Narrator: Shi Biao, a master of Chinese arts and crafts and a provincial inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage Helan Yan carving technique
Helan Yan is a characteristic traditional handicraft. The raw material is Helan stone. Helan Yan, carved from Helan stone, has the characteristics of rapid ink issuance, non-depressed knotting and durability. The helan yan with the lid is like a sealer, known as "storing ink for three days".
Learning to carve Helan Yan and carrying stones is the "first lesson".
Shi Biao's work "Pond Fun"
In 1988, I graduated from secondary school and was assigned to the jade carving factory, where I inherited Yan Ziyang. From the Helan Pass to the pit under beacon peak, there was only a sheep intestine trail for only one person to pass, and I carried seventy or eighty pounds of stone on my back, and used my hands and feet together, and it took 8 hours to come and go. But every time you pick up the best material, you always have a whistle and a song.
Yan is formed in the heart, and the technique is carved in its meaning. I think day and night about how to make these stones in the storeroom "come alive". Seeing that I was worried about the stone all day long, my friends laughed at me as an "iron stone" heart.
Helan stone has a delicate texture and is as soft as a baby's skin. Stone materials generally have two colors, one dark purple, one bean green, staggered nesting. Sometimes there are rare shapes such as jade belts, cloud patterns, eyebrows, and stone eyes. When carving, the emphasis is on pretty colors, or clever carving. You see, this naturally formed green line can be carved into the stalk of a lotus flower, and the stone eye next to it is the eye of a frog. Just a piece of long stone, I carved into a red theme "Liupan Mountain Peak", you see, Chairman Mao stands on the top of the mountain, the Great Wall is winding, the geese fly south, and the stone and poetry are natural. Color, conception, and clever hands make a good achievement.
Shi Biao at work Li Zhenwen photo
After more than 300 years of inheritance, Helan Yan has gradually formed eight processes: phase stone, repair blank, clear bottom, chisel, fine carving, polishing, inscription and wax covering. Nowadays, people's writing style has changed, the practicality of Yan is weaker, and the aesthetic requirements are higher. In recent years, Helan Yan has absorbed the expression techniques of Duan Yan, She Yan, bamboo carving, ivory carving, etc., and innovated through carving methods such as hollowing, relief carving, and thin art, and has completed works of art that have come out of life.
In order to inherit this intangible cultural heritage skill, some vocational colleges have successively opened Helan Yan production courses, ancient wood new branches, art is passed on, is not happy?
(Interviewed and sorted out by Wang Jianhong, a reporter of this newspaper)
Source: Guangming Daily (April 2, 2022, 01 edition)
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Yongqun
Editor: Sun Xiaoting