Clay Figurine Made by a French Daughter-in-Law
Have you ever seen a clay figurine? Let’s look at the beautiful clay figurine made by a French girl.
The French girl is called Berenice Zandonai. When she was young in her home, there were many collections with Chinese elements.When she saw the Mr. Hu ‘s work in the 2017 CCTV New Year’s Gala, she caught sight of the Fengxiang Clay Figurine and wanted to learn the skill. However, what is the Fengxiang Clay Figurine? It is a kind of clay figurine handiwork typical of Chinese nation, with a history of as long as 3,000 years. In 2006, it was listed as one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages.
Talking for a long time, Mr. Hu decides to teach Berenice clay figurine. Selecting raw materials is the first step for making a clay figurine. And selecting soil for clay figurines is also called scraping earth. Berenice lifts up the hoe and unearths the soil with difficulty.
After the soil was carried home, Beree started to smash the soil. After they have done the watering, the master suggests: “After an hour, add in fine cotton. Fine cotton is an important element of a clay figurine. The clay figurine thus made will be stronger and endurable.” After the cotton is scattered on it, one needs to smash the mixture to make cotton blended with the soil. The master uses a stone hammer to smash the soil blended with cotton on the edge into powder. After all the cotton is blended in the soil, a secret ingredient will also be added in, the glutinous rice soup. Cotton, glutinous rice, clay and water join together organically, which is the secret recipe of the raw material for the Fengxiang Clay Figurine.
Berenice wants to make a beautiful clay figurine for her mother-in-law, who was born in the Year of Ox, as a present. Berenice used the nails to shape the details. After working hard for long, she finally makes a relatively satisfactory figurine.
Fifteen days later, the sculpture hardens and they begin to paint on it after one more procedure. Before painting on the dried clay figurine with the base color, it must be washed clean. After it is cleaned and dried in the air, it still needs to be painted with lime as the base color three times. Berenice waits for the whole afternoon until the lime dries in the sun finally.
After spending much time, she finally completes painting. Then, the work just needs to go through the last procedure, coloring. As the secret for this part, the Master says: “Keep the temperature around 30℃, to make sure that it is warm all the time. Keep the temperature at 30℃ to heat the specially-made colors, then paint them quickly on the work. Paint fast and do not paint it twice.
Berenice made a beautiful clay figurine finally and gave it to her mother-in-law. Seeing how happy her mother-in-law is, Berenice feels that her hard work has been paid off.
Copyright: BEIJING -MY STORY ABOUT LEARNING CULTURE IN CHINA, China Pictorial Press