"Tiger head tiger brain" red velvet flower, sending good wishes

In the velvet factory, Zhao Shuxian is carrying out the "sharpening" process. Nan Bao Rong media reporter Wei Lingyun photographed

"This 'Tiger Head Tiger Brain' velvet flower is a limited edition of the Year of the Tiger. Don't look at a small tiger, the technical process is not simple, from the design, proofing to the details of the accessories, have been repeatedly modified by the team, the tiger's facial expression is the most difficult to grasp, a lack of attention, the look has changed. Recently, Zhao Shuxian, the representative inheritor of The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Nanjing Velvet Flower in Jiangsu Province, made a special series of velvet flower headdresses and brooches for the Year of the Tiger, and the people who came to visit the Velvet Flower Studio were even more endless.

Nanjing Folk Customs Museum, the ancient quaint box, the walls are hung with a variety of exquisite velvet flower works. Fu Meow series, Wufu Linmen, New Year's good gifts and other special velvet flowers of the Year of the Tiger are displayed in the window one by one, and the velvet flowers under the light are glowing with a unique luster. A table lamp, a table case, the small space of less than 20 square meters in front of you is Zhao Shuxian's handicraft workshop. Red, pink, yellow, green and other colors of velvet, under his pliers, was put on a steel wire, bent into persimmons, lucky grass, Fluke star and other shapes of velvet products, bright colors, vivid.

"Making velvet flowers is like building a house, there is a process that cannot be done well, and every process must have basic skills." According to Zhao Shuxian, the main material for making velvet flowers is silk, and the whole production process is divided into "hook strips", "sharpening", "passing flowers" and other steps. First of all, the cooked fleece after the silk is cooked, dyed into different colors, and the material for making the petals and buds of the velvet flower is made. The brass wire is then twisted into a spiral with brass wire that is burned until annealed and softened to become a "velvet strip", that is, the most basic component of the velvet flower. Then, the fleece strip is trimmed and processed with scissors, and it becomes a variety of shapes, that is, "sharpening". Finally, it is saved into various patterns, and a velvet flower is initially completed. Even the same velvet flower requires several different sizes of velvet strips, so the simplest velvet flower takes at least two days to complete.

Zhao Shuxian does not need drawings to make velvet flowers, the design pattern, the color of the combination in the heart to form, in a day's time, the light and shadow outside the window flow, a few strands of silk clustered gradually transformed into a hairpin flower. In the production of velvet flowers, there are often some original designs to make the small velvet flowers exude a unique charm. "Some traditional velvet style is a bit out of touch with modern fashion, and I will make small decorations, ornaments, etc. like this, which is also very popular with everyone." We will also pay attention to the integration of some fashion elements into the velvet production process. Zhao Shuxian said. For example, the ancient Spring Festival headdress, 15 design products have maintained the style of ancient times, the original taste; the specific Model of the Year of the Tiger Wufu and Fu Meow, integrated with cartoon elements, bright colors, playful and cute, very popular with children; persimmon Ruyi and other New Year goods gift series, or joyful and peaceful, or elegant and novel.

"Velvet flowers have always had the meaning of auspiciousness and blessing. The Spring Festival is decorated with velvet flowers as a way to pray for blessings. Since the Launch of new products on the WeChat Mall and Taobao official website, our orders have been one after another, and the big guys are busy in front of the workshop every day. This 'little tiger' was the most popular, and fifty or sixty were ordered in a few days. Between words, the scissors in Zhao Shuxian's hand "clicked" briskly a few times, and the fine fluff flew with it.

The year before, 65-year-old Zhao Shuxian founded an intangible cultural heritage company and recruited a group of post-90s apprentices. The arrival of young people has also brought a new atmosphere to velvet flower factory, not only innovating and launching many products, but also moving works online. The good side is that customers are not worried, and the bad side is that the product is in short supply. Especially this New Year, more and more young people place orders online, and everyone's love for velvet flowers makes Zhao Shuxian feel a different folk heat.

Seeing that the traditional handicraft velvet flower is loved by more and more people, Zhao Shuxian is very happy in his heart, and he is more eager to pass on this craft. "Making velvet flowers is a profession for me, and it is a lifelong career." Zhao Shuxian said that he hopes that more young people will take handicrafts as a profession, so that handicraft velvet flowers can be branded and industrialized, and truly achieve "production and maintenance", and better inherit and develop intangible cultural heritage skills.

Correspondent Jianxuan

Source: Nanjing Daily