Why is there the saying "an inch of woof is an inch of gold"? Why are woof works so valuable?

"An inch of woof is an inch of gold", the costume drama "mother of the house", gathered Jiang Qinqin, Zhang Huiwen, Yang Rong and other famous actors, but the absolute "protagonist" of this drama, is a non-heritage technology - - woof. -Woof. The non-heritage is not just an embellishment of the costume, it is the main line of the whole drama. Suzhou, where the story takes place, has been the center of Chinese woof craft since the Song Dynasty. The classic woof works that appear in the drama include the "Pleasant Eyebrows" (a traditional auspicious pattern in which the ancients used magpies as a symbol of good luck) and "Ten Thousand Years of Ruyi Intentions" (an out-of-the-water catfish rushes up to the sky, and all the clouds are shaped into Ruyi heads), etc. -- it's clear that the ancients loved harmonic stems, too.

Silk, the audience is not unfamiliar, but what is the woof, may even this "woof" (sound "carve") how to pronounce, need to think about it. And there is "an inch of woof an inch of gold," said the woof, why so expensive, what stirred up the clouds of the Suzhou family, the secret is hidden in the woof process and history. The so-called woof, also known as "carve silk", the simplest description is "through the warp and weft". When weaving, the original color silk is used as the warp, and the color silk is used as the weft, and the weft threads of each color are weaved with the plain pattern according to the drawing with a small shuttle. The biggest feature of the woof, is that the weft is not like the general fabric throughout the entire width, and only weave into the need for a section of this color.

Song Zhuangchuo described the process of woof weaving in "Chicken Ribs": "Weaving carve silk in Dingzhou, without a big machine. The silk is woven on a wooden frame with ripe colors, and it is made into flowers, grasses, birds and animals as it pleases. With a small shuttle weaving weft, the first place to stay, square with mixed colors in the warp and weft above the line, together to become a text, if not connected. Bearing the sky to see, such as the carving of the image, so the name carved silk. Such as a woman's coat, the end of the year can be, although the flowers, so that not similar can be, cover the weft is not woven through the shuttle also." To summarize, why the name "carved silk"? Because the weft threads encountered different patterns and colors when weaving back, the warp threads are not connected, so in the edge of the pattern, the gap between the warp threads, through the light is like carving in general.

Song Dynasty, the expression of natural scenery of landscape, bird and flower painting, gradually replaced the religious, figure painting, became the favorite subject, was delayed by the throne of the artist Song Huizong, is a master. Woof artists tried to reproduce these paintings with the woof process. The Woof Zhao Ji Bird and Flower Square Shaft, which is a masterpiece of this period, was woven in the Palace Museum on the basis of Song Huizong's bird and flower paintings. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the economic and cultural center was completely shifted to Jiangnan, which gathered a large number of literati, painters and craftsmen. There was no lack of technology and art in woofing, and ornamental woofing modeled after calligraphy and painting climbed to the highest peak. Xianchun Lin'an Zhi" mentioned Lin'an (i.e., present-day Hangzhou) products, "carving silk has two kinds of flowers and vegetations", which can be seen that Hangzhou woof has become a nationally renowned specialty.