The basic essentials of chiseling blank are: from top to bottom, from front to back, from outside to inside, from shallow to deep. From top to bottom, from head to toe; From front to back, it is to chisel the front first and then the back; From the surface to the inside, that is, from the surface of wood, peel inward layer by layer; From shallow to deep, that is, dig shallow places first, and then dig deep places. When chiseling blanks, we should also pay attention to leaving room, just like cutting clothes, we should relax appropriately. Folk jargon says well: fattening can be replaced by small ones, but it is difficult to recover. "The inner distance should be small, not big. Remember that carving is subtraction."
Digging the blank: first adjust the proportion and various layouts from the overall perspective, and then gradually implement and form specific forms such as figures, facial features, limbs, costumes and props, leaving room for polishing. At this stage, the volume and lines of the work have become clear, so the knife method is required to be round and smooth, and it should be fully expressive. The skill of hollowing out thin blanks requires hollowing out with longitudinal fiber combination and hollowing out excess parts. It is necessary to use the ribbed method, that is, leave a small piece of material in the easily broken part of the work to attach it to the adjacent part, and then remove the attached ribs by the thin knife and dense sheet method after the work is completed.
Polishing: the purpose of polishing is to trim the knife marks and gaps on the thin blank with a thin knife, so that the surface of the work is meticulous and perfect. The tool path is required to be clear and fine, round or straight, and strive to show the fine details and textures of each part.
Polishing: according to the needs of some works, white wood carvings are polished to be fine and smooth with different thicknesses of woodworking sandpaper. It is required to use coarse sandpaper first, then fine sandpaper. It should be polished repeatedly along the direction of wood fiber until the knife track disappears and presents beautiful wood grain. Pay attention to keep the outline of the work clear and the lines smooth.
Carving hair patterns: carving hair patterns with a triangular knife requires fast, steady, even and thin knife lifting.
Coloring and polishing: Coloring is not only to make up for the shortcomings or defects of some materials, but also to enhance the beauty of texture and form of works. Therefore, the coloring of works should be decided as appropriate, and the beauty of wood grain should be reflected as much as possible. The color should be deep and bright, in line with the various aesthetic feelings of natural wood.
The purpose of glazing is to moisten the wood, make the work shiny, and at the same time play an anti-fouling role, which is convenient for long-term preservation, so it is required to penetrate evenly, bright but not vulgar.
Configuration base: the base is not only the support of the main body, but also an inseparable part of the sculpture. Therefore, it is required that the modeling scale of the base should complement the content and form of the work. Works with vivid curves can be set off by a simple and simple base, and works with simple or solemn shapes can be carved on the base. In short, we should pay attention to the proportion coordination between each other, pay attention to the contrast in tone, and don't pretend to be the master. Quyang is the hometown of sculpture in China. The rocks in the south of Quyang are pure, tough, smooth and have a unique taste. Rich and colorful resources have created unique advantages for artists to display their talents. Quyang stone carving not only retains the mysterious and hazy spirit of rough frame in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but also inherits the natural plump, solemn and beautiful shapes in Tang and Song Dynasties, with Guanyin Bodhisattva, gorgeous goddess, dragon, phoenix, lion and beast as artistic shapes. Lu Jinqiao, a master of contemporary arts and crafts in China, has enriched the carving skills of stone carving, initiated the production of small fine products, expanded the vast world of stone carving creativity, and made Quyang stone carving an important representative of modern folk stone carving. It is understood that there are more than 2,300 large and small stone carving factories in Quyang County, and their products are exported to 100 countries and regions, with an annual output value of several hundred million yuan.
Regarding the origin of stone carving art, there is a very popular legend in Quyang: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Huang Shigong, who is as famous as Gui Guzi, lived in seclusion in Huangshan Mountain and passed the Book of Carving Heaven to two Quyang disciples. Since then, Quyang people have learned to carve.
