It takes 35 hours to make a complete bouquet, which is behind the efforts of thousands of "weaver girls" all over the country
The journey of a bouquet of "Winter Olympic Flowers"
February 6, 8:08 pm.
The Chinese short track speed skating team stood on the top podium and won the first gold medal for the Chinese delegation in this Winter Olympics.
Fan Kexin, Ren Ziwei, Qu Chunyu, Wu Dajing, and Zhang Yuting all wore golden concentric medals and held a bouquet of "Never Withering Winter Olympic Flowers" woven with wool.
On the podium, after the five team members received the bouquet, they all looked at the front and back of the bouquet repeatedly.
In the post-match interview, Fan Kexin said, "I like it very much. It has a lot of Chinese elements. I also read the introduction. It is said that it takes 35 hours to weave a bunch of flowers, so we will keep it."
As one of the Winter Olympics elements of "Chinese-style romance", the never-fading Winter Olympics bouquets quickly came out of the circle.
Netizens are asking for graphic tutorials on bouquet weaving on various social platforms.
The Winter Olympics bouquet online teaching training class at Tianjin Tidal Center attracted 2,000 people to study in a group in just a few days, and 200,000 people browsed the diagrams.
1251 bunches, 16731 stems, it takes 20 minutes to weave a rose petal, a rose consists of ten petals, plus three leaves and stems, only one rose requires a weaving artist to spend at least 5 hours, a complete set The bouquets took up to 35 hours and it took nearly 50,000 hours to make all the bouquets.
Behind the 50,000 hours is the dedication of thousands of "Weaver Girls" all over the country.
1 4 months before the opening ceremony, the bouquet was finalized
At the end of the 19th century, a British businessman set up a woolen company in Shanghai to produce woolen yarn called "Bee Brand".
The materials and craftsmanship of woolen weaving were introduced to Shanghai and spread among ordinary citizens.
Chinese craftsmen have combined the traditional oriental knotting techniques with western weaving techniques, enriching the stitches, patterns, carriers and application occasions of woolen weaving.
In 2009, "Shanghai style woolen weaving technique" was included in the list of Shanghai intangible cultural heritage.
The 71-year-old Li Mei is the inheritor of Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage "Shanghai-style woolen yarn weaving skills", and one of the leaders of the Winter Olympics awards bouquet weaving project.
In June last year, Li Meili first heard about the Winter Olympic bouquets.
"I made a few tricks. It was sent to the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics, and the people in the organizing committee thought it was very creative."
The design process lasted for several months, and Li Meili could not remember how many times she had changed the design draft. "Afterwards, I thought that there must be no hope. In fact, the leaders of the Winter Olympics Organizing Committee have been reviewing the final results. It looks better than I imagined." In October 2021, the Winter Olympics bouquets were finalized.
The awards bouquets no longer use traditional cut flowers, but hand-woven woolen flowers.
This not only contains the concept of thrift and sustainable Olympic Games, but also has a good meaning, which is called "the flower of the Olympic Games that never fades".
In the final draft of the Beijing Winter Olympics awards bouquet, Limei used 6 kinds of flower and plant images: the rose symbolizing friendship, the rose symbolizing tenacity, the lily of the valley symbolizing happiness, the hydrangea symbolizing unity, the laurel symbolizing victory, and the peace symbolizing Olive, the Beijing Winter Paralympic Awards bouquet is based on the cosmos, which symbolizes strength.
The selection of these flower images is also very particular. For example, rose is the protagonist of the 2008 Beijing Olympics awards bouquet. Rose originated in China and is prevalent in the world. It is one of the top ten famous flowers in China and is also the city flower of Beijing. The bouquets of the Beijing Olympics echoed each other, showing the cultural heritage of the "city of two Olympics", while the selection of olives meant a tribute to the Olympic tradition.
The flower material is shaped and bundled into a bouquet with a height of 34 cm and a diameter of 24 cm. The volume is just right, and it strives to be delicate and expressive.
The word "BEIJING2022" is printed on the bow ribbon on the handle of the bouquet. The bouquet is fresh and natural as a whole, in line with the main color of the Beijing Winter Olympics, highlighting the distinctive features of ice and snow sports.
"In the final process of each flower, I use fine copper wire to fix and shape it, so that the overall three-dimensional effect of the bouquet will be stronger." Li Meimei said that the bouquet was tied with blue and white ribbons, and the ribbons were shaped like Chinese characters." The word "winter", like a skier, is full of characteristics of the Winter Olympics.
