Martha Stewart Mug Shot, Fingerprints Taken Quietly

Arranged artfully on a 5 inch by 7 inch buff-colored card, each fingerprint was made using special permanent ink produced by an elderly Chinese gentleman, Gi Xian in the village of Xiungu, where he takes lampblack (produced by the slow burning of a rare bamboo plant that grows in only one mountainous region near Manchuria) and carefully mixes it with precious aromatic gums and the oily ear secretions of the giant panda. The mixture is allowed to age for 10 years, after which it is prepared for sale. Each 5 gram cube is wrapped in rice paper decorated with caligraphy and handdrawn images of Qin, the first emperor of China, and tied with a small ribbon of pure silk. Ground upon a small granite mortar, the pigment is mixed with a drop of rice wine and distilled rainwater and applied to a small stamp pad, where each finger is then gently placed and then pressed upon the fingerprint card. Afterwards, a tea ceremony is conducted beside the water cooler leading to the Forensics Lab storage room.

It's a good thing...
posted by Terry at 12:06:00 PM