Find Another Essay On Chinese Folk Art Paper Cutting

Paper cutting is one of the most popular folk arts in China, with a history that can be traced back to the sixth century A.D. or even earlier, according to archaeology. In the past, paper was often used to make statues and figures of different shapes and forms, to be buried with the dead or burned at funerals, and also used as decorations for offerings to ancestors and gods. Nowadays, paper-cutting is more often used for decoration, but also for gifts for embellishment, and even paper-cutting itself can be used as a gift to others.

Paper cutting is not done by machine but by hand, and there are two common methods: scissors cutting and knife cutting. As the name suggests, scissor cutting is done with the help of scissors, after cutting and then several (usually no more than 8 sheets of paper cutouts are pasted together, and then finally sharp scissors are used to process the pattern. Knife cutting, on the other hand, involves folding the paper into several stacks, placing them on a loose mixture of ash and animal fat, and then slowly carving them with a knife. The paper cutter usually holds the knife vertically and works the paper into the desired pattern according to a certain model. One advantage of knife cutting over scissors is that multiple paper-cutting patterns can be processed at once.

Paper-cutting, as a folk art, is widely practiced throughout China, and is most famous in Weixian County. The paper-cutting in Weixian County has a long history. The characteristics of paper-cutting in Weixian County are mainly focused on "three parts knife work and seven parts dyeing". Its process is unique, the first step is "smoke sample", that is, the original paper sample or design sketches, post on a piece of white paper, and then light candles to smoke, so that it leaves a clear "black sample" on the white paper. Now this process people have adopted the method of sunshine. The second step is "boring", is to carve the window with the rice paper cut into the size of the picture to be carved, because the number of paper-cutting layer is generally thirty to fifty appropriate, so it is necessary to use water to wet, compacted by hand, so that the formation of a whole, in order to wait for the carving. The third step is carving. The advantage of changing from paper-cutting scissors to carving knives in Weixian is not only that the number of production is large, but more importantly, the carving knives can better utilize the artist's artistic ideas, and carve as they wish, with new patterns. In the hands of the artist, the knife is as flexible as a pen. There are single knife, triangular knife, round mouth knife. Carved mainly in the negative carving, both positive carving or a combination of yin and yang methods, making the work exquisite and clear, clear layers. The fourth step is coloring, which is called dyeing in the jargon of artists. Dyeing the colors used to be mixed with wine beforehand, because the raw material of paper-cutting is rice paper, with wine color can make the color infiltration and not penetrate, the color effect is excellent.