I’m trying a new craft called “Wrapping flower” (缠花), you essentially wrap a silk string around different cutout shapes to create flowers, animals, etc. They can be made into hair pins, brooches, other accessories:
China has a saying:
“难者不会，会者不难＂
"Difficult for those who don’t know how, easy for those who do”
Meaning anything is difficult if you don’t know how to do it, and anything is easy for those who do. These past few years I’ve been made acutely aware of how accurate this is. From learning Hanfu hairstyles, make up, to learning woodblock printing, making Guqin, playing Guqin, doing nail art, making polymer clay figurines, embroidery, calligraphy, stone seal carving, and now this, it’s always easy watching others do it and then when I try it myself the first 10 times are utter disasters. Usually I need at least 20 attempts before I get one result that I’m semi-ok with, sometimes even more.
I spent an entire afternoon today trying to wrap one leaf. The string kept coming loose, my fingers got sore, I’d run out of string and couldn’t connect another piece, it was chaos. And by the end my leaf has spots where the string missed (the white patches) 😩
I’m never going to believe anyone who tells me ‘this is easy!’, or those clickbait videos that are like, 'master this-and-this in 10 minutes!’ because I’ve come to realize it’s all nonsense. Behind every 'this is easy!’ is someone who spent hours, days, maybe even years learning and practicing 😭
Once the inside of the Guqin is carved out, and the outer surface has been shaved down, some Guqin makers will include a step using fire to singe the inside of the Qin.
This is called 火斫: 火/huo = fire 斫/zhuo = split/strike/hack wood (斫/zhuo is the term used specifically for making Guqin)
This step serves 3 purposes: 1) Singe off any small wooden slivers that are still attached to the inside of the Qin. Too many of these will affect the sound of the Qin as it interferes with the vibration of the sound.
2) Remove moisture to prevent the wood from cracking or changing shape later on.
3) Make the Qin look older (做旧).
There are 2 methods to doing this step: 1) Using a blow torch, and then sandpapering off the singed layer. 2) Using a flammable liquid.
Handmade Chinese lantern (photo by 姽婳陶服, 小希的习字日记, 设计师冬玥, 宋富贵儿, 陳糊涂)
The one made with translucent materials is Chinese Mingjiao Lantern (明角灯 is the general term, others may call them yangjiao羊角灯 lantern/mingwa明瓦灯 lantern) — Hongloumeng/The Dream of the Red Chamber’s Fancy Palace Lantern
A luxury upgrade of traditional lanterns, mentioned in Hongloumeng (《红楼梦》), where nobility used it for aesthetics + subtle lighting.
Mingjiao (明角) means thin, translucent shell panels (often oyster shells, mica, horn, or glass) carved with intricate patterns. Diffused light, less harsh than paper lanterns—perfect for elite interiors. Only wealthy families (like the Jias in the novel) could afford such craftsmanship. Hongloumeng subtly hints at decadence and fleeting wealth, like when Baoyu’s mansion lights these at banquets while their fortunes crumble.
My Guqin teacher usually buys pre-cut wood but a few days ago he took us to see how they cut everything.
Nowadays, most handmade Guqin are made using wood from old buildings that have been taken down or are being renovated. The wood needs to be fully dried to prevent shape changes (even with old wood it will still sometimes change shape but not to the degree of new wood), so these lumber pieces from old buildings that have been shade-dried (not set out under direct sunlight which can cause cracks) are perfect. China has a lot of older buildings that are hundreds of years old.
(Two pieces of wood from a temple that was being renovated)
My teacher and us along with 3 other Guqin makers loaded up a rental truck with the lumber and headed to the lumber workshop (video start).
Before sawing, all the pieces need to be checked over for any metal nails and removed. The lumber seller was supposed to have removed them, but we still found a lot so it took several hours with hammers and pliers to get it all done.
Then the lumber is loaded onto the sawing machine and secured. Each piece can be cut into about 2-4 pieces depending on its thickness. My teacher says you never know exactly what the wood is like inside until you actually cut it open, so buying lumber is a bit like a guessing game. Some you open it and there’s worm holes all over (not a big deal), or knots, some can be completely hollowed out inside, others don’t look great on the outside but when you open it it’s beautiful.
(Worm holes left, knots right)
Knots in the wood make it difficult to carve or shave, so we need to cut them out then fill the hole up using lacquer mixed with a special paste. It’s more time-consuming than if the wood is completely without them.
We left at 1pm and worked until 6pm before we got back to the Guqin studio. Now my teacher’s storage room has enough wood for 2-3 years 🤣
The Porcelain Palaces 瓷宫 in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Built by a 86-year-old grandmother, Yu Ermei, who spent 5 years and 20 million yuan (~2.7 million USD) to complete them at the age of 91 using her own 60,000 porcelain collection.
