As an ancient folk handicraft of the Chinese nation, rolling felt has a long history of more than 200 years in Yangmeishan Village, Daqiao Township, Huize County, Qujing City, located in the main peak of Wumeng Mountain on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and was identified as the directory of ethnic and folk traditional culture protection in Qujing City in October 2005, and declared the list of ethnic and folk traditional culture protection in Yunnan Province in October 2021.
It has a long history
The "Continuation of Yunnan Tongzhi Long Edition" records: "Lijiang, Zhaotong's sheepskin, and Huize's felt have long been well-known in various provinces. There are also relevant records in the "Fangwu" of the Qianlong "Chronicle of Dongchuan Province" of the Qing Dynasty: "Felt clothing: In the Ming Dongchuan Gong City, there are four hundred collars of felt clothes, which are originally famous native products, delicate, soft, thick and thin, and can be used as cold clothes." ”
"Huize County Chronicle" records: "200 years ago, the ancestors of the Zhao family moved from Nanjing to Yangmei Mountain in Daqiao Township, Huize County, due to the cold and dry winter, wet summer, The ancestors of the Zhao family used local wool to roll out felts, felt coats, felt hats, felt shirts and other wool products to prevent cold and moisture. Over the years, Zhao's rolling felt process has been widely promoted. "Zhao's feltmakers were born in Jiangning County, Yingtianfu, Jiangnan, from Zhao Yonggong as the prefect of Laidian, to the tenth ancestor Zhao Fangyuan relocated to Yangmeishan Village in Huize County to settle down, in order to resist the local cold and humid climate, created the Zhao family's felt rolling foundation, began to roll out felt, felt coats, felt hats, felt shirts and other wool products to keep warm and damp. Over time, the rolling felt technique has been continuously improved, and wool felt is not only liked by the Zhao family, but also by people outside the village, which has had a wide impact on the surrounding area. Therefore, the Zhao clan people, who tasted the sweetness, began to use rolling felt as a means of making a living, gradually abandoning agriculture and turning to production, one family and one factory, and using the strength of the whole clan to throw themselves into the felt rolling cause. Some have set up small workshops at home, taking their homes as factories and working at home; some carrying felt rolling tools, going out to roll felts, making the four seas their homes, and "breaking into the rivers and lakes"; some carrying the felts rolled by the villagers, going from village to village, shouting and selling, and starting to do business. After years of hard work, Zhao's felt industry has been booming, passing on the skill of rolling felt from generation to generation. Today, in yangmeishan village of Huize Bridge, there are still more than 10 felt-rolling workshops such as Zhao Shuyi, Zhao Yongshu and Rao Xianhui.
Exquisite craftsmanship
Huize rolling felt needs to be made by "selecting wool, bouncing wool, laying hair, kneading felt, painting felt, boiling felt, dyeing felt, washing felt, drying felt" and other processes, each link only uses simple tools, most of which are completed by hand.
First use a large slingshot to put the wool down, then spread the wool evenly on the bamboo curtain, and then use the small slingshot to sling more evenly and delicately flatten the wool, and spray hot water on the wool continuously. The bamboo curtain was then rolled up and tied tightly with a thin rope, and two people rubbed it back and forth on the ground with their feet, so that the wool was tightly glued together. On the way, the curtain is untied and rolled along the edge of the felt piece from the outside to the inside, and the bamboo curtain is wrapped tightly again and continues to pedal back and forth. Move the formed felt pieces to the sloped plank, fix it with a movable rope, rub it back and forth with your feet as the rope tightens, sprinkle hot water while rubbing, squeeze the sewage in the wool felt clean, and the wool felt becomes thicker and stronger as the kneading time is extended. Untie the rope to rub the felt edges neatly, the felt pieces are corrected and fixed, and then burn off the exposed wool with a torch to make the felt smooth and flat, and finally rinse the formed wool felt with clean water and dry it, and then you can draw the felt. When painting felt, "ink" made of flour and colored dyes and brushes made of copper wire of wooden poles are painted on white felt, and various exquisite patterns are painted on white felt, and the colors are mainly white, yellow and green. The flour is damp when the felt is first painted, and after the flour paint on the white felt is completely dried, the felt is folded into a tofu block, face outward, and a large open cauldron is boiled in a pot of water, and the wool felt is placed in boiling water. Add the "paste" used for dyeing to the pot with water and start cooking the felt and dyeing. Boiling felt is also a technical work, the water temperature is too high wool felt will be spotted, the water temperature is too low wool felt painted pattern will pollute the "walking marks". It is necessary to grasp the heat and turn it at the right time, so that the color penetrates the felt evenly while the flour is boiled thoroughly, with strong adhesion. After cooking, the felt is removed from the large iron pot, scraped with a shovel, dried, and a piece of felt product is rolled out.