Quyang stone carving has experienced more than 2000 years' development, and Quyang sculptors come forth in large numbers, and the carving art is constantly creating the brilliance of China and even the world. Yang Qiong, a sculptor in Yuan Dynasty, carved "One Lion and One Ding", which was praised as "stunt" by Kublai Khan in Yuan Shizu. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the works of Crane and Dried Plum by Quyang sculptor won the silver prize in the Pacific World Expo in Barnabas, and since then, it has been said that "Quyang stone carving is salty in the world". After the founding of New China, Quyang stone carving artists successively participated in the restoration of Tiananmen Square and the construction of major projects such as the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People and the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Quyang sculpture enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad. Yishui inkstone, also known as Yishui Gu Yan, is a traditional inkstone in China. Produced in Yizhou, Hebei Province (now Yixian), hence the name. Legend began in the Tang Dynasty. This inkstone is taken from a soft purple-gray water rock by the Yishui River. Blue and yellow stripes are naturally dotted, the stone is delicate, the hardness is moderate, and the color is bright. The inkstone carved on the mountain is exquisite and simple, moisture-proof and solid-resistant, easy to ink, suitable for painting and calligraphy, and writes smoothly. Yi inkstone is named after its material. Artists perform artistic expression according to its material, carefully design, skillfully use inkstone and skillfully use knives. For thousands of years, Yi inkstone is famous for its long history, excellent natural stone and unique artistic style, and occupies an important position in China Boshen's exquisite inkstone culture and artistic history. Yishui inkstone is an outstanding representative and brand of Yishui inkstone.
Yishui inkstone is a kind of purple-gray water rock named "amethyst" and "Jade Belt Stone", which is excellent in stone quality and comparable to Duanyan. Stone is often dotted with natural yellow, white and green spots, with delicate texture, soft texture, good toughness, moderate hardness and naturalness. The inkstone made by this method has the advantages of fast inking, no damage, even inking and difficult evaporation, and has the excellent characteristics of inking, storing ink, moistening pen and exciting ink. Yizhou Records records that "the rock is not the tail of the stream". The inkstone is purple, green and white, thin and hard, which is quite good for inkstone.
Yishui inkstone is named after the stone collected from the ancient Huangboyang Cave in Zhong Nanshan on the Yishui River, and Yishui's name comes from a merchant family-Yi tribe who lived on both sides of Yishui about 5,000 years ago. Shanhaijing Yedongjing: Wang Haituo has a barbarian, Hebo has a servant cow, and a barbarian kills Wang Hai and takes a servant cow. The word servant means divination. In ancient times, divination used tortoise shells and shoulder bones of cattle as tools, which were engraved with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, a servant cow from Niu Jiao who was good at divination. It can be seen that the word "Yi" in the Book of Changes should come from the word "Yi" in the Book of Changes. Yishui River is quiet and deep, with clear water quality. It deeply embraces Xiushan on both sides of the strait. Qing Xiling, the land of merchants, was built at the foot of Yunmeng Mountain on the north bank of Yishui. Therefore, Yishui inkstone was produced in Yishui, and inherited the aura of heaven and earth from the root. As an auspicious object and a town of geomantic omen, it has added a divine power.
The tools used by sculptors of Yishui inkstone are drills, knives, shovels and saws. Shape with material, composition with stone, rough and fine with ink stone, skill with material, and production with techniques such as flat carving, vertical carving, through carving, relief carving and yin-yang carving. Yishui inkstone has natural stone eyes or stone gall, which provides a broad space for skillfully using natural stone eyes and stone gall to vividly express flowers, birds, fish and insects, natural scenery, pavilions and historical figures. Therefore, the design of Yishui inkstone has become an important link to express artistic spirituality and a great creation to turn decay into magic and give fresh life and soul to heavy stones. It was named after it was produced in Dongyang County, Zhejiang Province. It started in the Northern Song Dynasty and has a history of 1000 years. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Dongyang woodcarving had become famous all over the country. Dongyang woodcarving is mainly based on relief technique, which is both ornamental and practical. Its artistic style is unique. In the design, it draws lessons from the traditional composition of scattered perspective and bird's-eye perspective, and pays attention to the full layout, scattered but not scattered, more but not chaotic, retaining the plane, not hurting the overall material, highlighting the theme and expressing the plot. All kinds of furniture are exquisitely carved, with appropriate decorative parts, coordinated patterns, smooth lines and clear cutting methods. In woodcarving pictures, they often use multi-plot and multi-level traditional techniques, with full composition, proper arrangement, strong decoration and vivid images, highlighting the main characters and plots.
