Summary of Jade Design and Carving Essentials

I. Introduction

“If jade is not carved, it will not become a useful object.” This shows that the connotation and spirit of jade can only be fully reflected through ingenious carving. The same goes for jadeite. When the plain-looking jadeite raw stone goes through a series of processing and polishing, and finally appears before the eyes of the public as a magnificent work of art, it is often heart-warming. Today's jade carvers have accumulated rich experience in jade processing and have created a series of unique techniques. They can not only make full use of raw materials, but also express the warm and implicit beauty that nature has given to jade in many ways, achieving the most perfect artistic effect.

There are regional differences in jade processing today. Generally speaking, the area north of the Yangtze River is represented by Henan craftsmen, whose processing advantages and highlights are reflected in large-scale carvings such as utensils; while the southeast is mainly represented by Fujian and Guangdong, which pay attention to detailed descriptions, for example, Fujian is famous for its birds and beasts.

2. Cutting and slicing

First, we need to analyze the raw materials (commonly known as jade appraisal), which means we need to have a relatively in-depth understanding of jadeite, and then conduct analysis in combination with the incoming materials on this basis. Most of the materials you come into contact with at this time are dark materials. It is very important to know the origin of the materials, which can help you understand the nature of the jadeite in general. Secondly, you must have a certain understanding of the skin of the original stone, observe its appearance, detailed structure, etc., in order to form a preliminary design idea. The next step is cutting, which is the process of cutting the material with skin to reveal the internal structure of the stone. Based on the characteristics of the jade, make a rough design and then start cutting. Before cutting, you usually look for cracks and lines on the epidermis first, then cut along the cracks and lines. The technique should be steady and the force should be even. For small-sized pendant-type jade jewelry, we also need to slice them, that is, cut out the outline of the pre-designed pattern. The principle of slicing is not to destroy the color of jade, and the slices can be as large as possible. The first choice for slicing is to cut Guanyin and Buddha pendants, and the rest are used to make small flower pieces. If the cut material is small in size and of good texture, it can be made into ring faces. If it has many cracks, it can only be made into decorative pieces or carvings.

Three: Cutting the blank

Use a pen to draw a large pattern on the jadeite, and use thallium to cut out the drawn outline, retaining the jadeite in the largest possible area and volume. The principle of cutting is to make it as big as possible. At present, factories in mainland China generally give priority to patterns of Guanyin and Buddha because they sell well in the market. The cutting equipment is generally a wheel grinder (vertical axis type, horizontal axis type), and the horizontal axis wheel grinder is mostly used.

Then, the cut jade is further polished and smoothed with a grinding wheel. There are No. 60, 80, 220, 400 and other grinding wheels. The numbers are from small to large, and the grinding wheel particles are from coarse to fine. Generally, No. 60 grinding wheel is used for medium grinding. After cutting the shape, grind off the edges and corners. After the surface is cut and ground smooth, it is further smoothed with coarse and fine grinding wheels.

4. Design and draw the pattern

Jade is designed according to the characteristics of the raw materials and the features of their shape. This is a very critical step in jade processing, and it also directly determines the economic benefits that the jade will bring. When designing, you should consider:

1. Design according to materials. The pattern type is determined according to the characteristics of the jade raw material.

For high-end jadeite, design and carving can only serve as embellishments. It is necessary to highlight the large bright surface of jadeite and its water head. Mid-range jadeite should be cleaned out of dirt, colored, avoided cracks, covered with cotton, and free of knots.

Designers should recognize and understand the physical characteristics of jadeite. To understand jade, one must have a certain understanding of jade materials before being able to design jade: one must know how to look at jade, know what is dirty, what is colored, what is cracked, and what is cotton. One must fully utilize and display the beautiful colors of jade in the design, avoid the cracks in jade, dig out the dirty things, and cover up the cotton.

