What is the “water adjustment” of jadeite? How much do you know?

What is “water adjustment”? How much do you know about it?

What is water adjustment?

Water adjustment is actually the process of skillfully improving the transparency of jade products through carving techniques to create a perfect visual effect.

Here, I must point out that water adjustment is a purely physical processing process. The water adjustment work will not destroy or affect the structure of the jade itself.

Water adjustment means adjusting the water head. In the process of jade creation, in order to enhance the texture and layering of the product, jade must undergo a series of designs and polishing to make it more transparent and shiny.

This process, in jargon, is called "water adjustment" of jadeite.

Water adjustment, in professional terms, is to use the physical principles of light and shadow to achieve the effect of highlighting the material.

If the surface of jade is rough, the quality is poor, and the transparency is weak, the water appears weak or dry.

For this kind of jade, we can use grinding, polishing and other processes to make the surface of the jade as smooth as a mirror, which is conducive to light penetrating the surface and into the interior.

In other words, adjusting the light and transparency can also achieve the purpose of "adjusting water".

Using carving techniques to adjust water

If you want to adjust the water, you must make good use of carving techniques.

When carving, the jade is ground into a thinner layer to enhance its light transmittance and improve its transparency, which will make it easier for the jade to release water.

Some carvers will also process the uncarved surface into a concave surface (arc surface) to expand the light-receiving area of ​​the jade.

For example, the back of Guanyin's head, the Buddha's belly and the back of his head are hollowed out to make the slightly darker original color base material appear crystal clear and beautiful.

Faced with jadeite with darker colors and thicker color blocks that affect its transparency, sculptors need to outline the dividing line between green and colorless during the carving process, appropriately reduce the thickness of green in non-important parts, increase its light transmittance, achieve a "watery" effect, and bring out the icy and fresh green.

Of course, the thinness of jade also has to have a certain limit.

Since light requires a certain depth and interacts with the type and base to produce the effect of "water", jade that is too thin, although light-transmitting and transparent, often gives people the feeling of being less "watery".

Therefore, the quality of water adjustment is closely related to the skill level of the jade craftsman.

In addition, jade that is too thin also poses a higher safety hazard. Merchants with good character will not sell such thin jade.