Jade carving is a very professional skill

The ancients said: Jade cannot be made into a useful object without being carved. Although there are many people who play with raw jade at present, and they have been divided into those who play with flesh jade and those who play with skin jade, the market share of finished jade products, which are the main objects of appreciation, still ranks first. When a piece of raw jade is carved into a device, it is endowed with a clear humanistic aesthetic and is also loved by the Chinese people.

Jade carving is a very professional skill. Many friends who don’t know much about it think it is similar to the hammering of a stonemason. However, when they see the entire process, they realize that it is not the case at all. So, what processes does a piece of jade go through to become a jade artifact? Generally speaking, the jade carving process can be divided into two major parts: carving and polishing.

Carving When a piece of jade arrives at a carving factory, the first thing it goes through is "jade appearance", which means observing and analyzing the color, quality, cracks, flaws, etc. of the jade to decide what to make. How to make it? It's a bit like a preliminary design.

Once the production process is decided, large pieces of jade may be required to be cut. This is called "cutting". At this time, a large saw blade with a diameter of more than 600mm is usually used. Nowadays, jade carving tools are basically made of artificial diamond powder using the electroplating method. The tools used for cutting are pressed iron core discs, which are called "water sheets" in the construction industry.

Another type of tool is used for grinding, and its shape and material are the same as the drilling instruments used by dentists.

After cutting the material, there is generally a "shaping" process, which is to shape the jade material into the desired shape. If the seed material has no obvious flaws or cracks, there is generally no need for shaping. Next comes the design. Since the jade material may not conform to the pre-judgment after being cut and shaped, the final design is decisive. Jade articles are divided into five categories: flowers and birds, human figures, utensils, animals, and natural vases. The currently popular handles and pendants are small items and are not classified into the five major categories. The classification of carving techniques includes: round carving (three-dimensional carving), relief carving, leather carving, and inlay. The two classification methods are mutually inclusive: the five major categories utilize various techniques; various techniques can be used alone or in combination in the five major categories. Once the concept and design are complete, the carving process begins. Here I would like to first introduce engraving machines: engraving machines are divided into two types: flat machines and flexible shaft machines. The flat knitting machine is roughly the same in the north and south. It is a small horizontal lathe, and the worker holds the jade material in both hands to operate it.

The flexible shaft machine is a commonly used engraving machine in the world. The electric motor is driven through a flexible shaft. The worker holds the operating handle in one hand and holds or holds the jade material with the other hand for carving.

Generally speaking, carving can be divided into three stages: blanking, polishing, and finishing.

Cutting out the blank: It is the process of using a thin tool to cut out the approximate shape of the jade piece. A good blank has a nice block effect composed of geometric shapes.

Polishing: After the blanking stage, use tools of various shapes and sizes to carve out the complete shape of the object.

Lashou: This is a term in the carving industry, which means "the final means of finishing", which also refers to the final and extremely delicate work such as "drawing the negative lines" and opening the eyes and mouth.

Polishing

The carving method is common to all types of jade carvings, but polishing is not. Ten or twenty years ago, grinding and polishing were commonly done using grinding and polishing wheels such as rubber wheels, wooden wheels, bamboo wheels, and leather wheels. Nowadays, most grinding is done manually with oilstones (sand strips), but machine grinding is still used for jadeite and other very hard stones. Manual polishing is time-consuming and laborious, but the gloss is even, the details can be done very well, and the effect is easier to control than lathe work. The processes are named after the coarseness of the oilstone sand, including 240#, 400#, 600#, 800#, 1000#, and even 1200# and ruby ​​oilstone, and finally sand skin. It is not necessary for every process, it depends on the adaptability of the jade material and the coarseness and fineness of the carving surface.

After polishing, cleaning and drying, it is time to seal with wax (also called waxing). There has been a debate about whether sealing wax is necessary. Here is a little explanation: After a piece of jade is polished, no matter how high the polishing craftsmanship is, there will always be some uneven gloss. The reason is that the number of times each place is passed, the force, the difficulty of the location, and the degree of polishing that can be sustained are all different. In addition, fine details such as negative lines cannot be polished, resulting in inconsistent gloss and even white fur on the seam feet, which does not look good visually. To this end, the method passed down from our ancestors and currently recognized internationally is sealing with wax. Sealing wax is not only used in jade carvings, but also in the gem industry and is recognized by the international jewelry industry. Wax sealing is actually very simple. It is to use paraffin wax to boil lightly at a relatively low temperature (the melting point of wax is lower than the boiling point of water). After taking it out, scald it lightly with boiling water while it is still hot and wipe it clean. A good wax seal will not leave any wax marks on the surface of the jade (no sticky feeling when held in the hand). The negative lines and other places will no longer show rough surfaces after being soaked in molten wax. The luster is beautiful and uniform, reflecting the nobility and connotation of the jade.

Some jade lovers emphasize "no wax" or even "no gloss" in pursuit of the sense of accomplishment of self-polishing jade. Therefore, "unpolished" jade pieces were born, that is, jade pieces that have not been polished with oilstones as a whole and have a frosted surface. In fact, this has been "smoothly ground" with diamond abrasives, so in a sense, it has also been "polished".

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