Jingdezhen is known as the “Porcelain Capital” because it has been producing Chinese ceramics (such as white and blue pottery) for at least 1,000 years, and for much of that period Jingdezhen porcelain was considered to have the finest quality in China.
The Porcelain Palace is built similarly to “Fujian Tulou” or “Hakka earthen dwelling” which I’ve also posted about before.
The Zhudeng珠灯 or Zhuduandeng珠簖灯 (Pearl Lantern) is a finely crafted art piece made by traditional artisans. The one preserved in the temple is said to date back to the Qing Dynasty during Emperor Kangxi’s reign (1662-1722), making it over 300 years old. It was restored in 1924 (the Jiazi year of the Republic of China era).
The lantern is a hexagonal structure, standing over 4 meters tall with a circumference of 12.5 meters, weighing more than 500 kilograms. It has three tiers, each with six main lanterns in different designs, decorated with lattice panels, beaded tassels (featuring Liu Hai gold coin pattern刘海金钱纹珠), ribbons, and more.
In total, it consists of over 400 pieces of handcrafted, multicolored glass beads (said to be imported from Southeast Asia) strung together. At the center is a large round Zhuduan珠簖, about 2 meters in diameter, densely woven like fabric and embroidered with six panels of seasonal flowers.
photo by 旧na样，白白桃酥达
Video of restored Chinese Pearl Lantern taken on-site (though it’s much smaller than the one depicted in the paintings), and Pearl Lanterns handmade by Hanfu enthusiasts. They said the process was incredibly tedious and they’re never making another in this lifetime.
Thanks to @asideoftrashplease ’s ask (here) I asked my teacher who we get our silk strings from, and if it would be possible to visit their workshop to see the process first-hand. My teacher reached out to our silk-string maker, Mr. Fang Ronglin (方荣林) in Suzhou, which is about a 1.5 hr bullet train ride away, and we arranged a visit yesterday :D
Mr. Fang is currently in his 80s, but still working daily. The place he works at also has people making steel strings , and Erhu strings, but only he and his student, Liao Xia (廖霞) make the Guqin silk strings.
He told us that he started learning to make Guqin silk strings at 16 with his father, and this has been a craft passed down in his family for four generations. In the 1960s, steel strings were invented which greatly impacted the demand for silk strings. Steel strings have less flexibility than silk strings, but the sound is louder and clearer, making it easier for beginners to use.
Here’s a short interview clip I found of Mr. Fang when they applied for Guqin silk string making to be added to the Gusu Region Intangible Cultural Heritage List (in recent years, China has pushed to preserve many of the traditional crafts under Intangible Cultural Heritage/非物质文化遗产 (非遗)):
When they receive the silk thread from the silk companies, the thread is about a hair’s thickness (this is about 8 raw silk threads combined). They then need to combine these threads to various thicknesses needed for Guqin strings. The thickest string on the Guqin (string #1) requires about 400 combined silk threads, which means it needs about 3200 raw silk threads (8 raw threads x 400 combined threads).
You can see in this pic below, each string is made up of many small, thin silk threads. These ones are after they’ve been combined and are hung to dry.
When Mr. Fang was younger, this was all done by hand, but with more and more people learning traditional instruments now they’ve invented a machine to speed up the process. Mr. Fang told us that if they had to combine all the threads by hand, a person can only complete about 1-2 strings/day. It would be very labour-intensive and the end result very expensive.
Here are some videos of Mr. Fang and his student, Liao Xia, demonstrating how to combine the threads. You can see how flexible the silk is, after the machine spins and combines the strings, the tension tightens causing the strings to shorten. Mr. Fang then stretches the strings back:
As he was demonstrating, I kept thinking this would be incredibly difficult to do through human strength alone. That machine was spinning so fast, to depend on human arm strength to get the same tension would require so much practice.
The more I learn about these traditional crafts the more I’m in awe at people of the past who couldn’t use machines and still managed to invent so many amazing things.
Mr. Fang also took us to see how they make steel strings. The workers were wrapping the steel in nylon. They made it look so simple, it really all comes down to practice, practice, practice. Hours, days, months, years, there are no shortcuts to these sorts of skills. Even with the help of machines, it still requires practice.
Guangzhou ivory carving 广州象牙雕刻 from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Qing Dynasty.
Guangdong ivory carving started in the Han Dynasty when China still had its own species of elephant (before 100 BC). Ivory products are also found in the tombs of the local Nanyue Kingdom.
Ivory carving became prosperous in the Ming and Qing dynasties that Cantonese craftsmen were recruited to Beijing to serve the imperial family. Developing large models of houses and other large and showy pieces.
