What is a root carving?

Root carving, taking the autogenous form and twisted form of roots (including tree body, tree tumor, bamboo root, etc. ) as the object of artistic creation, through conception, artistic processing and technical treatment, artistic image works such as figures, animals and utensils are created. Root carving art is a plastic art that discovers natural beauty and shows creative processing. The craft of root carving pays attention to "three points artificial, seven points natural", that is to say, in the creation of root carving, the artistic image should be expressed mainly by the natural form of root wood, supplemented by manual treatment. Therefore, root carving is also called "the art of roots" or "the art of roots". Root carving is the art of turning decay into magic.

The creation of root art is a hard work, from material selection, modeling, conception, production to naming, it takes a year and a half, or even longer to complete. The conception of root art creation must focus on protecting the form of nature to the maximum extent, overflowing the beauty of nature, and all traces of artificial artistic re-creation need to be hidden. In terms of conception, the root material should be comprehensively observed from multiple angles, tried repeatedly, and followed the shape. If the idea is immature and it is difficult to root out for a while, you can put it on hold for a period of time, often a year or so, before you can find unexpected gains. The production of root carving can generally be divided into eight steps: degreasing, peeling and cleaning, dehydration and drying, shaping, finishing, quenching, coloring and painting, and naming. "The selection criteria of modeling can be summarized into four types: rareness, strangeness, antiquity and strangeness. Generally, the roots that grow in the plain are rich in nutrition, grow fast, and the wood fibers are loose, so it is difficult to form strange shapes. Only roots that grow in harsh environments, such as roots that grow on the back of the sun or in the crevices of cliffs and cliffs and survive by lightning, fire, ant erosion, rock pressure, human stepping and knife cutting, will not be gradually deformed for a long time due to insufficient light, soil, moisture and nutrients, and the longer the time, the stronger the quality and the more peculiar the shape, which is an ideal material for root art. Making root carving is not a simple matter, and it is divided into eight steps: degreasing, peeling and cleaning, dehydration and drying, shaping, trimming, quenching, coloring and painting, and naming. "