Chapter 21 Section 4 Production of Duan Inkstone

The production of inkstone requires many processes and fine skills.Taking Duan inkstone as an example, the introduction is as follows. Pit quarrying is the primary task of inkstone making, and it is also a very difficult project.In the "Illustrated Notes on the Mining of Duanxi Inkstone Pit" in Wu Shengnian's "Duanxi Inkstone Records" in the Qing Dynasty, there is a vivid and specific record, which describes the mining scene of Laokeng inkstone at that time. The gate of the inkstone pit is under the middle of the mountain. When you enter the cave, turn right to the chest stone, which is so strong that only one person can walk in naked.Next to it is a small pond out of the water, where you enter several martial arts (in the Qing Dynasty, five feet is a step, and half a step is a martial arts), there are five sections of plum blossom piles, made of pine wood, more than two feet high, and five or six inches in diameter. .There are such piles in all the twists and turns in the cave.Going forward, that is, the entrance of Xiaoxi Cave, there is no stone to be mined, and it has been blocked by sand and stone for a long time.Going further, it is the East Cave, which faces east, hence the name.Its land is slightly higher than that of the west cave, and its water flows into the main cave, so it is easy to drain, but the stone quality is slightly inferior, so there is no need to mine it.After this, the path gradually becomes lower, shaped like the bottom of a cauldron, known as the foot of the building, and the protruding canopy, both of which are named by the natives because of the shape of the excavation.Then enter the main cave, just like the Xiaoxi cave, there is no stone to pick, turn left from the convex canopy, which is the gate of Daxi cave, which is also named because it faces west.The terrain of the west cave is slightly higher than that of the main cave. The cave has been dug for a long time and is as wide as a house.From the entrance of the cave to the bottom of the cave, there are about twenty-eight or ninety feet above and below.The height of the road is only three feet, and the width is only three or four feet. They cannot stand up, and the craftsmen lead the small workers, each with a small magnetic altar and a bamboo skip.The altar can hold five liters of water, and the skip can hold more than ten tendons of stones (a variant of catty). Every three feet, one person sits in a row, and a lamp is lit to transport the water out day and night, and a small ditch is opened outside the cave gate. , Set up a cart, use bamboo baskets to pour water to the foot of the cart, and then put the cart into the stream.The further you go into the cave, the more people there are. When you reach the east cave, you have to sit in a row of more than 40 people, and in the west cave, you have to sit in a row with more than 80 people.The method of quarrying is like carrying the number of people with water, and every three to five days, the guest water (referring to the water that has infiltrated again) must be diverted again.Then look at the veins of the stone wall, and if there are bright and moist ones, then chisel them down to collect them, otherwise it will be useless if they fire.About the pit rock was originally divided into upper, middle and lower layers, and the lower rock is the top grade.But the caves are old and deep, and within one year, they can be mined only when the water dries up in winter and moon. It takes more than two months to transport stones and cart water.

Regarding the quarrying situation, there is also a true description in Li Zhaoluo's "Duanxi Inkstone Pit" in the Qing Dynasty. No matter where the inkstone pit is on the top of the mountain or the bottom of the mountain, there is always water in it, so you must go to the water first to get the stone... Therefore, all the people who enter the cave are naked, and all the caves are dark, so all the people who enter the cave hold a lamp, and the lamp is in the cave. The bituminous coal that leaks out is all on the human body, so those who come out of the quarry will have yellow mud on their lower body and soot on their upper body, and they will all be stripped like ghosts.