The wood carvings on the famous Ming Dynasty building "Su Yongtang" in Dongyang County are magnificent and have been listed as key cultural relics protection units in Zhejiang Province. 1957 The "Sakyamuni Buddha" made for the Daxiong Hall of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou is 19 meters high, with 2 tons of glass lamps, incense tables and other Buddhist instruments, which are magnificent. During the period of 1958, an 80-meter-long building decoration was made for China's embassy in the Soviet Union, which had a strong decorative effect and added a lot of color to the building. 198 1 year, made 14 large screen strips, more than 60 hanging screens and 75 screen inserts for the "East Palace Building" in Singapore, which was brilliant for a while. At the opening ceremony of "East Palace Mansion", Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew claimed that it was "the most perfect architectural decoration in Singapore". Lou Shuiming, a famous arts and crafts artist, engaged in Dongyang woodcarving in Hong Kong in his early years, and his works enjoyed a certain reputation in Southeast Asian countries. He perfectly combined traditional Dongyang woodcarving with modern western-style furniture, and the furniture he designed sold well in the international market. There are more than 2,700 varieties of wood carvings in Dongyang, which are very popular in foreign trade export. Zhejiang is the traditional producing area of boxwood carving in China, mainly distributed in Yueqing County, with a history of about 150 years. It originated from the popular "Dragon Lantern Festival" during the Lantern Festival, and is a small carved Buddha statue decorated on the skeleton of the dragon lantern. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Zi, a famous boxwood carving artist, had made innovations, which made boxwood carving develop from the accessory decoration of folk dragon lanterns into an artistic appreciation.
Boxwood grows slowly and is known as "Millennium Dwarf". Its texture is firm and thin, yellow and moist, much like ivory. As time goes on, its color will gradually deepen, simple and beautiful. It is characterized by its small size and exquisiteness. In addition to round carving, engraving and deep relief, there are also techniques such as inlay.
On the basis of inheriting the excellent tradition, Zhejiang boxwood carving not only reflects the style of real life and socialist era, but also has historical themes and folk stories, and many excellent works have emerged. The famous artist Wang's work "Su Wu Mu Yang" tells the story that after the Huns were defeated in BC 100, on the one hand, they hypocritically sent messengers to make peace, on the other hand, they waited for an opportunity to invade the Central Plains again. In order to reply to the Huns, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Su Wu, the commander-in-chief, to March to the Huns in successive festivals. Khan, the leader of Xiongnu, tried to persuade Su Wu to betray the court and surrender to Xiongnu. But he would rather die than surrender, become angry from embarrassment, and exiled him to Beihai to herd sheep. Su Wu went through a lot of hardships and was rescued by an envoy of the Han Dynasty in 85 BC. He was only 40 years old when he went to China and was tortured in Xiongnu 19 years. On the day he returned to Chang 'an, people came out to meet him. Looking at the white-haired old man with a smooth knot in his hand, everyone was unmoved. They all say that he is an upright gentleman.
This excellent boxwood carving reproduces this epic national hero, which was well received at the 1954 National Folk Arts and Crafts Exhibition, and also participated in the socialist national plastic arts exhibition held in Moscow. 1957 The work Patrol was selected for the 30th anniversary exhibition of Beijing Military Museum. From 65438 to 0959, his large-scale woodcarving work Bi Sheng was exhibited in Beijing History Museum for a long time. Ye Runzhou, a famous artist of Wenzhou University of Arts and Crafts, was born in a family of boxwood carvings with four generations under one roof. He has a deep foundation and is good at carving skills. On the basis of inheriting tradition and innovation, he summed up experience and made some achievements. Representative works include The Keeper, The Goddess Scatters Flowers, Everyone is Happy, etc. Some won the first prize for creation in Zhejiang Province, some were presented as national gifts, and some were exhibited abroad. Today, boxwood carvings have been sold to more than 30 countries and regions. Mainly produced in Putian, Quanzhou and other places in Fuzhou, it began in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. At first, it was just the decoration of buildings and furniture and the carving of Buddha statues in temples. Later, it gradually formed an independent wood carving industry. The raw material of Fujian woodcarving is mainly longan wood, which grows in southern Fujian and has fine brittle fibers, making it easy to carve. After carving, polish it, dry it, then dye it into longan seed, litchi seed, orange pomelo yellow, bronze color and other colors, then cover it with a layer of paint, and wax it after drying it to make it smooth. In animal works, teeth are made of bones and eyes are made of glass, which are embedded in animals to make them more vivid.
