"I just like to play with knives. You have also seen me cutting sashimi, so if I want to learn how to carve it, the art I can carve will definitely be better than yours." As she said this, Liu Cat pointed to a hand-carved piece by Yu Shan.
Coral beads.
Aka grade coral cannot be used to make beads, but some cut scraps can still be used to make a few strings of coral beads by cleverly concealing the white core inside.
In addition to Aka-level red coral, there are also some other quality coral scraps here. Liu Catkin selected a piece and added it calmly. Then he took out a carving knife from somewhere and started carving immediately.
A small white foot was carved out with just a few cuts. It can also be seen from here that Catkin has really put in the effort, and it didn't take a day or two.
Such carving work would never be achieved without a few months.
"Contented and happy?" Han Peacock said with a smile.
When he and Liu Xu first met, he once gave Liu Xu a set of blood jade jewelry, which contained a pendant of contentment and happiness. Unexpectedly, Liu Xu could carve a piece of contentment and happiness so easily now that Liu Xu used white coral.
"Pudgy little feet, white and tender, you are really full of creativity." Han Peacock said with a smile.
Liu Xu glanced at Han Peacock and said, "I've given it to you. I seem to have never given anything to you before."
"Okay, this can be considered a couple's jewelry. I will take it with me." Han Peacock played with his thumb-sized white coral feet, which looked like catkins' jade feet, so while playing with them, Han Peacock's expression became a little...
Strange.
How smart is Liuxu? When Han Peacock behaved slightly abnormally, she noticed it. When she saw Han Peacock's lewd smile, her face as white as jade was immediately covered with red clouds.
The time when she lost her virginity to Han Kongque seemed to have started with a massage. From that time on, Liu Xu knew that Han Kongque, a pervert, seemed to particularly like her little feet.
"You know those with foot fetishes are perverts, right?" Liu Xu said angrily.
Han Kongque was provoked and immediately said sarcastically: "Your thoughts are not pure, who has a foot fetish?"
Even though he said this, Han Peacock, who was too energetic, still wouldn't let Liu Xi go. Since he came over, he naturally wanted to kiss me, so the two of them held hands.
Next, there are actions that are inappropriate for children, holding hands, holding hands, holding hands again, holding hands, holding hands, and holding hands again.
When he woke up in the morning and looked at the beauty in his arms, Han Peacock laughed. It seemed that it would be good for Han Huang to grow up, at least the catkins would spend more time with him.
If it had been the case, Liu Xu would never have been able to spend the whole night with him so confidently. She would have held hands with him a few times in a hurry and then gone back to take care of her daughter.
"How long have we not been lying so quietly?" Han Peacock said with emotion.
"In the future, if you buy more land, our family will return to the life of farming, so that we can spend more time together." Liuxu stroked Han Peacock's shoulder with his hand, feeling the muscles of Han Peacock's explanation.
Although they are an old couple, Liu Xu's heart beats faster every time she lies in Han Kongque's arms.
"How is it? My work is good, isn't it?" Liuxu lay on Han Kongque's chest, stared into his eyes, and said proudly.
Han Kongque said with a smile: "You are a talented woman, I have never doubted this."
"Then you agree?" Liuxu said happily.
Han Kongque shook his head and said, "You can do whatever you like, but you don't have to change yourself for me."
Liuxu has always been a bit cold, especially in life, which is troublesome to her, so Han Kongque doesn't want Liuxu to change herself for him.
Liu Xu also shook her head and said: "Because I like you, that's why I changed. I not only like you, but also like Zhou Mei and Qin Mingyue. I feel that when I am with them, I am a normal person. Normally, I am a bit hypocritical.
It seems that after I have been pretending for a long time, I no longer know how to be my true self."
Han Peacock was speechless. Since LiuXu liked LiuXu himself, he didn't say anything.
"Okay, you can take care of it." Han Kongque said.
Liuxu said with a face of joy: "Then give me those ivory collections you collected. You know, I like challenges, and ivory balls are good."
"Why do you fall in love with tooth carvings?" Han Peacock asked in surprise.
Ivory balls are really good, and Han Peacock has also studied them for a while, so he knows them very well.
The ivory balls are interlaced and overlapping, exquisite and exquisite, with various relief patterns engraved on the surface. The ball is made up of several layers of hollow balls, large and small, from the outside to the inside. It looks like just a sphere on the outside, but there are layers within the layers.
This makes carving ivory balls very difficult. However, if you want to make it simple, you only need to carve one layer. Of course, this is not simple, because each ball in the ivory ball can rotate freely.
, and have the same center.
Moreover, each set of ivory balls inside and outside is carved with exquisite and complex patterns, including flowers, dragons and phoenixes, and landscape figures.
It has to be said that Liuxu is very arrogant. She was very determined to choose ivory balls as her specialization.
With the current carving techniques of catkins, it should be no problem to carve a simple ivory ball, and as the skills become more proficient, the ivory ball can also provide more training opportunities.
