“If jade is not carved, it will not become a useful object.” From jade raw materials to jade finished products, it needs to go through a series of processing steps. China's traditional jade carving technology has a long history and unique experience and craftsmanship. It can make full use of raw materials, bring out the characteristics of raw materials, and achieve the most perfect artistic effect while saving materials.

Jade has the warmth and restraint of jade and the rich colors of gemstones. Jade carvers use beautiful modeling and exquisite carving techniques to turn them into unique artistic treasures in the world. Understanding the production process of jade will be of great help in purchasing jade.

The processing technology of jadeite completely inherits the traditional jade processing technology, and the jade carving process and production tools are exactly the same. Generally speaking, it can be divided into 6 steps. Today, Ale will explain it to you in detail.

1. Material selection

Material selection is the first step in jade processing and is very important. The key to material selection depends on the purpose of the finished product. The requirements for material selection are different for processing and producing different types of finished products. Such as making bracelets, rings, ring faces, or ornaments, pendants, etc. The characteristics of the raw materials are closely related to the type of finished product. If the choice is not good, not only will the raw materials be wasted, but the processed jade products will also result in losses. Therefore, the material selection process is very important. Since most jade materials have a skin, the internal jade is wrapped in the skin, and it is difficult to distinguish the quality, so there is a saying of "gambling on stones". This feature is also not found in other jades.

2. Cutting

The procedure for cutting the material is usually to "wipe the skin" first to observe the surface characteristics of the jade, such as the distribution and direction of the jade color, the distribution and development of cracks, and changes in transparency (water head). Secondly, based on the overall characteristics of the jadeite raw stone, a preliminary judgment should be made on the purpose of the jadeite, that is, what type of jade article it can be processed into. The next step is to determine whether the jade raw material will be used as a whole to make ornaments, or whether the raw material will be cut into pieces to make small pieces of jewelry and small carvings.

3. Usage positioning and design

The purpose positioning refers to the production of ornaments, small jewelry (such as bracelets, jade rings, ring faces, etc.) and small carvings. Any perfect jadeite is crafted through careful and creative design. Generally speaking, when making small pieces of jewelry, the yield rate needs to be considered. When making small carvings, one must consider the characteristics of the raw materials, highlight the advantages of the raw materials as much as possible, and meet the requirements of the carving pattern. When making ornaments, it is necessary to make creative designs based on the color, type, water, shape, cracks, black color, jade quality and other characteristics of the jadeite raw stone, with the principle of maximizing the value of the raw stone.

4. Processing process

The specific processing technology flow can be divided into the following steps.

① For small pieces of jewelry, they are cut into sheets of different sizes according to their purpose; for the raw materials for making ornaments, they are cut into rough blanks according to the design requirements.

② Use a diamond grinding wheel (coarse sand) to cut and further remove useless parts to make a rough blank according to the purpose and pattern.

③ Use a diamond (medium sand) grinding wheel to further remove the convex and concave parts and useless parts of the entire surface.

④ Use a diamond grinding wheel or round stone to further punch the rough blank from the previous process into a rough blank.

⑤ Use grinding wheels of various specifications to grind out the sample blanks of the round sculpture parts.

⑥ Carving uses rolling, hooking, polishing and other process steps to process jade. Rolling is the process of using a rolling wheel to carve out the shapes of patterns such as faces, animal bodies, roots, stems and leaves of trees and flowers; hooking is the process of using a hooking wheel to draw out fine patterns, such as human hair, beard, phoenix hair, animal scales, animal hair and plant leaf patterns; polishing is the process of using special tools and materials to smooth out the extra marks and "sand eyes" left in the carving process, so as to facilitate the overall polishing of the jade.

5. Carving Techniques

In the jade industry, there is a saying that "look at the shape from a distance, look at the jade up close, and look at the knife work when you pick it up." The so-called "knife work" refers to the jade carving technique. From ancient times to the present, jade carving craftsmanship has basically followed the procedures of "material selection → design → production → polishing", and the carving techniques in the "production" process can be mainly divided into several categories such as relief, line carving, round carving, openwork carving, hollow carving, chain carving, and pretty carving.

① Relief Relief is an artistic form between round sculpture and painting. It is a carving technique that uses the method of reducing the ground to dig out the base of lines or image outlines to create a raised line decoration effect. According to the thickness of the surface protrusion, it can be divided into two categories: "shallow relief" and "high relief".

6. Grinding and polishing process

① Polishing includes two types: manual polishing and machine polishing. Manual grinding is done by grinding machines using various diamond grinding wheel tools, from coarse grinding to fine grinding, and from fine grinding to matte finishing. Machine grinding uses a vibrating machine to use corundum to complete the processes from coarse grinding to fine grinding and precision grinding.

②Polishing includes manual polishing and machine polishing. Manual polishing uses a polishing machine to produce a bright finish using various polishing tools and polishing materials. Machine polishing is done by vibrating the machine and adding polishing materials.

Comparison before and after polishing

The above are the six steps to go from jadeite raw stone to finished product. Follow Ale to learn more new knowledge about jadeite!

fruit

fcgc33