Who has better jade carving skills?

Jade carving integrates the expressive techniques of traditional Chinese stone carving, painting, calligraphy and other arts, and pays attention to the vivid, natural and smooth composition. Therefore, jade works have a romantic color and express the high-spirited and confident spirit unique to the era.

There are roughly three types of processing techniques commonly used now: ultrasonic molding, computer engraving, and hand engraving.

First, let’s take a look at the tools for ultrasonic molding, computer engraving, and hand engraving.

Ultrasonic mold

Exquisite molds are made of high-carbon steel, and high-hardness silicon carbide is used as jade-dissolving sand. The mold is driven by a machine to vibrate and rub back and forth on the surface of the jade at an ultrasonic frequency, achieving the purpose of rapid jade dissolution and carving, thereby greatly reducing the cost of jade carving. It can also be said that this type of machine carving process is actually molding.

Ultrasonic engraving machine, the flowing material is silicon carbide abrasive

The jade pieces that are initially processed by ultrasonic machines can be put on the market after cutting and polishing.

The characteristics of machine-pressed parts are that the lines are rigid and dull, and there are almost no straight and sharp edges. For reference, the Maitreya Buddha above said that it was sausage lips and a silly smile. However, this process saves time and money, and mass production can be started after simple training, making it suitable for mass production of low-grade materials.

Computer engraving

The lines are very smooth, the proportions are harmonious, and the edges are sharp. It's simply amazing! This is computer engraving. I don’t know if you have noticed that there seems to be a lack of spirituality here and it is more mechanical. Computer engraving is generally relief.

Hand carved pieces

The first step is to make the rough blank according to the color, dirtiness, cracks and other characteristics of the material. That is to say, keep the useful ones and remove the useless ones.

The second step is to design the pattern based on the rough draft, with the main purpose of making a jade jewelry with the highest economic value.

The third step is carving, which involves cutting, digging and grinding according to the design plan, and changing the plan at any time based on changes in the material. Hand carving can express the characteristics of the shape more accurately, making the carvings more vivid, delicate and lifelike, becoming unique works of art.

Hand carving can perfectly display the characteristics of jade, so its value is very different from machine carving.

However, hand carving varies greatly depending on personal skill level, labor costs, and the quality of materials. Let's use the diamond grading method to roughly give it five grades.

A superb, masterful work. The labor cost of a piece of work may be thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. It often takes several months or even longer from design to completion. Its craftsmanship value is naturally high.