Ivory balls range from simple to complex, and there are various shapes. Especially the balls are connected to each other, which is impossible for ordinary people to make.
Therefore, it is easier to carve the surface of the outer sphere, but it is difficult to carve many inner spheres due to the limitations of the construction space. Therefore, the ivory ball craftsmanship makes people feel the uniqueness and mystery of the skills, so this kind of ball is also called "
"Ghost Ball".
Liuxu said a little embarrassedly: "Other wood carvings have been made by others. If I participate, don't I take their work? So, I might as well find a new carving direction."
"So you thought of tooth carving?" Han Peacock said with a smile.
Liu Xu said: "That's natural. The entry threshold for ivory carving is high and ordinary people can't do it, so I'm not trying to steal people's jobs. Besides, if I didn't know that you have a lot of ivory in your hands, I wouldn't have done this.
Decide."
Han Peacock thought for a moment and said: "There are a lot of bones, but not much ivory, and some ivory cannot be carved, so it would be too wasteful."
"Then what should we do? If we purposely purchase ivory, are we not going to exterminate African elephants?" Liuxu said with a frown.
When Han Peacock saw that the beauty was troubled, he was naturally very distressed. He immediately said: "Don't worry, I'll have someone check to see where there are ivory. We can't harm the living elephants, but we don't have any worries about the dead ones."
"You mean you're looking for an elephant tomb? Then you have to go to Africa, right?" Liu Catkin said.
"The Elephant Tomb is not that easy to find. Let's look elsewhere! The recent search for gems has allowed Bai Xiaoyi and the others to collect a lot of foreign information. They haven't had time to look at it yet. Wait for me to look for it, and maybe we can solve the problem soon.
." Han Peacock said confidently.
"Then I'll leave this task to you. Anyway, you like treasure hunting. Now take a look at my works." After saying that, Liuxu stood up and pulled a small backpack on the bedside.
Han Peacock looked at the catkins that were as white as jade with a smile. Maybe it was because he had just exercised all morning, so the catkins' white and tender skin still had a touching blush, which made Han Peacock feel a little ready to move.
However, when Liuxu took out the ivory work from his backpack, Han Kongque's mind was diverted.
"You are really amazing. This is the pinnacle of tooth carvings!" Han Peacock was surprised by this pen holder.
Although the pen holder is the simplest style among ivory carvings, there are not many people who can really carve it well, but the catkins are really "fine, detailed, elegant and beautiful".
This is a set of "Yujiale" pen holders, with an obvious atmosphere of the Yongzheng era. The Yongzheng era was actually an era of change. At that time, although the royal ivory carvings were made by craftsmen from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they had to respect the emperor.
Do what you will and never make it at will.
This is the "qi of external construction" rather than the "style of respectful construction". These eight words were the strict requirements that Emperor Yongzheng put forward to all the craftsmen in the manufacturing office in the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign. They were not just for toothsmiths.
After Yongzheng ascended the throne of the emperor, he reorganized the manufacturing office. After initial success, in the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, he clearly pointed out that the utensils made in recent years were somewhat "externally made" and were not to his taste. From now on, they must be made according to the "respectful style" of the Kangxi Dynasty.
The specific standards for making things for use are "precision, fineness, elegance and beauty".
From then on, the officials and craftsmen of the manufacturing office were all diligent and prudent, followed the orders seriously, and this was the reason why many fine ivory carvings were produced later.
For example, the "Yujiale" pen holder and "Yunlong pattern fire chain set" engraved by Huang Zhenxiao, the small square box engraved by Li Juelu, the "Yueman Qingyou Book" engraved by Chen Zuzhang and others, etc.
Catkins did not disappoint Han Peacock. Along with the Yujiale pen holder, there are also "cloud dragon pattern fire chain sets" at the back, as well as various square ivory boxes.
Those ivory boxes were obviously the work of skilled craftsmen, but the "cloud dragon pattern fire chain set" was very extraordinary. Han Peacock was very familiar with this ancient tool for lighting fires.
A fire chain set, or fire sickle set, contains flint, fire sickle, etc., and is used to light fires. The royal family is no exception. In ancient times, they also used this thing to light fires.
This ivory-carved Yunlong fire chain set is in the shape of a purse and is divided into two parts: the cover and the body. It contains a fire steel knife, flint, tinder paper and a silk embroidered bag. The dragon pattern carved is that of a Song dragon, but it is an imitation of the Kangxi one.
Song Long made by the inner court in the late Dynasty.
The real fire chain set with cloud dragon pattern is a palace ivory carving from the Qing Dynasty. There have been different opinions on the dating of the fire chain set with cloud dragon pattern for a long time. The collection card of the Palace Museum is marked as Qing Dynasty, and the treasure archives are also marked as Qing Dynasty.
However, Han Kongque believes that the Qing Dynasty is too general, and the dragon's form can be assigned to the Kangxi Dynasty, or no later than the Yongzheng Dynasty. (To be continued.)