Family workshop-style production of paper-cut window grilles in Yu County
The initial production form of paper-cutting in Yuxian County was workshop-style. This form continues to exist today. For a long period of time, it was the only form and it still occupies a certain share. At the pre-Spring Festival market in Nuanquan Town, Yu County, there were about seven vendors selling window grilles, three of which were "liangzi" vendors, and four were street stalls. Samples of window grilles are attached to "liangzi" fixed on bicycles or on plastic sheets placed on the ground, and pressed with broken glass plates to prevent them from being blown away by the wind. A cloth bundle contains a large paper book that has been processed and pasted into a large homework book used by a child. It is filled with colorful window grilles, in sets of four. Use paper twists to intersperse and secure. From the interviews with several window grill sellers, we can learn about the history, time, division of labor, and sales of individual window grills.
Nowadays, people put up window grilles during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival. Therefore, individual or family workshop-style production is generally done as a sideline business, taking advantage of the leisure time, and selling before the Mid-Autumn Festival or during the twelfth lunar month. In the summer, we sell them before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in September, October, and November of the lunar calendar after the autumn harvest, we sell them during the twelfth lunar month. The contents of window decorations include flowers, animals, plants, zodiac animals, characters for happiness, characters for blessing, drama characters, etc. In order to adapt to the size of the window frame, paper-cut sizes generally come in two sizes: large and small. The large one is about 20 cm high and 15 cm wide; the small one is about 8 cm and 8 cm wide. Basically the traditional production methods are still used. The direct cost of making paper-cuts is not high. An income of 1,000 yuan is about 100 yuan of wood, but it is extremely labor-intensive and takes about 10 hours to do every day. There is a person who can both carve and dye, and there are also men who carve and dye in the family. When its time to sell window grilles, go to the market. The income ranges from a few thousand yuan to about 10,000 yuan, which is mainly used to supplement family income. The children in the family are not interested in paper-cutting and have no desire to inherit the craft. Nowadays, many people have built new houses, replaced them with large glass windows, and no longer put up paper-cuts. Sales are not good, so many artists have stopped doing it. In the past, many people sold paper-cuts during the twelfth lunar month, and the streets were full of liangzi.
At the market before the Spring Festival, the paper-cut traditional window decorations that express people’s good wishes for the future, such as wishing you good luck and getting rich, etc., sold very well. In the past, many people liked to watch operas, and window decorations with opera actors and facial makeup sold very well. Very good, now I'm watching the showThere are fewer of them, and the opera cutouts are no longer very popular, and the sales are far worse than before, that is, the elderly still buy them. Moreover, making opera cutouts requires more work than other types, and the price is higher. Shoe patterns, pillow flowers and other varieties are no longer engraved, because no one embroiders them now, and no one buys them. The paper-cuts sold now are basically the same ones as before. There are also new patterns, but not many, because the price of painting new patterns is too high.
Most of the products produced in family workshops are window grilles for pasting windows. For a family, paper-cutting is a craft and a small business. Although it is labor-intensive, the income is good and can improve the familys economic level.
