The raw materials needed to make mosaic lacquer paintings are abundant, including materials to be colored, such as shells, eggshells, bones and stones, as well as other minerals and materials, all of which have good visual effects.

The making of a mosaic lacquer painting includes four steps.

In the very beginning, a draft of the painting is made before determining the kind of metal wire to be used according to the painting's general appearance.

Following that, the metal wire is glued to the draft, which is a painstaking job also known as "wire inlaying" in industrial art. During this process, much attention has to be paid first to the hardness and tenacity of the metal wire, which is easy to distort, and second to gluing, which sometimes make a huge difference in the quality of lacquer paintings.

Having inlaid the wire, it is time to fill up the colors, which is the soul of lacquer paintings. To facilitate this process, water is usually added to the pigment-like powder, which is in fact made from various kinds of crude substances. Then, the mixture is drawn into a sucking pipe and poured into the gaps between the metal wires, completely filling the gaps. Afterwards, the half-finished painting is left to dry before going on with the next step.

As it is not easy to mix the pigment-like powder, a lacquer painting usually has to be colored in this way ten times or more, with the painting having to be completely dried each time before another color-filling process is done.

The last step is polishing, to ensure the lacquered surface is smooth and shiny. Usually, seven kinds of abrasive paper are used, including both rough and tender ones.

The mosaic lacquer paintings have offered good inspirations to people's daily life: The paintings are used in sacrificial ceremonies for their mystique, and they used for decorative purposes. As precious artworks, they are collected widely both at home and abroad.

Author: Jessie

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