Are sugar figures and sugar paintings folk crafts?

It is a folk craft.

I, Introduction

Sugar painting, as the name suggests, is made of sugar painting, it is also sugar and painting, can be viewed and eaten. Folk commonly known as "inverted sugar man", "inverted sugar cake children" or "sugar lamp shadow children". Divided into two kinds of flat sugar painting and three-dimensional sugar painting. It is the authentic folk painting, quite characteristic of the market art, widely circulated in the Bashan Shu Shui between the people's favorite craft food.

Sugar people are made of boiled cane sugar or maltose in various shapes, including characters, animals, flowers and plants. It is said that in the Song Dynasty, there are sugar people, mostly flat shape, as today's sugar paintings, known as the theater candy, later also known as thick sugar gourd, blowing sugar Ma Pozi, playing swing thick syrup, sugar Yimiang, sugar official, sugar pagoda, sugar turtles and so on. Sugar man is not easy to save, in the past when there was a shortage of desserts, after playing with the sugar man will be eaten.

Second, the production process

Sugar painting

Boiling sugar before painting sugar. The purpose of boiling sugar is to spread the sugar solution into sugar sheets to be used later in the sugar painting drawing. Before boiling the sugar, prepare a marble slab and brush oil on it, the oil should be thinly brushed so as to prevent the sugar from sticking to the marble slab. Put a copper pot on the fire, add a suitable amount of water, and then add sugar. The ratio of water to sugar is two to one. Stir the sugar gently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. Gradually increase the temperature of the water, in order to facilitate the sugar to dissolve in the water. After the water boils, exhaust the water vapor into the air. At this point, the temperature of the sugar solution gradually becomes higher, and the water in the sugar solution gradually decreases. You can see that the sugar solution is starting to bubble. This is because there is less water in the sugar solution and the tension of the sugar solution is greater. The air will make some big bubbles on the sugar surface in the process of emission. The temperature is not enough at this time. The right temperature for boiling sugar is when the color turns slightly yellow and the big bubbles turn into small bubbles is about right. When the color turns yellow and the bubbles become smaller, the fire is almost ready, so pour it onto the marble slab while it is still hot. Once the sugar is poured onto the marble slab, it will cool and solidify. Once the sugar mixture has completely solidified, chop the sugar pieces and store them on a plate. Good quality sugar cubes will not dissolve for half a month at room temperature. The sugar boiled in this way is more transparent, very brittle, non-sticky, non-dripping oil, non-liquid, in order to be used as a material for drawing sugar paintings. Making Sugar Paintings

Before painting sugar paintings, the first thing to do is to melt the sugar. Sugar melting is to dissolve the prepared sugar cubes in a sugar pot. Dissolve the sugar with a low fire, if the fire is high, the sugar will be burnt. Dissolve the sugar slowly over a warm fire. When the sugar is completely dissolved, you can paint.　Sugar painting is different from ordinary painting. First of all, sugar painting is very easy to solidify when it cools down, so you have to be quick in painting sugar. Secondly, sugar painting is the same as drawing with a series of strokes, so you can't stop between each stroke. This leads to the problem of the stroke order of the drawing. Once the strokes are well designed, you can finish the candy quickly and the candy will not get cold easily. In order to familiarize yourself with the steps, you usually have to do some drawing practice before you draw the sugar picture. This drawing practice is the same as the usual drawing, but you have to draw continuous strokes and pay attention to the stroke order. Therefore, the purpose of drawing practice is mainly to practice the stroke order and composition.　The person who makes a candy painting has no draft, the draft is all in his mind. Sugar painting must have a good idea of what to do, to be hot in one fell swoop, the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac call to come, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, flowers, birds, fish and insects, birds and beasts, with the wisps of sugar sprinkled, it is vividly presented in front of you, and then stick a bamboo stick or set on a transparent plastic bag while it is still hot, it is done.

