Themes > Arts > Decorative arts > Handicrafts > Chinese Handicrafts
 Lacquer
& Cinnabar |
Porcelain |
|
| Cloissonne |
Jade,
Jadeite, and New Jade |
Paper
Craft |
| Bamboo
Craft |
Folk
Woodblock Picture |
Silk
Cloud Brocade |
|
Leather
Silhouette |
Silk
Embroidery |
Pottery
Yixing ( pronounced Yee-shing
) is a small city that has become famous due to a unique type of clay
that is only found there. This unique clay is called Zisha. Zisha Clay
is found in five different colors...red, yellow, green, black, and purple.
It has been used in pottery for over 3,000 years. The properties of
the clay make it the perfect vessel for brewing tea. With use, the teapot
absorbs the flavors of the tea which enhances future batches. Zisha
Clay Teapot should never be washed with soap and water, just rinse with
water and allow to drip dry.
Cloisonne is a famous traditional enamelware with a history of over 500
years. Cloisonne is one of the famous arts and crafts of Beijing. The
making of cloisonne requires rather elaborate and complicated processes:
base-hammering, copper-strip inlay, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel-firing,
polishing and gilding. Base-hammering of body is the first step in the
making of cloisonne. The material used for making the body is copper,
because copper is easily hammered and stretched. This step requires a
sound judgement in the shaping and uniformity of thickness and weight.
It is in fact the work of the copper-smith. The only difference is that
when an article is shaped, the copper-smith's work is finished, whereas
the cloisonne craftsman's work has just begun. The second step is filigree
soldering. This step requires great care and high creativeness. The artisan
adheres copper strips onto the body. These strips are of 1/16 inch in
diameter and of lengths as the artisan desires. The strips of filigree
thus adhered make up a complicated but complete pattern. The artisan has
a blueprint in mind and he can make full use of his experience, imagination
and aesthetic view in setting the copper strips on the body. The third
step is to apply colour which is known as enamel filling. The color or
emamel is like the glaze on ceramics. It is called falang. Its basic elements
are boric acid, saltpetre and alkaline. Owing to the difference in the
minerals added, the colour differs accordingly. Usually one with much
iron will turn grey, with uranium, yellow, with chromium, green, with
zinc, white, with bronze, blue, with gold or iodine, red. The colors are
ground into minute powder and applied in the cells separated by filigree.
The fourth step is enamel firing. This is done by putting the article,
with its enamel filling, into a kiln. After a short moment, the copper
body will turn red. But after firing, the enamel in the little compartments
will sink down a bit. That will require a re-filling. This process will
go on repeatedly until the little cells are filled. The fifth step is
polishing. The first polish is with emery. Its aim is to make the filigree
and the filled compartments even. The whole piece is again put to fire,
then polished once more with a whet-stone. Finally, a piece of hard carbon
is used to polish again so as to obtain some luster on the surface of
the article. The sixth step is gilding. This is done by placing the article
in fluid of gold or silver, changed with electric current. The exposed
parts of the filigree and the metal fringes of the article will again
undergo another electroplating and a slight polish.
Lacquer has been used in Chinese Arts since about 200 BC. Lacquer come
from the sap of a Lacquer tree ( Native to Southern China ). It is harvested
much like Maple Sap in the United States and Canada. Lacquer is an extremely
tedious process. Many coats are needed to create a thickness that can
be carved. As many as 100 to 150 coats may be used on some pieces to achieve
the desired thickness. Each layer must dry before the next can be applied. 
It takes up to 4 months to make a single piece. The most popular coloring
used in Lacquer goods is called Cinnabar, which is made from mercury.
The name comes from its dark red color. Most of the workshops in China
that made Cinnabar items have closed.
Jades are extremely hard stones ( 6.5 to 7.0 ). They were shaped and
carved using ropes and bamboo with grains of sand. The piece was coated
with sand which was rubbed back and forth with the rope or bamboo to slowly
wear away the stone. A single piece could take months to produce. Today,
modern diamond tipped tools, drills, and grinders make the job much quicker.
The art of Jade carving has been in existence in China since 3500 BC.
The most famous Jade works were produced in Suzhou, which still produces
some of the finest Jade and Stone carvings in the world.Nephrite Jade
that was used by the Chinese came from East Turkistan. Throughout history,
China has gained and lost control of that region which had greatly affected
the supply and quality available to the craftsmen. During the periods
of low supply, smaller pieces were produced. Craftsmen were required to
produce Snuff Bottles using very low quality Jade, much of which had off-color
inclusions. These inclusions were frequently worked into the design of
the piece. Many of these low grade pieces are extremely valuable today.
