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Beijing Silk Figurines
Upon completing the head, Cui makes the bones, muscles and
skin. Iron wire is used to make the prayer bones; iron wire covered with
antiseptic cotton is used to make muscles; and gauze is used to shape the female
body. Similar procedures are employed to make the hands, which require the most
skill. It usually takes two to three days to complete a very thin finger. After
all figurine parts are complete, they are joined together to form a rudiment.
Then, silk is used to make clothes for the figurine. To obtain the best results,
Cui insists on personally selecting the cloth for each silk figurine.
There are dozens of procedures involved in making a silk figurine. Even the
procedure of making accessories also calls on a lot of patience and skill. The
accessories should be appropriate and correspond to the size of each figurine.
What's more, the decorations and arrangement of accessories also demand much expertise. On the one hand, the
artist should possess an artistic perception of how to process the accessories;
on the other, she or he has to study the historical background of each figure
being molded.
Carefully observing Cui's works, one will find that each figurine bears some
similarity to the artist in terms of facial features and expressions, which may
well be the indissoluble bond forged between the artist and silk figurines. It
usually takes Cui one to two months to make a single silk figurine, every detail
conveying Cui's love for Beijing silk figurines.
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