This art is still somewhat popular in the region today, but the ivory has been replaced by contemporary artists with other materials such as animals bones, due to ivory trade becoming illegal.
My Guqin teacher gave us some Paulownia wood to make whatever we want, I was thinking to make 4 baby Guqin, about 58cm long (pic 3, middle one for reference) and do a giveaway for my followers. It wouldn’t be playable, just for decoration.
The entire process would take a few months, would that be something ppl are interested in getting as a giveaway? Or would you prefer some cute stationery, mugs, stickers, jewelry, that sort of thing?
Step 2: After creating the stencil, we trace it onto the selected piece of wood.
Guqin is mostly made using 3 types of wood: 1) Paulownia 泡桐 2) Chinese fir 杉木 3) Chinese parasol 梧桐/青桐
Paulownia is the most inexpensive and easiest to work with. The material is quite soft and easy to carve. It also doesn’t require as much time to dry and grows quickly. About half of the old Guqin that have been found today (dating as far back as the Tang Dynasty) are made from Paulownia. The only downside to it is that the sound it produces tends to be a bit hollow as the wood itself isn’t very dense.
Chinese fir is the most common today. It’s a bit more expensive but produces a nice sound. The one I’m making my Guqin out of (the one in this video) is Chinese fir.
Chinese parasol is the hardest to work with. Trying to dig that thing is like trying to chew through rocks. It’s also the most expensive. It can produce a lovely sound but depends on the piece you get. Because a tree’s density will vary from year to year depending on its environment (rainfall, temperature, sunlight, nutrients, etc) only looking at the wood type isn’t enough to determine the sound of the end product.
Most of the wood used today for Guqin comes from old houses that have been taken down. The wood is perfect for Guqin as it has been allowed to air-dry naturally over hundreds of years (the wood can’t be baked dry or set out under intense sunlight as this will cause it to crack. It needs to be in the shade, which means wooden beams of old houses is perfect).
As mentioned in a previous post, some wood also comes from coffins .__.
Step 3: Cutting off the excess to get the base shape of the Guqin.
Step 4: Carving out the inside. The head and foot of the Guqin is the deepest part, with 2 bumps near the front and back called “nayin” 纳音 to help with the vibration of the sound.
In these photos you can see the difference of the nayin in a factory-made Guqin and a hand-made Guqin:
The factory-made Guqin’s nayin is much larger and very sudden (pic 1) compared to the hand-made one that has a gradual bump (pic 2)。
Step 5: We then shave down the top of the Guqin so that it’s a nice curve.
Usually all of these steps can be done within 1-2 days, but I’m slow and have no arm muscle, so it took me a while ^^;; It honestly is quite a workout between the carving and shaving.
chinese youzhisan油纸伞(oil paper umbrella) by 许家油纸伞(Handmade youzhisan are super sturdy and durable. Just take them out on rainy days, and the more you use them, the better they get. They even hold up better in heavy rain and strong winds compared to modern umbrellas. That’s because they’re made with this full-thread weaving yarn technique, 满线穿纱man xian chuan sha.)
TianTsui or DianCui 点翠“dotting with kingfishers” is a style of Chinese art featuring kingfisher feathers.
For 2,000 years, the Chinese have been using the iridescent blue feathers of kingfisher birds as an inlay for fine art objects and adornment, from hairpins, headdresses, and fans to panels and screens. While Western art collectors have focused on other areas of Chinese art including porcelain, lacquer ware, sculpture, cloisonné, silk and paintings, kingfisher art is relatively unknown outside of China.
With kingfisher birds becoming a protected species, contemporary artisans have turned to innovative substitutes instead of kingfisher feathers, such as blue-dyed silk and synthetic feathers.
Here’s a miniature model of a Chinese garden, colored with blue kingfisher feathers. Qing dynasty, 19th century.
Gemstone carving is one of China’s most ancient and important art forms. It is a craft steeped in history and tradition, continually reflecting the philosophy and culture of the Chinese people.
By traditional Chinese definition, hardstones are divided into two categories: jade, which is the mineral nephrite, and all other precious and semi-precious stones. Jade is considered the most esteemed gem of all and associated with many desirable qualities in humans.
GongDeng 宫灯 palace lanterns, also known as court lanterns, are a distinctive type of traditional Chinese lantern and a hallmark of Chinese craftsmanship.
As the name suggests, palace lanterns were initially used in the imperial palace. They are typically made with a delicate wooden frame, adorned with silk gauze or glass, and painted with various decorative patterns. These lanterns are celebrated for their elegance and regal courtly style. Used primarily within the court.
The lanterns in this post are from the Qing Dynasty and are made out of Zitan (red sandalwood)
