What is the reeling skill?

Silk reeling, also known as "silk carving", is the essence of traditional silk works of art in China. This is the most traditional way of picking warp and weft in China silk industry, and it is highly appreciated for decorative silk fabrics. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it has been one of the royal fabrics, and is often used to weave the clothes of the Empress Dowager, royal portraits and calligraphy and painting of celebrities. Because the weaving process is extremely meticulous, imitations are often superior to the real ones, and the fine products that remain are extremely rare, which is the highlight of today's embroidery collection auction. Often known as "an inch of silk and an inch of gold" and "the saint of weaving".

Suzhou silk painting, Hangzhou silk painting, Yongchun paper painting and Sichuan bamboo curtain painting are called "four famous paintings" in China.

In May, 2006, Suzhou silk weaving technology was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. In September, 2009, silk reeling, as a sericulture and silk weaving skill in China, was selected into the world intangible cultural heritage. Representative inheritors are Wang Jinshan, Wang Jialiang, Wang Jianjiang and Wu Wenkang.

Reeling, also known as carving, is the essence of China silk works of art, which is a kind of silk-woven handicraft that uses colored weft to express patterns and form the boundaries of patterns. It has the effect of carving and is full of double-sided three-dimensional sense. The weaving method of silk is different from embroidery and brocade.

It adopts the weaving mode of "warp and weft breakage", while the general weaving mode of brocade is "warp and weft penetration", that is, the weft runs through the whole width of the fabric. ?

Silk reeling machine has its own special loom, which is a simple flat wood machine. When weaving, the warp is first loaded on the loom, and the warp is lined with a drawing or manuscript. Weavers use brushes to draw colorful patterns on the warp surface, and then use boat shuttles to weave blocks with various silk threads about 10 cm long.

Silk can change color freely, so it is especially suitable for making calligraphy and painting works. Weavers who weave colored weft yarns must have certain artistic attainments. The structure of silk reeling fabric follows the principles of "fine warp and coarse weft", "white warp and colored weft" and "straight warp and curved weft". That is, the natural color warp is thin, the colored weft is thick, and the warp is picked up by the weft, and only the colored weft is displayed without exposing the warp. Because the colored weft completely covers the upper part of the fabric, the shrinkage of the weft after weaving will not affect the effect of the picture pattern.

In fact, reeling is not really carved with a knife. It is a plain fabric with raw silk as warp and colored cooked silk as weft. Weft yarns are woven by warping and weft returning: according to the pre-drawn pattern, weft yarns of various colors are interwoven with warp yarns only where the pattern is needed, and are dug and woven by a plurality of small shuttles according to the pattern color, so that some broken marks appear between the pattern and plain weave, and between the colors on the fabric, which is similar to the image of knife carving. The ancients described reeling as "inheriting heaven as a statue". In the old silk engraving records, "warp and weft break" means this. The pattern of the finished product is the same on both sides.

After the Song Dynasty, silk reeling technology continued to develop. By the time the silk reeling industrial center moved to Suzhou in the Qing Dynasty, as many as 6,000 kinds of colored weft yarns were used. The famous calligraphy and painting copied by silk reeling method were exquisite in craftsmanship and vivid in image. Silk products are still produced and collected as advanced handicrafts.