Paper-cutting tools used by She people for paper-cutting—an introduction to Chinese folk paper-cutting culture
The She peoples tool for making paper-cuts is special "flower scissors", which are small and sharp. Ordinary scissors are also used, but carving knives are basically not used. Paper cuttings for clothing patterns usually use thin but tough white paper, old newspapers or even student homework papers, etc. These papers are widely available in daily life. In religious folk customs, ceremonial paper-cutting mostly uses five-color paper, such as red, yellow, green, white, purple, etc. In wedding customs and birthdays, they are cut from red paper, which means prosperity and happiness, and at the same time ward off evil spirits. The main body of mourning flags is cut from white paper, with a small amount of red, green and other embellishments. Its cutting method combines Yin and Yang methods, uses both traditional and simple methods, first inside and then outside, first dense and then sparse. The cutting method is neat and neat, the lines are strong and powerful, and the cutting and seaming are continuous and continuous.
From the perspective of the distribution of the She ethnic groups in eastern Fujian, the characteristics of clothing, and the skills of the paper-cutting inheritors, the clothing and paper-cutting skills of the paper-cutting inheritors in Fuhu Village and Banyueli Village can generally represent the common paper-cutting skills in eastern Fujian. The two She Village clothing paper-cutting techniques and the "hand-painted embroidery piece" painting technique are both different and related, so they are introduced separately.
Most of the inheritors of embroidery paper-cutting in Fuhu Village are working women. They all have a flower-cutting book with "flower seeds" left by their ancestors. When making, they first make some paper nails and lay out the flower seeds. On the paper, use scissors to poke a small hole in the blank space, insert a small paper nail, and nail the flower seeds to one or more layers of paper. You can also sew them with thread and fix them so that they will not be out of shape when cutting. . Cut out the outer outline first, then cut out the details. After completion, paste the cut out white "flower seeds" on the base fabric (mostly dark colors such as red and black) for embroidery.
The inheritors of Banyueli Villages clothing paper-cutting mostly use hand-painted embroidery techniques, and they are all men. They not only embroider, but also make ready-made clothes, so they are very different from Fuhu Village. Take the flowers on the flower pot as an example. First, draw the edge of the flower pond with a pen on a piece of paper, cut it with scissors, and then draw the embroidery patterns in each group of flower ponds. Finally, combine them to complete the group of embroidery patterns. Paper-cutting inheritors also learn paper-cutting from &ldqFor example, Lei Xiangquan (male, She ethnic group, born in 1954), the inheritor of costume paper-cutting in Banyueli Village, started learning painting from his master at the age of 18, and later learned paper-cutting. He said: "The master also had a flower-cutting book before. The flowers inside are either cut or painted, but generally there are more painted ones. "These hand-painted embroidery patterns are usually for apprentices to learn the basic skills of clothing embroidery. They need to be practiced for a long time. Over time, the patterns will be memorized by heart and they can create at will.
The paper-cutting skills in religious folk customs and ceremonial folk customs are not much different from the ceremonial paper-cutting skills of Miao, Han and other ethnic groups. Judging from the investigation, most inheritors do not need to draw paper-cuttings, and rely entirely on memory. Usually, it is folded first and then cut. The outer outline is cut first, and then the mouth and eyes of the person are cut or drawn. Generally speaking, more male scissors are used, and negative scissors are used sparingly.