Li Meimei said that thick thread is commonly used in crocheting on the market. Thick thread crocheting is fast, and the final result is slightly rough. She finally chose thin thread. Effortless, but the crocheted bouquet is more delicate and more realistic.”
This is the twentieth year of Limei's involvement in the woolen knitting industry.
In the past 20 years, Limei has woven the city flowers of 24 provinces and cities in my country, the national flower of China, the 24 solar terms and the cartoon dolls with the theme of the zodiac, which have been displayed on different occasions. .
Among them, "Home, Spring and Autumn", a combination of woolen flowers, was given to the old man Ba Jin, and the corsages designed with the theme of Egypt's national flower "water lily" and Laos' national flower "plumeria" were presented to foreign friends.
In 2002, Limei also organized more than 100 laid-off female workers to form the word "National Day" with 10,000 woolen flowers and a huge flower basket on both sides. This flower array won the Guinness Book of World Records.
A complete bouquet of Winter Olympics awards requires 197 large and small petals, branches and leaves, which takes about 35 hours to be made by a skilled worker. This time, the Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympic awards share 1251 bouquets. A total of 16731 flowers were accumulated.
After the draft was finalized in October last year, the Winter Olympics were only 4 months away from the opening. The time was tight and the task was heavy. The project team contacted craftsmen from all over the country who would knit together, and with the support of the All-China Women's Federation and other organizations, launched Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin , Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces and cities to participate in the weaving societies.
The awards bouquets have a fixed size and shape, and the knitting stitches are also special. Under the influence of the epidemic, Limei has adopted the form of online video recording, and sent the weaving method and requirements of each flower material to the electronic version. Editors across the country.
2 "Dreaming is full of leaves floating in front of my eyes"
In October last year, the first batch of woolen yarn was sent to Guan Chao, the Tianjin Tidal Relief Center.
Tianjin Tidal Poverty Relief Center was established on March 7, 2019. It is a charitable organization that provides weaving and other manual skills assistance and life assistance services for people in need.
Entrusted by the Tianjin Women's Federation, the Tidal Center conducts manual training for women in difficulties in the "Jinbi Family Handicraft Workshop".
The first batch of tasks Guan Chao received was the weaving of hydrangea. Compared with other weaving teams, her team had mature weaving groups. Among the more than 200 "weaver girls", some were from Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Henan, In Shandong, Hunan and other places, there are more than 70 "Weaver Girls" in Tianjin. Due to the principle of confidentiality, they do not know what the flowers they weave are used for.
Guan Chao is the project initiator of the Tidal Center and the non-genetic inheritor of the "Jin-style hand crocheting skills".
After receiving the samples of hydrangea, wool and text explanation, she crocheted it according to the steps of the text explanation, completed the height restoration of the first hydrangea from scratch, and disassembled each step on the basis of the original. .
"The first time I met Teacher Li Meimei, she asked me if I could hook a rose, and asked me to show it with a diagram. I hooked it directly, and she said that you can pick up the rose, and the leaves of the laurel are darker and harder to hook. Take the hook too."
In the end, the Tidal Center undertook the task of weaving 1,600 hydrangeas, 800 roses and 26,000 bay leaves.
Li Li, a full-time mother, joined the Tide Center as a volunteer in October last year, and is also the trainer and acceptor of this weaving.
She continued to disassemble Teacher Li Meimei's diagram into a finished picture version with text, and sent it to the Zhinu group. Almost all training and learning are online, and sometimes she also sends a long voice.
During the training, she realized that the "Weaver Girl" in the group had hearing-impaired people, and later they changed to text communication.
"In the process of training, I found that the disabled friends have strong learning ability and almost no difficulties. The error of our acceptance standard is about 0.5 cm. After all, it is handmade, and it is not realistic to be identical, but this is also the temperature of handicrafts. where."
In the first ten days of October, Li Li sent woolen yarn for the "Weaver Girls" to try hooking, and in late October, she received some finished products one after another.
Most "weaver girls" have mature skills, but only a few have misunderstandings. In addition, each person's crocheting strength is different, resulting in different elasticities of the bouquets.
The distribution of materials and the recycling of finished products are carried out at the same time, and there is a lot of rework in the initial stage. After two or three revisions, the quality is getting better and better. "Through the winter, Li Li was busy sending and receiving express deliveries, and it was shown on the express company's platform that her order volume exceeded 96% of people.
Although there are iron wire forming strips in the bouquet, the soft part of the wool will occasionally deform in shape after receiving it.
"If the shape is not good, the shape will be adjusted. This is inevitable."
