Is it really a surprise that a small piece of gray jade can be carved into a Buddha pendant with a strong ice-gel feel?

As the saying goes, "Don't judge a book by its cover", never judge someone's character based on their appearance. In jadeite, there is also the teaching that “one cannot judge jade by its appearance”. After the jade material is cut out, if the surface is not wetted with water or oiled, it often has no luster at all, and the whole thing appears gray, like the pebbles on the flower bed by the roadside, without any surprises.

But as long as you wet some water on the surface of the jade and let the water soak into it, the luster of the jade will be revealed. The quality of the material's water content can be seen at a glance, which is why merchants selling raw materials always like to soak the material in water.

What I want to share with you jade lovers today is the carving process of the two pieces of jadeite that are gray, black, and seem to have poor water quality. Just based on the appearance of the raw materials you see above, can you imagine what kind of charming pendants they will become after being carved by jade carving masters?

Let’s look at the first piece of jade first. The upper part of the material is colorless and clean, with a fine base, making it perfect for depicting a person’s face. Therefore, the theme of "Phoenix Worshipping Guanyin" was finalized, which represents kindness, compassion, auspiciousness and harmony.

The other small piece of jade is of course also a Buddhist theme. It is a very meaningful thing to use jade from the same material to create the same type of subject matter. Since ancient times, there has been a saying in China that "men wear Guanyin and women wear Buddha". The large piece is made of Guanyin, and the small piece is made of Buddha. It is very meaningful for brothers to wear them, or for couples to wear them.

Therefore, the jade carving master designed the small jadeite into the theme of a laughing Buddha, and the corresponding color part was designed into a dragon to echo the phoenix of the Guanyin brand.

After careful carving and polishing by the jade carving master, the thickness of the jade becomes much thinner after the subject is carved. Combined with the water adjustment technique, the quality of the jade is revealed. The figure part is clean and transparent, with a faint sense of ice. The coloring of the blue flowers is also very clever, and the details of the phoenix and flying dragon are carved exquisitely and delicately.

Visually speaking, the two pieces of raw goods have smooth overall lines, distinct colors, and layers of height. What’s even more clever is that the carvings of Guanyin, Buddha, Phoenix, and dragon are all old patterns, rather than currently popular styles. This combination of old styles has a unique flavor at first glance and is very pleasing!

After polishing, looking at this pair of pendants, the gray feeling on the original stone is no longer there, and it is replaced by fine products that are as clear as ice and as sticky as jelly.

We often say that every step of the jade process from raw stone to finished product is a gamble: the raw stone is gambled on cutting, the clear material is gambled on taking out pieces, the material is gambled on carving, the rough goods are gambled on polishing, and the finished product is gambled on the market. While you are betting on luck, you are also betting more on experience. Just like these two pieces of information, can you learn some tricks from them?

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