Up to now, Yangluo in China has been imitating Tang Sancai for more than a hundred years.
Therefore, they have a complete industrial chain. If you want to make Tang Sancai, you will definitely not go wrong buying raw materials from them.
The reason why Chen Wenzhe still needs to buy some necessary tools now is just because of the production process.
Therefore, he also needs the pottery cart used in ancient times to draw, sharpen, and trim the pottery, as well as some carving tools, molds, etc.
Because the production of Tang Sancai generally adopts the method of first carving, then turning the mold, then pressing the blank, and finally bonding and assembly.
Therefore, some tools are essential.
Of course, when using tools, not all tools can be used.
When modern people imitate ancient ceramics, in order to save costs or save time and effort, all the processes that can be done with modern tools are replaced by machines.
The antique porcelain produced in this way will not have the charm of ancient times, and there will even be some obvious traces of modern machines.
But the ancient Tang Sancai manufacturers were different. In many cases, they couldn't use machines at all, so many specific traces were left on their works.
For example, because both wheeling and kneading methods were used during production, these craftsmanship traces are left on both figurines and utensils.
Figures and animals are mostly molded in sections, pressed by hand and glued together with clay.
The traces left by these processes are very obvious. If you carefully observe the treads inside the body of ancient three-color pottery, many of them have the fingerprints of Tang Dynasty craftsmen.
For example, oblate three-color utensils, such as flat pots, etc., basically have butt and knife marks on the sides.
Another example is that bowls, jars, bottles, water bottles, plates, bowls, etc. are made using the wheel-making method, and the fine string patterns left during the production process are clearly visible.
The imitations are different. Some use the grouting process, and the kneading and wheeling of the object carcass cannot be seen, as well as the mold-closing and mud-gluing process.
This production method is completely different from the real thing, and the finished product feels lighter.
Of course, there are many things that need to be paid attention to here.
For example, some round utensils are placed on a turntable after grouting or molding. Using the rotation of the turntable, tools are used to mark out the wheel marks.
But the string pattern looks unnatural.
Some are made using molding techniques similar to those in the Tang Dynasty, but when combined, whether they are figures, animals or utensils, they appear clumsy, with uncoordinated proportions and stiff lines.
Others are too elaborate and superfluous, making people unable to feel the charm of the three colors of the Tang Dynasty.
Normally, glaze is not applied to the skin of Tang Sancai figurines that is not covered by clothing.
For example, the face, neck, and hands of characters are generally painted.
Hair, eyebrows, eyes, beards, scarves, hats, etc. are all black, and lips and cheeks are all red.
The facial features and beards of the characters are described in detail.
After thousands of years of use, the colors of these paintings have become dull and thin, and have penetrated into the carcass.
The colors of the imitation paintings are bright and clear, and they look floating. The lines drawn are not clean and neat, the expressions of the characters appear dull, and the brushwork used to depict them is often not accurate, and there is a certain difference between them and the genuine products.
Therefore, no matter what Tang Sancai you do, you need to study and understand these details.
For example, to make horses, you must understand the horses of the Tang Dynasty.
The three-color horses of the Tang Dynasty were all tall, gorgeously decorated, and had short and combed tails. You could tell at a glance that they were high-quality war horses.
During the Tang Dynasty, all the countries in the Western Regions, including Tufan and Turks, paid tribute or presented high-quality foreign horses to the Tang Dynasty.
In 733 AD, a Uighur envoy drove back 10,000 prairie horses at one time.
At that time, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty still purchased 6,000 horses despite the financial constraints of the country.
Due to the influx of foreign horses, the breeds of horses in the Tang Dynasty were improved, and we can see the legacy of the Tang horses from the unearthed Yang Sancai horses.
He has a strong body shape and strong bones. His horse mane is trimmed into the "official style" that was popular at the time, and his horse accessories are also very beautiful.
The craftsmen vividly depict the horse's majestic momentum and its posture before galloping off. Such a three-color horse can also be said to be the embodiment of the national strength of the Tang Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, especially during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, people at that time regarded fatness as beauty.
Therefore, you also need to pay attention when creating character figurines.
Concubine Yang Guifei, who once made "Pink and Dai in the Sixth Palace Colorless", was a fat beauty.
The female figurines in Tang Sancai are a reflection of the humanistic spirit during the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The maids made during this period have faces like the full moon, plump and chubby, but without losing their inner delicacy.
The ancients used plump muscles and beautiful bones to describe the beauties of the Tang Dynasty, which is very appropriate.
Wearing a long yellow skirt was a popular fashion during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period.
If you want to make horse figurines, you should also make some female figurines riding horses, which is just a side thing.
Others include female figurines holding dogs and female figurines playing music. These are undoubtedly true portrayals of humanistic life and the status of women during the Tang Dynasty.
I drew pictures, and I drew several pictures at once, including pictures of horses and camels, and others of riding horses, hugging dogs, maids playing music, etc.
After you have made the design drawing, you need to process the mud first.
The production process of Tang Sancai begins with the selection and processing of the tire material.
The best mud material is definitely the mineral material from Yangluo.
Most of the Tang Sancai unearthed there are made of relatively pure kaolin, which is produced around Yangluo.
This kind of soil is relatively fine, has strong plasticity, and is not easy to crack or deform after molding. It is an excellent material for making various pottery.
Naturally, Chen Wenzhe would not let go of this kind of material. You must know that imitating Tang Sancai is not a matter of a day or two.
Recently, he started making Ru kiln porcelain, then moved to single-color glazed chrysanthemum petal plates, and then to enamel and green glazed porcelain. The production of this series of porcelain is very time-consuming.
Therefore, once all the raw materials are gathered, Chen Wenzhe's imitation work can almost officially begin.
The carefully mined clay must be carefully screened before production.
After washing, settling, and drying, the clay will reveal its original appearance.
Next, is the more technical stuff.
The tongue is the most sensitive organ of human touch, and if you want to judge whether the soil is delicate enough, tasting it may be the best way.
This is not a novelty, but a real necessity.
High-end porcelain and pottery require very fine soil quality.
In ancient times, fine tire mud was difficult to obtain without modern machinery crushing it.
When making Ru kiln celadon before, one of the important reasons why there were no large vessels was that the Ru kiln clay could not reach a certain degree of delicacy and purity.
Therefore, many modern technologies can already save us a lot of time.
The most important thing is that we can easily make things that were difficult to make with ancient craftsmanship.