The real skill of cutting jadeite rough stone

A piece of jade, from raw material to finished product, has to go through many processes and be repeatedly carved and polished before it can appear in front of consumers in the most beautiful appearance. That’s why there is a saying that goes “70% labor and 30% material.” Now, let’s talk about the craftsmanship of cutting jade.

The cutting of jade is a relatively broad concept. Literally, it refers to the process of cutting a piece of jade from the raw material. In fact, it also includes a series of processes such as material selection and design, cutting proportions, and carving techniques.

Just the step of cutting the material is related to the texture of jade. The texture of jade is academically defined as the structure of the rock, which refers to the direction of the long axis of the jadeite crystals. This is because the jadeite raw stone is under high pressure in the earth's crust, and most of the columnar minerals will grow in the direction of the least pressure.

The patterns of jadeite can be divided into "forward patterns" and "reverse patterns". If viewed from two different angles, the colors are different, which has a great impact on the grade and price of the entire piece of jadeite.

In the eyes of most people, reverse-grain jade lacks beauty and is naturally of lower value; however, if the raw stone is cut along the grain, it will have more colors, the jade will be easier to process, and can be sold at a good price.

Therefore, in the process of jade processing, experienced masters generally cut along the grain to obtain better jade products and maintain the original appearance of the jade.

When starting to slice the stone, you should follow the grain of the stone and the cut surface should also be in the direction of the grain. This will produce the best effect and appear softer.

If the reverse grain is revealed, the jade will be ugly after polishing. The color will appear darker and the distribution will be very uneven. The overall texture will be rough, and the effect is worse than that of the longitudinal grain.

Coupled with the influence of subsequent design, carving and other links, under the same texture, especially for carvings, the quality of cutting craftsmanship becomes particularly important. If it is cut well, the value of an ordinary piece of jade can increase dramatically; if it is cut poorly, a good piece of material will be ruined.

If you want to judge the quality of the cut and the craftsmanship of a finished jade carving, you can look at five aspects: shape, cut (craftsmanship), proportion, symmetry, and completeness.

1. Modeling

The choice of jade shape mainly depends on the idea of ​​the jade carver. A good shape can show the beauty of a jade stone to the greatest extent. Common shapes include auspicious beasts, plants, figures, etc. Different shapes have different requirements for craftsmanship.

The raw stone just mined is like a blank piece of paper. The jade carver needs to design the most suitable shape based on the water quality, skin color, internal structure, size and other factors of the raw stone, while also making the best use of the raw materials and avoiding waste.

On the contrary, if you are not professional enough in controlling this link or make mistakes in judgment, you will waste a lot of good jade raw materials and reduce its value.

The shape of the jadeite in the left picture is neat and smooth, while the one on the right looks ugly and rough.

2. Process

The exquisiteness of the cutting craftsmanship mainly depends on the details: whether the lines are smooth and the arcs are full. If it is a jade pendant with auspicious beasts or zodiac patterns, it also depends on whether the image is vivid and the expression is lifelike.

In short, a piece of jade jewelry with good craftsmanship and cutting must be composed of a combination of details.

The jadeite on the left is almost flawless in terms of details, while the one on the right cannot withstand scrutiny of details.

After all, there is no strict standard for craftsmanship. After seeing more, you will naturally be able to distinguish what is beautiful and what is ugly.

3. Proportion

The proportions of jade jewelry are very important. For example, if two pieces of jade of the same shape have different proportions, the visual impact they produce will be completely different.

The left picture has a harmonious proportion, while the right picture looks bloated

In other words, jade jewelry with good proportions will be more visually beautiful and have higher value. However, the value of jadeite that is excellent in all other aspects but has unbalanced proportions will be lowered accordingly.

4. Symmetry

The symmetrical beauty of jade carvings can be considered a traditional cultural feature. Whether in architecture, home furnishings, or paintings, traditional culture will incorporate symmetrical pattern designs, and jade is of course no exception.

The left image is very symmetrical, while the right image is messy and irregular.

The symmetry in jade cutting is centered on an axis or an axis. The shapes and sizes of the two sides present a symmetrical structure and color. It is not necessarily an identical left and right face, but a symmetry that implies stability and balance, which can make jade jewelry more beautiful.

5. Completeness

The most important criterion for judging the completeness of jadeite cutting is to see whether there are any defects. Most uncut jadeite ores have various defects, such as cotton wool, spots, cracks, pits, etc.

The jade Guanyin on the left is clean, transparent, complete and solemn, while the one on the right looks very messy.

Therefore, during the jade carving process, impurities are removed or concealed through the use of technical techniques such as scraping out dirt and removing knots. In this way, the finished jade will appear in a relatively perfect appearance.

However, for ordinary consumers, it may still be difficult to distinguish the quality of the cut, so it is recommended that you choose some jadeite with simple styles and less high requirements on the cutting, such as peace buckle, Wu Shi Pai, etc.

The peace locket is also called the arhat eye. Its shape is a simple concentric circle. The craftsmanship is not too complicated. It only depends on whether its shape is symmetrical and whether the curvature is consistent and coordinated.

The Wu Shi Pai is also called the Ping An Pai, which is derived from the meaning of smooth and undecorated. Although no carving is required, the requirements for proportions are still relatively high. In the industry, it is called the 4:6 golden ratio, which means that the length and width of the plate need to be strictly controlled in the ratio of 4:6.

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