There are three different schools of Fuzhou woodcarving in history: ① Dabancun School represented by Chen Tianci. He mainly carved some religious figures such as Maitreya Buddha, Guanyin, Eighteen Arhats, Eight Immortals, and later some fairies and beasts. In addition to longan and boxwood, ivory, horns, bamboo roots and rosewood are also used. ② xiang yuan rural schools represented by Liu Qingyuan. They are good at carving insects, flowers, fruit bowls and wood carvings, which are exquisite and vivid. Such as Dragon Boat Rowing and Water Treadmill. ③ Yanta Township School represented by Wang Qingqing, also known as Lacquerware School. He is good at carving patterns and embossed flowers and birds combined with lacquerware. As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, gold lacquer wood carving had a high artistic level. No matter from carving beams and painting buildings in buildings, or screen shrines, boxes, incense burners, beds, cabinets, candlesticks, pen holders and other items closely related to life, they are all decorated with gold lacquer wood carvings.
It selects high-quality camphor wood, chisels rough blanks first, and then carves them carefully. After polishing, it was finally pasted with gold foil, showing a magnificent artistic effect. In terms of subject matter, folk stories, myths and legends, local operas, etc. In composition, it is full, symmetrical and often continuous, and different plots and scenes are distinguished by tortuous paths. In terms of techniques, there are relief, flower carving, multi-layer carving, round carving and so on. And add appropriate artistic exaggeration. The sculpture in the building is rough, and the knife method is concise and dynamic. For example, a character's five senses, high nose, deep eyes and sharp mouth. Put it high and look up to make it just right. Commonly used tea cabinets, or sacrificial boxes, incense burner covers, etc. Exquisite carving, easy to watch carefully.
After liberation, the famous artist Zhang Jianxuan's "Rice Cage" was exquisitely carved and full of life interest, and won the silver prize in the World Youth Student Festival. Ye Xiyong, a craftsman in Chaoyang County, wrote "Flying over the Huding Bridge", which is a new work that boldly tries modern themes. He carved the chain of the iron cable bridge into a movable chain, which set off the theme of his works. Zhang Weihuai, a craftsman in Shantou, designed a large-scale wood carving decoration "Grand View Garden" for Guangzhou Oriental Hotel, with a length of 14m and a height of 49m. The picture * * * accommodates 13 exhibition halls and more than 100 people, with different postures, symmetrical layout, transparent paths, even density, resplendent, magnificent from a distance and exquisite and meticulous from a close view, which adds a lot of brilliance to the hotel. Crafts are sold to Hong Kong, Macao, Southeast Asia, Europe and America. Suzhou sculptures mainly include small pieces of mahogany, tooth carvings, boxwood carving, bamboo carvings, inkstone carvings, seal animal buttons and so on. , and is famous all over the country.
Lv Hansheng, a famous arts and crafts artist, has comprehensive skills. He and his teacher * * * created boxwood carving's Lotus Leaf Characters, which is still treasured in the Shanghai Museum. It is carved from natural stumps, and several surfaces are inlaid with mahogany, forming the vein of lotus leaves. The edge of the lotus leaf is rolled up, dotted with several small frogs, and the overall shape is vivid and beautiful. In particular, the tenon embedded in each leaf pattern is on the reverse side, and the front side is flawless. Produced in Qufu County, Shandong Province, it was founded by Sun Kongteng, the ninth Confucius of Han Dynasty. It is based on the unique wood in Qufu, Kong Lin, and its main varieties are leading canes, figures, flowers and so on. It was a birthday present for Confucius. After liberation, Kong Xianbin, a descendant of Confucius, inherited his ancestral skills. Nowadays, wood carving has become the main tourist handicraft in Qufu, which is deeply loved by Chinese and foreign tourists.