I took a Chinese Calligraphy class about 5 years ago and loved it. Unfortunately, I have not touched the brushes since the class was over. When I was in Phoenix last month I grabbed them and brought them home. Well, today I finally broke them out and had no clue what to do. Luckily, I found a site online that explained how to do the 7 basic brush strokes. I am decent at doing the horizontal bar, everything else is horrid. I did not always understand the instructions but after a few attempts what I learned in class started to creep back into my memory. Now I just need to do it enough to build up the muscle memory. And best of all – I did not spill the ink. Yeah!