The purpose of quoting the above seemingly lengthy narratives is to give readers a real and specific understanding of how endstones were mined more than 200 years ago.It is to let us know the hard work of the quarry workers.The narrow part of the cave is "only three feet high and three or four feet wide, and you cannot stand up", and "only one person can walk in naked."In this kind of working environment where "can't stand up", it is necessary to "pass water and stones out day and night".Because "it can be mined when the water is dry", "within one year old" can only be mined in the cold "winter moon".And because "everything in the cave is dark, so those who enter the mines all hold lamps. The lamps are in the cave, and there is no way to vent the gas, and the soot is all on the human body."Therefore, "those who come out of quarrying have yellow mud on their lower body and soot on their upper body", and they are "stripped like ghosts" one by one.It is conceivable that the quarry workers, naked in the severe winter, crawled in, bowed their bodies to quarry stones, their bodies were polluted with yellow mud, and their eyes were smoked.How tough it is to take an endstone. "Duanxi Inkstone Records" went on to say: "Su Changgong said: "Thousands of men hold the scorpion [geng Geng], hundreds of men carry the catty (referring to the ax chisel), and put it under the bonfire [zhui pendant] to get out of Sizhen', then Xun [xun Xun] It seems that mining is not easy, and the stone at the end of the old pit is precious." Su Shi's "Inkstone Inscription" indeed expresses the hardships of quarrying and the difficulty of obtaining inkstone.

Dimensional materials are also called selection materials.The mined inkstones are screened to remove blemishes, cracks, stone skins, top plates, bottom plates, etc., and the "stone flesh" is retained.Classify the stone materials.According to the ingenious design of the stone pattern of each stone, for example, the "ice" is designed on the inkstone hall, the "eye" is arranged on the forehead and side of the inkstone, and various "inkstones" are made according to its natural shape. Pu". Carving is to make "inkstone" into exquisite handicrafts through artistic treatment and processing, which is an important process in the production process of inkstone.The artistic treatment and processing of inkstones is to design, create and display skills on inkstones. It is necessary to compose pictures according to stones and perform arts according to their materials.After the inkstone design is finalized, the "inkstone" is "generalized", commonly known as "chiseling the rough".After shoveling, the chisel is scraped flat, so that the inkstone has clear lines and clear ups and downs; and then carved, there are deep knife (high relief), shallow knife (low relief), fine carving and line carving.Fine engraving requires fineness and accuracy, while line engraving requires tact and smoothness.

An exquisite inkstone must be equipped with a box to protect the inkstone and prevent dust.Inkstone boxes are generally made of wood, and precious trees are mostly used.In Ming Dynasty Tu Long's "Stationery Yabian" said: "It is not possible to use hardware. The cover stone comes from the gold itself. If it is in the same place, the child will be full of mother spirit, but it can dry the stone. Use red sandalwood, ebony, watercress nan and carved red to fade away the light. Lacquer is the best." The shape of the inkstone box depends on the shape of the stone. The bottom of the inkstone box has "four feet".There are also different styles of making inkstone boxes, most of which are simple and elegant.

Inkstone polishing is coarsely ground with oilstone and river sand powder to remove the chisel and knife path.Then polish it with talc and fine sand to make the inkstone fine and smooth, and then go through the processes of "soaking the ink to moisten the stone" and fading the ink to make a fine inkstone.The polishing process of the inkstone is generally carried out after the box is assembled. Just as every piece of famous ink and colored pens are made by the hard work of ink workers and pen craftsmen in the past dynasties, Fangfang Baoyan is also the result of the hard work and ingenuity of quarry workers and carving craftsmen.In history, due to the low social status of inkstone workers, their names and deeds are mostly unknown and there are few records. Liu Fucheng, Zhou Quan, Dai Yihe, Fang Shouzong and others are recorded in the section "Craftsman's Ninth" in "Shezhou Inkstone Book".In history, there are other famous inkstone craftsmen, such as Ma Qixiang in the Tang Dynasty, Li Chushi in the Five Dynasties, Lingxiu (the monk who made the inkstone) in the Song Dynasty, Zhang Yin in the Ming Dynasty, Huang Zongyan (the younger brother of the thinker Huang Zongxi) in the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Zhu Long (the servant of Jinnong, one of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou"), Gu Delin, Gu Erniang (the daughter-in-law of Gu Delin) and so on.Their performance will last forever in history.