Jade ranges in color from pure white to black, and pale yellow to dark
green. It has a very creamy appearance, and has always been considered
more valuable in Chinese society than any other substance.Jadeite is very
similar to Jade in appearance, however it is a completely different substance.
It is harder, more translucent, and has a crystalline structure. Jadeite
is found in all the colors of Jade, but also in shades of purple and blue.
Most of the Jadeite used in China comes from Burma.New Jade and Serpentine
Jade is basically anything that might pass for Jade...butisn't Jade !!!
Porcelain has been in use for over 4000 years in China. It is made
from special white clay and fired at a temperature of 1280 degrees centigrade.
There are a couple different ways in which these items are decorated.
The most common today is molded, decorated, and glazed. Others are molding
and enameled than refired. The third type is underglaze in blue and red.
The Chinese have always been extremely proficient at porcelain work, and
have produced numerous pieces that look like coral, glass, stone, and
many other materials.
Papercut is an art form originally created in China. Around
the first century A.D., the Chinese invented that most flexible, versatile
and adaptable of materials -- paper. The first papercut can be traced
date back to the period known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (A.D.
386-581). In the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906) papercuts are the subject
of a poem by the poet Ts'ui Tao-yung and from other sources of this period
they are described as being used to decorate plants and worn by ladies
in their hair in form of butterflies and flowers.
Bamboo is one of the most wonderful and most beautiful plants
of the tropics, and one of nature’s most valuable gifts. China is
the home of about 1/3 of the world’s 1300 or so species of bamboo.
As the materials, They are strong, light, smooth, straight, and round.
They have hard outer skins, and they are free from any pronounced taste
or smell.
Bamboo is found abundantly and grows and increases rapidly. Only four years old bamboo is ready for use. For this reason, using bamboo as one kind of material instead of wood, is the GREEN idea of saving rain forest. Bamboo’s potential as a multi-purpose product for the global marketplace and the ease with which it is grown and fashioned into salable merchandise.
It is a kind of picture enjoying popularity among the people
with a large variety. A few of them are singled out for appreciation,
but most of them are used for different worldly life and protocols, such
as the portrait of the Gate God, the portrait of gods, illustration, pictures
for packaging and decorating, window flowers, lamp pictures, kites, paper
cards, colourful squares, flags, embroidery patterns. Of these pictures
some are printed in a single colour (black), some others are printed in
chromatography or by the continuation of colour applying. It is a characteristic
way of picture popularization from the invention of China's woodblock
printing to the contemporary printing skill. Their authors are professional
painter and engravers. Some of them are
anonymously created by farmers.
It is one of the traditional silk-knit brocade. It is named after its
colour as gorgeous as colourful cloud, for it is made of high -quality
silk and woven with exquisite skill. The silk industry consists of two
trades: the pattern brocade trade and the unpatterned brocade trade since
the end of the Qing Dynasty. Not until then the name "cloud brocade" came
into use.
First it refers to the leather silhouette in Luan County, Hebei Province.
Its was accompanied by the song sung in the tone of luoting. It
also refers to the shadow play accompanied by the song sung in the tone
of Liuqin Opera. Its engraving skill was characterized by roughness and
antiquated colour.
It is one of the most famous Chinese embroideries. It is the general
name for the embroidered products in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. There emerged
many embroidery workshops and embroidery markets in the Song Dynasty.
Up to Ming and Qing Dynasties its embroidery flourished for a time. Su
embroidery is famous for its elaborateness and elegance. It used to be
made by the unmarried daughters of noble families, and so it is also called
"boudoir embroidery. " Its characteristics include elegant colours, fine
needling, the application of halo dyeing, and the vacant lines left between
colours. Its needling skills include looping needling, even needling,
net embroidering, etc. Later they created double-faced embroidery, which
is used to embroider screen, palace fan, handkerchief, scarf and window
lattice. Its pattern themes vary from "the celebration of harvest", "wealthy
family", "dragon and phoenix symbolic of propitiousness", "well-being
through hundreds of years" to "abundance in grains and happiness in life",
"richness in fruits", "happy encounter", and "twin lotus flowers." The
embroidered pictures have "the Hunting Picture", "the Scroll of Plum and
Crane", "the Scroll of Osmanthus Under the Moon" as their themes. There
are many other embroidered products, such as dress and adornments, beddings
and ornaments attached to the waist.
Information provided
by: http://www.china-inc.com/education/crafts/