How many steps does a sculptor need to go through in the process of turning a piece of rough stone into a finished jadeite product?

Jade cannot be made into a useful object without being carved. Jade is hard and colorful, making it very suitable for carving into a variety of ornaments. So what are the steps involved in carving jade? Will a jade carver start working immediately after receiving the jadeite raw stone?

Jade raw materials are very precious, and jade carvers will definitely not start rashly. Jade carving is not an easy task, it requires several simple steps.

1. Material selection, cutting and peeling

Jade carving is sometimes based on the buyer's requirements to select jade materials and determine the subject matter. For example, the buyer requests a mid-range jadeite Guanyin Buddha statue, and requires the statue to be standing with a jade bottle in hand, with a height of about 5 inches. Of course, the price needs to be negotiated. The jade carving workshop must select the appropriate jade material according to the buyer's requirements, and then discuss the design pattern with the buyer and start processing after both parties agree. Of course, in most cases the design is based on the jade material, which is the so-called "applying art to the scenery". Jade materials, especially gravel jade materials that have been eroded by river water, often have an oxide layer on the surface. For example, the surface of jadeite is often black, yellow, red, etc. Is there green inside? How do cracks and textures extend? You need to have some understanding before carving so that you can do a good job in jade carving design. Of course, the good skin of jade cannot be peeled off at will, such as the skin of Hetian jade... Haha, you know... Sometimes you can use the different colors on the surface of jade to design and carve it, which can become the color of the jade and increase the value of the jade.

2. Design

Jade design is the key to jade carving. Generally speaking, designers often design carving themes based on the color, width, texture and shape of the jade, and choose themes that suit the characteristics of the jade. First of all, they must make the most of the jade and design according to the width and shape of the jade without wasting the jade; make good use of the color to produce the best effect; try to eliminate the cracks and flaws on the jade pieces, and do their best to "dig out the dirt" and "turn the job into something good". The jade carving designer may be the person who executes the design. Sometimes the jade carving designer and the carver are two different people. This requires the person who executes the carving to understand the designer's ideas and at the same time should have the necessary technical requirements, be able to grasp the characteristics of the jade carving subject matter, have some understanding of the jade carving subject matter, and try to be familiar with the relevant background materials. Only in this way can we truly understand the design and carve out the jade that the designer expects. Initially, the design pattern for jade carving can be drawn on paper or directly on the jade material to be carved. When carving large and precious jade, the design must first be drawn on paper and repeatedly considered and brewed. After the design is perfect, it is then put down on the dry material. The carver will process it according to the lines of the subject matter. When processing small pieces of jade, you can directly draw the pattern on the material. During the carving process, it is necessary to open up the satin cracks inside the jade material and make full use of its internal color. This requires constant modification of the jade carving design and tracing on the carved jade piece many times. Of course, the original main theme of the jade carving usually cannot be changed. Only the relevant local content can be adjusted, and some of the carving content can be appropriately reduced or increased.

3. Rough carving

After the jade piece has been sketched, it can be roughly carved. Rough carving can also be called making the embryo, that is, carving the jade into shape according to the design requirements, and initially achieving the basic shape of the designed jade carving. In summary, the rough carving mainly includes the following steps: first, use a guillotine or a Zituo cutter to remove the excess material outside a line, divide the jade piece into several main parts, and determine the basic outline of the jade carving. After rough carving, the jade piece will be in a geometric shape. The shape should be accurate, round, symmetrical, with moderate proportions and appropriate relative height differences, which is very important for the later fine carving; then the process of flattening the bottom of the jade piece is carried out. After the basic shape of the jade piece is taken out, its vertical center line must be found so that it is easier to determine the bottom of the jade piece. After the jade piece has a flat bottom, the jade carving can be placed stably. At the same time, by observing the jade piece in all directions, some inaccurate parts of the jade piece can be trimmed; then use a Wei pen to realign the jade piece, which is also called secondary drawing. According to the outline, the small surface is further cut into smaller pieces by using the grading method to carry out more detailed material removal, but the carving is required to be more delicate and accurate, and the relative relationship of each part must be adjusted. At the same time, some details are preliminarily carved out to try to outline the contour lines. This is called pushing and dropping work in the industry. Finally, rough carving and trimming are carried out to further subdivide the relatively large surface of the jade ring so that the image can be displayed accurately, and the scars on the surface of the jade piece are roughly removed to make the surface appear smooth and round to a certain extent.

4. Fine carving and finishing

After rough carving, it is necessary to do it all over again. The carved pattern needs to be outlined in detail on the jade piece after rough carving, and the initial subtle contents that were not positioned during rough carving need to be determined. For example, the character’s face and facial features. The fingers of hands and feet, the folds of clothes, the petals and branches of flowers, the ears, mouths, feathers of birds, the eyes, tails and scales of fish should all be clearly outlined. Then the jade piece is finely carved according to the outlined lines, and the edges of the jade surface are eliminated to make the surface of the jade piece smooth, smooth and flat without obvious pits and pots. Various patterns, edges and corners should be further modified to make them clearer and more obvious. The parts of the jade piece that need to be round must be round, and the parts that need to be carved must be carved. After the fine carving is completed, it must be finely modified. Some subtle parts that are easily damaged by bumps and the hollow parts that are difficult to carve are completed at the end. The effect of the jade carving is comprehensively examined, and the deficiencies are made as perfect as possible. The fine modification should play the role of the finishing touch.

5. Polishing

Polishing is a very important and irreplaceable work in jade carving. No matter how finely you carve and polish it, the surface of the jade will always be rough, and it cannot show the crystal clear beauty of the jade. Only perfect polishing can make the jade show a warm and smooth appearance, make the jade have a noble temperament, and show the true value of the jade.

Jade itself is very precious, and there are many processes involved in creating a piece of jade jewelry. It not only requires the jade carver to have superb craftsmanship, but also to invest a lot of emotion. Only in this way can the jade jewelry created have vitality. This is also one of the reasons why jade jewelry is so expensive.

fcgc66

fcpf18