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Gold jewelry culture, prosperous Kang Yongqian three generations of prosperity
Gold, precious, rare and stable in value, has been a symbol of beauty, wealth and status since ancient times. Timeless and charming.
During the Qing Dynasty, gold jewelry culture ushered in unprecedented development.
Gold reticulate dot cui four dragon play bead bracelet, clear
Gold-inlaid turquoise floral pattern box, clear
The three generations of Kang Yongqian have bred advanced handicrafts, and on the basis of inheriting the traditional techniques of the Ming Dynasty, the craftsmen have created new "play methods", and there have been a variety of processes such as actual work, inlay, hammer work, burning blue, dot cui, pressing, drawing silk, and wrapping gold.
The Palace Office
In the Qing Dynasty, this complex process of ancient gold was only mastered by the craftsmen of the court office, so this ancient gold casting process has always been a privilege that only the high-ranking officials and nobles can have.
But in a contemporary society where efficiency comes first, the time-consuming and laborious craftsmanship of craftsmen is becoming increasingly small. Ancient gold, filigree inlay, filigree, etc. are far away from our daily life.
Forbidden City Treasure Hall
For most people, if you want to taste the style of these "golden treasures", you can only run to the treasure hall of the Forbidden City and look at the liveliness through the glass.
The ancient gold bracelet is densely packed with gold, whether from the visual sense or from the wearing, it can show its heavy weight, giving people a heavy and atmospheric feeling.
The color is warm, flashy but not dazzling, expensive but not obvious, worn on the body, antique, and the intellectual temperament of oriental beauties is very consistent.
Gufagin | What is filigree inlay?
Filigree inlay is one of the eight best in Yanjing, also known as "fine gold craftsmanship".
Ming Wanli Emperor Golden Silk Wing Good Crown
The precise mesh and exquisite pattern are made by filigree process
Filigree inlay is a long-standing traditional handicraft, mainly used in the production of royal jewelry, which is a combination of "filigree" and "inlay" two production techniques. The finished product of filigree inlay is not only jewelry, but also a work of art.
Filigree uses gold, silver and copper as raw materials, and adopts traditional techniques such as pinching, filling, saving, welding, weaving, and stacking. Inlaid with techniques such as frustration, shovel, pounding, stuffing, beating, collapsing, squeezing, and setting, the metal sheet is made into a tray and claw-shaped groove, and then set with pearls and gemstones, with rare materials, complicated workmanship, and is highly respected by the court.
In 2008, filigree inlay was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.
First, gold wire is woven into a mesh bottom of uniform density and welded to the bottom of the bracelet. After curling the pattern bit by bit with forceps, weld it to the bottom of the net.
It should be noted that when welding, for the control of fire and speed, success or failure is often in 0.1 seconds, if there is a meltdown, it will cause the collapse of the entire filigree, and all the previous efforts will be in vain. Finally, on the finished filigree work, it is inlaid with pearls and gemstones, making the whole bracelet look elegant and luxurious, solemn and magnificent.
Gufagin | The steps of the filigree inlay process
01Preparation: Drawing
First of all, you need to use very thin gold or silver wire, how to get it?
There are two ways, one is to heat the gold and silver at high temperatures to make it soft, and then draw the wire.
After the technology matures, a special drawing board appears, dozens of holes of different diameters will be arranged on the board surface, and then the square strip of gold or silver strip is drawn through the eyelet, with a minimum diameter of up to 2mm, thinner than the hair.
This step is very challenging, the force is too big and easy to break, too small to pull out the silk, and the surface is easy to rough, need to repeat several times.
Tire making
Tire making is to make a base, so that the filigree structure has a support, in ancient times, it was generally used to make a carcass with white mustard, toner and water, in accordance with a certain proportion of the mixture into a paste, made of carcass.
After covering the fine gold, the filigree ornament is added between the ornament and the ornament, and after the fire, the toner and the white mustard will burn out, and finally the gold filament ornament can be connected into one, and it is hollowed out.
02 Fine Gold Program: Filigree
It is made of gold wire to make a rough shape, which is a very test of basic skills.
Filigree is actually to depict the general outline of the ornament or pattern, first outline the whole, and then slowly optimize the rest, which is a step that directly affects whether the ornament is moving, and the craftsmen slowly outline and piece together through tweezers or pliers.
Weaving: Vivid ornamentation
For some three-dimensional and vivid ornaments and patterns, it is often necessary to use the weaving process, in fact, it is the same as straw weaving and bamboo weaving, except that the gold wire is thinner and softer, and the operation is more difficult.
Filler: Fill a single filament inside a pinched contour
The process requirements of wire filling are relatively less complicated, but it is very cumbersome and monotonous, if it is some relatively large jewelry, the wire filling often needs to be used for the longest time, because it is necessary to slowly fill a net surface with a root of silk, which requires full patience.
Silk: A large area of patchwork
The graphics and ornaments composed of filigree and weaving need to be spliced and filled in a coordinated manner, and the filling of the silk is just like the puzzle, and when it comes to the step of saving the silk, the appearance of the jewelry is basically formed.
Welding: Stitching of different ornamental parts
The layers of ornamentation for a complex piece of jewelry are very strong, and different ornaments and contents need to be made individually and then welded into a whole.
Inlay: Compound decoration
The requirements of the ancients for gold jewelry are often relatively high, on top of the gold jewelry, will add the need for gemstones or rare materials, this time you need to do the last step, that is, the setting, you need to do a good job before the shallow groove, and then through the process of setting, frustration, hammering, pinching, welding and other processes fixed.
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