Removing dirt, using colors, avoiding cracks, and covering with cotton are all related to the patterns in jade design. It is necessary to cleverly use patterns to achieve the above goals, so that when people see this jade pendant, they will be immediately attracted by its exquisite pattern and will not feel that the pattern is abrupt. By utilizing the beautiful colors in jadeite, you can not only make the pattern of jadeite appear special, but also enhance the value of jadeite. For example, if you use a little green in jade to carve a Ruyi in Guanyin's hand, the effect will be very good. When cutting the material, the most important consideration is cracks. In jade design, avoiding cracks is very important. Generally speaking, the cracks should be removed and the depressions should be used in the pattern. Be natural and don't give people a stiff feeling. How can we use design to make jadeite sell at a high price even if it has cotton? In the design, more complex patterns should be used to cover up the cotton. There is a saying in the industry that "30% material, 70% workmanship", which means that no matter how good the material is, there will be some minor flaws, which requires designers to be able to hide the flaws when designing the jade, and gradually perfect a finished jade product and make it full of vitality.

Make full use of the depth, distribution and color of colors. Design mainly uses color to determine ideas and shapes. In addition, dark-colored jadeite should be made into thinner jadeite; light-colored jadeite should be thicker in design and production to make the jadeite appear greener. Low-grade jade can be carved directly by machine.

2. Consider the market. Jade products will eventually be sold on the market, so their design must not be separated from the market. We must fully consider the current market demands and try our best to adapt to the market.

Today's jade jewelry is more targeted at ordinary consumers. In other words, no matter your identity or age, you can buy jade jewelry that suits your taste. Jade is no longer just a symbol of aristocratic status and wealth, but more of a representation of people's pursuit of beauty.

Designers should understand the market and target the right group of people to design jadeite. The positioning of consumer groups is particularly important under the market economy. For example, children like cartoon patterns, young people prefer fashion and avant-garde, middle-aged and elderly people like traditional and classical patterns, and so on.

3. Jade carving patterns with traditional meanings; China's traditional culture is fully reflected in traditional jade patterns. Ancient Chinese characters provide a lot of creative space for jadeite. Homophones and metonyms of Chinese characters are often used in jade patterns. Themes such as abundant surpluses every year, great joy, immediate promotion to nobility, and great joy often appear in jade works.

4. Modern jade carving patterns; with the development of the times, the style and patterns of modern jade carvings have retained a large number of traditional styles and themes, and have also incorporated Western expressions and patterns. For example, the European flying dragon with feathered wings. Western culture advocates truth, nature, individuality but also rationality. Therefore, the design style of modern jade carving patterns has also begun to become bold and relaxed without violating the rules of modeling. The carved patterns that blend the beauty of Eastern and Western cultures show more of a fashionable and life-like tendency and are popular among young people.

Five: Drawing

1. Design a flat pattern based on the cut jade sheets or blocks, and use the lines, dots, and surfaces of the pattern to avoid jade imperfections while fully embodying the color of the jade. The pattern should not only be beautiful but also have a certain meaning. In addition, it should be easy to wear and have no sharp points.

2. Draw the designed pattern on the jade with a pencil, and then outline it with a liner pen or use photography principles to print the pattern on the jade - currently only applicable to jade cards. When using a liner pen to draw patterns, be sure to wipe the jade dry before drawing. If you make a mistake when drawing the lines, you can use sand and gravel to grind them off and then draw again. The choice of ink is also very important. You should choose ink that does not fade after being soaked in water or exposed to sunlight. The brush should be a hair tip one.

6. Carving

During the carving process, the lines should be kept smooth, the shapes should be beautiful, and always pay attention to the overall sense. First use the hook to trace along the pattern, and when carving, carve the large smooth surface first, and then carve other places. Use the pressure wheel to find large flat surfaces, use the suction eye to find animal eyes and carve some decorative circles on jade, and use the concave needle to make the sphere more round. It should be noted that when punching, the positions must be found on both sides to avoid slanting.

Put the jade into the magnetic cleaning machine for cleaning. Inject jade cleaning liquid into the machine, then rinse it with tap water, and finally blow it dry with a hair dryer before shipping. (This method can also be used repeatedly during the polishing process to check which areas are not polished well so that corrections can be made at any time).

VII. Conclusion

In fact, each piece of work incorporates the designers and carving masters' understanding of beauty, and every step in the process reflects their intelligence and wisdom. No matter how good the material is, without careful design, perfect carving, and exquisite polishing, it is impossible to present its alluring beauty. We make use of the warm qualities that nature has bestowed on jade, take China's profound cultural origins as the basis, combine rich and diverse pattern elements, and then match them with perfect modern processing technology. What we present to people is not only thousands of years of historical civilization of China, but also the implicit beauty, elegant beauty, and all-encompassing thickness of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people.