At the same time, she also sent the finished products that passed the inspection to Shanghai, and teacher Li Meimei checked them again.
"The goods that were sent in the past were very satisfied, so they added it."
In the process of crocheting, everyone still does not know what these roses, hydrangea and bay leaves are used for, and some people even speculate, "Do you want to make a Christmas tree?" There are leaves floating in front of me."
3 Proud and satisfied to see the final appearance of the bouquet
2,400 bright and warm red roses come from the Handsome Mom Workshop in Yangpu District, Shanghai, where the average age is over 60 years old.
The 81-year-old grandmother Mu Guoying wanted to "contribute even a small amount of strength".
The 840 lily-of-the-valleys, which are white and agile, come from the hands of more than 50 mothers in Lianyungang, Jiangsu.
1,600 hydrangeas, 800 roses and 26,000 bay leaves from Tianjin Tidal Center.
300 olive branches and 300 gerbera, from the "Second Sister Handicraft Workshop" in Hongdong County, Linfen City.
500 bouquets of Winter Paralympic awards came from the hands of more than 150 disabled people in the Hope Home for People with Spinal Cord Injury in Beijing.
In addition to these figures, there are many unnamed "Weaver Girls" who have not been counted.
At the end of October, Wang Miao from Zhoukou, Henan led more than 20 sisters in the village to take over the task of 5,000 hydrangea florets and 1,300 laurel leaves.
Wang Miao was diagnosed with bone insufficiency 14 days after her birth, commonly known as "brittle bone disease", or "porcelain doll". Even a very slight collision may cause fractures.
Wang Miao has learned knitting skills from her mother since she was a child. After years of exploration, her knitting works have won many awards in domestic large-scale handicraft exhibitions. She also successfully applied for the intangible cultural heritage project in Luyi County, Zhoukou City, and established her own "Dream Weaving Work" room".
Today, Wang Miao's studio has over 100 students online and offline, most of whom are left-behind women in rural areas.
Crochet hydrangea requires white and green fine wool, long flower rods, green iron wire, gold thin iron wire, rice beads and crochet needles. A plump and fluffy hydrangea contains 20 small flowers, and a skilled person can crochet one in 5 minutes. florets.
It took another 100 minutes to tangle the branches, install the flower hearts, and assemble the florets.
It takes 200 minutes to make a single finished hydrangea.
In the end, a total of 16,731 flower materials from all over the world were collected to Shanghai, and each flower material had to be repeatedly inspected and verified by Limei, and then finally assembled.
The lengths of the collected flowers vary, and the Winter Olympics bouquets have very strict size standards, "I am a perfectionist, basically every flower has to pass through my hands, and each flower is carefully checked, because The lengths of the bouquets vary, and the Beijing Winter Olympics requires a length of 34 cm, so I used a vise to correct them. I did not waste the cut flowers. Originally, our entire bouquet was actually too thin to hold, so I used the trimmed flowers to reshape the flowers. Fill it in, so the athlete can hold the bouquet better, and it saves a lot of material.”
On the evening of December 31, 2021, the awarding elements of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics were officially released, and the Winter Olympics awards bouquets showed its appearance to the world.
Li Meimei said that this was her "dream moment".
"I am getting older now, and I will leave this position one day. This may be the last project I do. I am very excited and proud to be able to participate in such an international event in my lifetime."
This day was also the first time that many people involved in weaving saw the final appearance of the bouquet. "The confidentiality work was so well done that I didn't know anything about it in advance." Some people regret not knitting more, some regret not taking more photos, excited, Pride and satisfaction were the key words in the "Weaver Girl" circle of friends that night.
Li Li feels that she is very lucky. As soon as she joined the Tidal Center, she participated in the world-renowned Winter Olympics.
"I used to think that the Winter Olympics were very far away from me, but I didn't expect to make a contribution, especially in the era of machine manufacturing where hand-knitting was underestimated, I always felt that hand-knitting was not high-level, this time I finally felt that what I made was not useless. ."
Guan Chao launched the weaving diagrams and online courses of the Winter Olympics awards bouquets on the online platform, and many people commented "I missed such an opportunity", "Everyone may think that weaving itself is a hobby, but through this incident, we will give weaving enthusiasts. Let us give you a boost to let everyone know that what we do is not to pass the time, it is not that you can't be in a classy hall, and you can get a good income."
On January 15th, all the bouquets arrived at the major competition venues.
Beginning on February 6, the winners will be on the podium, wearing medals on their chests and holding bouquets to greet audiences around the world.
Beijing News reporter Zhu Qinghua