In the process of rolling felt, the shape and pleats are the most reflective of the level of felt craftsmanship. For example, in order to make the product more beautiful, felters usually put the felt piece on a steel bar after making the felt piece, rub it with their hands while heating the water, and gently tap it with a sickle from time to time until there are edges and corners and folds of stripes. Moreover, the felt is a one-time molding, which requires the feltmists to start from the wool to design, continue to shape when making, and make a waist hoop in the middle, which is very time-consuming and laborious. When making a felt hat, first make a double-layer round felt piece, use a wooden helmet, rub the shape with your hands while adding boiling water, make a hat shape and then cut it with a broken seam and cut it into two felt hats, and then rub it along the edge to make it smooth and flat.
Versatile
After more than 200 years of inheritance and development, the skills have been improved, and the products have also been developed from the original simple moisture-proof felt shirts, felt coats, felt hats, felt socks and other daily necessities to meet the needs of modern society, such as wall hangings, floor felts, table felts, car cushions, sofa cushions, etc., with complete varieties and everything available. The pattern is also rich and diverse, the creation theme is mostly around the flowers, birds, insects and fish, or depicting "dragon flying phoenix dance", or writing "Fulu Shouxi", which can be designed according to personal preferences, in recent years, with people's love for the black-necked crane, the "highland spirit", the craftsmen will also use the beautiful posture of the black-necked crane as a new pattern of rolling felt. The color color gradually developed from a single white felt to a red felt and a flower felt. The exaggerated techniques, vivid patterns, soaked in rich national customs and the concept of harmonious development of man and nature, represent the local people's pursuit and yearning for a better life.
Passing on the skills
As an intangible cultural heritage, Huize felt rolling has not only important historical and artistic value in the local area, but also economic value, scientific value and folk value that drives the local economic development.
Huize's felt rolling skills lasted for more than 200 years, and after eight generations of Zhao's inheritance, a history of rolling felt is a history of the Zhao family's prosperity and unremitting struggle for self-improvement.
Zhao felt craftsmen do not have advanced painting theory and artistic accomplishment, but they can draw exquisite patterns according to what they see, learn and think in one fell swoop, which can be viewed, treasured, and used as room decoration, which has high artistic value. In addition, There are a complete range of felt rolling in Huize, including carpets, cushions, table mats, car cushions, sofa cushions, felt shirts, felt coats, felt hats, felt socks, etc., and all kinds of shapes are beautiful.
In the past two years, with the continuous improvement of the popularity and influence of rolling felt, many young people have been attracted to return to their hometowns to engage in the felt industry. Up to now, there are still more than 10 rolling felt workshops in Yangmeishan Village, Daqiao Township, Huize County, with about 30 employees and an annual output value of more than 1 million yuan. "All year round in the production, products are often in short supply, because the production process is complex, but also pure manual operation, each link has strict requirements, so a year can not do much, to buy our rolling felt are by appointment." Zhao Shuyi, the inheritor of the felt rolling skill, told reporters.
Dai Yuchun, Zhu Rui, Wang Liangzhong