 99 299.97 11.81

天 Partition Top 70 212.1 8.35

天 Partition Bottom 29 87.87 3.46

紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 70 212.1 8.35

紙本の長さ Artwork Length 106 321.18 12.64

柱 Pillars 19 57.57 2.27

地 Chi 61 184.83 7.28

地 Partition Top 19 57.57 2.27

地 Partition Middle 14 42.42 1.67

地 Partition Bottom 28 84.84 3.34

掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 108 327.24 12.88

掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 266 805.98 31.73

Fukuro Hyougu Scroll as Gift

This beautiful scroll was ordered from Canada as a graduation gift. The first thing one recognizes looking at the picture is there is no brocade, or ichimonji cloth bordering the artwork.

This is because it is a Fukuro Hyougu style scroll. This is the primary difference between the Maru Hyougu kakemono. Because this scroll utilized a light Khaki colored cloth, I inserted Suji onto the scroll. The three black lines are all 0.5 Bun in diameter. It is also capped with beautifully black lacquered wood jikusaki which really harmonizes the colors of the suji.

As mentioned above, this scroll is for an individual who graduated in Social Work/Counseling. We did not know where this will hang in a future office, but the neutral colors along with the good contrast of colors will allow it to hang almost anywhere.

The writing was done by my Shihan Calligrapher wife, Ryugyoku in the Kaisho style. The customer asked for balance and courage as the words for the scroll. These words are read as 平衡 Heikou and 勇気 Yuuki.

It is a strong reminder for future counseling recipients to have balance and courage to overcome their afflictions.