How many steps do you need to make a beautiful Dunhuang clay sculpture?
In the first step, use logs to build the skeleton; in the second step, use Achnatherum splendens or reeds to tie up the general structure of the figure and fix the statue.
In the third step, the mud (slab soil) deposited on the surface of the local river bed in Dunhuang is roughly divided into coarse mud and fine mud according to the ratio of fine sand and different fibers added during mixing.
Coarse mud is used to sculpt large figures of characters, and fine mud is used to shape the surface, facial features, pleated ornaments and other details of the characters.
The fourth step is to further shape.
In the fifth step, ancient craftsmen also extensively used clay molds (ie, clay molds) to make the reliefs on the center pillars or cave walls and the decorations such as the jewels, beads, and flower crowns on the round figures.
In addition, prefabricated parts (such as the head of a small statue and the fingers and toes of a large statue) are also used, which saves man-hours and takes into account the details of the decoration and the easy damage of the fingers and toes.
(Reporter Feng Zhijun produced Sui Zhiyuan)
Editor in charge: [Ji Xiang]