Year of the Dragon Paper-cutting Tutorials and Latest Paper-cutting Patterns
The paper-cut dragon is used in the Year of the Dragon paper-cutting. Although it is now more displayed in the form of images, in ancient times it was more in the form of documents. There are many descriptions of dragons in ancient literature, but the specific image of dragons seems to be deliberately avoided. The earliest record describing the image of a dragon that we have seen seems to be the quote from the Later Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu in Li Shizhens "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Ming Dynasty. "The dragon has nine shapes, with a head like a camel, antlers like a deer, eyes like a rabbit, and ears like an ox." , the neck is like a snake, the belly is like a house, the scales are like a carp, the claws are like an eagle, and the palms are like a tiger. There are eighty-one scales on its back, with ninety-nine Yang types. Its sound is like a rattling copper plate, and there is a beard beside its mouth. There is a pearl below and a mountain above the head." The image of the dragon described here is completely a hodgepodge of various animal forms that has been deeply artistic. There is no way such an animal exists in reality. There are very few current Year of the Dragon paper-cut patterns like this. "Erya Wings" written by Luo Yuan in the Song Dynasty basically repeated Wang Fus "Nine Similarity" statement. Judging from the images of dragons in Song Dynasty paintings, it is indeed consistent with this statement. The strange image of the nine-like dragon lasted until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with basically no major changes. The so-called "nine likenesses" of dragons are just scholars' description of the image of dragons in later periods. The dragon is a strange animal shape that does not exist in nature. It comes from a variety of original dragon patterns, and itself takes on many forms. The prototype of the word "dragon" in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty obviously comes from the dragon pattern. The various forms of the character "dragon" in the oracle bone inscriptions indicate that the connotation of the character "dragon" in our ancestors is similar to the connotation of the dragon pattern on ancient artifacts said by todays people. There are many different concepts of merchant dragons, and the dragons in Chinese divination books often have many types. "Guangya" written by Zhang Yi of the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms says: "There is a dragon with a scale mouth, a dragon with a winged mouth, a dragon with a horned mouth, a dragon with a hornless mouth"; "Baopuzi" also has dragons "there is a white dragon" , there is a saying that a snake bracelet turns into a dragon", all originated from this.
This Year of the Dragon paper-cut pattern better fits the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. Not only can it be used directly to make ordinary Year of the Dragon paper-cuts, it can also be used to make New Year window grilles. and other common Year of the Dragon paper-cuts are the largestThe difference is that it turns all the common elements of the Spring Festival into the main elements, including the familiar ingots and fish, and of course the indispensable character "福" during the Spring Festival, so the festive atmosphere is more intense.
1. Preparation work before paper-cutting: stack several pieces of red paper-cutting paper on top of each other, and then use a stapler to fix the four corners and sides firmly to ensure that they will not be damaged during the cutting and carving process. There is obvious sliding.
2. Tracing, this paper-cut pattern is a standard symmetrical paper-cut pattern, so when tracing, you can only use a general part of it, and then cut it symmetrically according to the symmetrical paper-cut making method.
3. Paper cutting and engraving. You can directly use scissors to cut symmetrical paper, mainly in terms of outline. If you don't have strong cutting skills for the detailed textures, it is recommended to use a carving knife to cut them to achieve better detailed effects.
