The picture shows a locomotive made of waste by Mai Zhenhua. Photo by Lin Xin
Liuzhou, China News Network, January 14 Title: Guangxi Septuagenarians Turn Waste into Treasure Tao "Waste Products" Create Handicrafts Worth Tens of Thousands of Yuan
Author Lin Xin He Fangyun
In a 50-square-meter rental house in Xianglan Garden, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province, it is filled with many exquisite handicrafts. Who would have thought that these crafts would have been waste products from the waste market, processed and designed by Mai Zhenhua, and turned into works of art worth tens of thousands of yuan.
The 72-year-old, who has worked as a wrought iron decorator for more than seven years, retired with the idea of turning waste into handicrafts. A few days ago, the reporter came to Mai Zhenhua's studio and saw that the desktop of his studio displayed various "old objects" such as pendulum clocks, steam locomotives, and movie projectors made of waste.
The picture shows Mai Zhenhua's train clock made of waste. Photo by Lin Xin
Mai Zhenhua recalled, "When I was a child, my family lived by the railway, and whenever I heard the whining of the train, I immediately ran to see the train, and I was very happy. With the loss of time, the "old objects" gradually disappeared, and Mai Zhenhua thought of using handicrafts to retain these memories.
As a result, Mai Zhenhua, who had a foundation in craft production, began to run all over the streets and alleys to "look for" waste products. Nuts, wires, screws, and car scrap parts are all turned into his raw materials, and these waste products are repeatedly cut, welded and polished into pieces of crafts.
The picture shows Mai Zhenhua's film projector made from scrap. Photo by Lin Xin
In Mak's work, he is most proud of an old-fashioned model steam locomotive. "The train is made of more than 300 scrap parts such as waste plastic drainage pipes and screws, and the whole train weighs about 30 kilograms." Mak Zhenhua introduced.
This locomotive is Mai Zhenhua's first wrought iron work and the most difficult one. "It took more than two years just to dig up parts and conceive ideas, and then it took nearly half a year to make them." Mak said.
The picture shows the waste products that Mai Zhenhua "tao" came from. Photo by Lin Xin
The principle of train power is often a problem for Mai Zhenhua's "headache". "The locomotive was done three times in total, and when it was done, it was not satisfied, and it was thrown away and started again." Today, the locomotive can be operated by manual remote control to mimic the train's movement on the tracks and can also emit a loud whistle.
When he saw the locomotive model move, Mai Zhenhua felt a sense of accomplishment. A businessman heard the news that he used "waste" to make an old-fashioned locomotive, and specially came from Guilin to spend 20,000 yuan to buy it for his father's birthday.
Obsessed with wrought iron, Mai Zhenhua often made wrought iron to the point of oblivion. "Sometimes I've been lying down to sleep, and suddenly the inspiration comes, and I get up again and continue to do the dawn." Mak said.
Liuzhou, where Mai Zhenhua is located, is an industrial city with a large amount of industrial waste in the waste market or recycling station. Mak Zhenhua basically goes to the waste recycling station every week to "look for goods", sometimes because of a screw or nut running all over the waste market. Mai Zhenhua said that in the past 10 years, it has cost tens of thousands of yuan just to "dig" for waste objects in the waste station.
Today, Mai Zhenhua has more than 50 works of art made from waste products, large and small. Most of these works are collected or displayed in museums. "By creating it yourself, turning a scrap item into a beautiful work of art, the sense of accomplishment is born." Mak said. He hopes that more people like and appreciate these crafts made from "waste products". (End)