2. Sugar man

Making sugar man is a folk, the maker of more than a stretcher, one end of the heating stove, the other end of the sugar and tools. Sugar from the cane sugar and maltose heating modulation, the original color is brownish-yellow, some add pigment or coloring to make it red or green. The control of the heat is crucial, as too much heat will make it too thin and easy to deform, while too much cold will make it too hard to be molded. The tools used are very simple, mostly in the form of spoons and spatulas. According to the different production process, can be divided into three kinds: blowing candy man, painting candy man and plastic candy man

Blowing candy man

"Blowing candy man" is a traditional folk craft, it is said to be in the Song Dynasty, when it was known as "theater candy". The raw material used in "blowing candy man" is mainly the artist's own boiled caramel (also known as transformed sugar), the sugar body is coffee-colored. The main raw material for making caramel is starch. Artists have their own unique recipe and boiling method, the whole process is based on experience to judge, so the accumulated operating experience is very valuable.

Folk "blowing sugar man" artists, they will be heated to the right temperature caramel, pull down a ball, kneaded into a ball, with a small amount of starch dipped in the forefinger pressed into a deep pit, tighten the outer mouth, quickly pull out, pull to a certain fineness, violently break the stick, at this time, the stick as if it were a thin tube, and immediately blowing the modeling with the mouth. The whole operation process must be practiced hard, the technique should be accurate and the modeling should be simple and vivid. The key technology of blowing candy man is in the blowing and pinching. Sugar maker first puts a small piece of caramel in the palm of his hand and flattens it, then makes a fist and passes the fingers of his other hand through the palm of his hand, piling up the sugar into a tube, and then blowing it after biting off the top end of the tube. Sugar maker puffed up his cheeks, and in a short while it was blown into a thin skin hollow flat round ball, and then with dexterity and versatility, pinched out the shape of different flowers, birds, fish and insects, people, some of them are also painted with flowers and green colors.

Painting candy man

Painting candy man, is the folk with sugar to modeling art style, more circulated in all parts of Sichuan, Zigong area with the most varieties of the most rich in content, the shape is also the most interesting.

Painting candy man is painted on the stone with syrup. Slate with smooth cold marble, with a layer of anti-sticking oil coated on top. After the sugar is boiled, it is scooped up with a small spoon and poured on the stone plate to form lines and patterns. Since the sugar mixture cools quickly on the stone, it is necessary to make it all in one go. The process of making the sugar man is wonderful. When the modeling is complete, the sugar painting is scooped up with a small spatula, stuck on a bamboo stick, and left to congeal for a while.

Painting sugar man, as the name suggests, is to sugar as a material for modeling, the tools used only a spoon and a shovel, and sugar is generally red and white sugar plus a little caramel on the stove with a fire simmering, simmering to can be drawn when it can be used to casting modeling. In drawing the shape, by the artist with a small spoon scooped up the melted sugar, in the stone plate quickly back and forth casting, drawing the shape, at this time, the folk artisan's hand is the key to modeling. Because in the casting, the sugar is warmed by the fire dissolved, once cooled sugar that is solidified, so the folk artist is required to eye and hand fast, eyes to the hand also to the modeling, in order to complete in one fell swoop. When the modeling is completed, followed by a small spatula will be sugar painting shovel up, stick on the bamboo stick. After a few moments of condensation, they can be put on a straw handle and sold.

Face sugar modeling

The theme of the painting sugar man has novels, opera characters, auspicious flowers and fruits, birds, animals, words and other content, to the most interesting characters and animal modeling, if it is the side of the image, it will be modeled by the line; if it is the front of the image, it will be used to pile up the head of sugar into a bas-relief shape. Due to the fluidity of the sugar, even if the same image, there will not be the same shape. Folk artists in the long-term practice of mastering the characteristics of sugar, and at the same time, according to the characteristics of the operation, in the shape of more full, well-proportioned lines, thus forming a unique style style, giving people the enjoyment of beauty.

Plastic candy man

Plastic candy man, that is, mold shaper.

Blowing candy people have golden gourd, pomegranate, peaches, chickens and dogs, monkeys eating peaches, Yuanbao lanterns, longevity, and the two immortals, fishermen fishing; painting candy people have literati warriors, swords, dragons and phoenixes, unicorns, birds and beasts, etc.; molded candy people have luohan, god of wealth, longevity, lions, pagoda, and so on.

Selling candy man craftsmen will slowly pour sugar diluted on the slate, sketched out a variety of patterns, and then attached to a small bamboo stick, condensation, small children eat while playing, is an indispensable scenery of the past temple fair.