Corporate scale production of Yuxian paper-cutting
Since the establishment of the "Yuxian Special Craft Production Cooperative" in Yu County in 1956, Yu County has begun large-scale paper production. In the 1990s, many paper-cutting artists started their own paper-cutting businesses, with varying sizes and turnovers ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. At Nanzhangzhuang Jiaos Paper-cutting Factory, Zhou Yongming Paper-cutting) 1, Yu County Paper-cutting City near the North City Gate of Yu County, I conducted in-depth interviews with the company leaders Jiao Xinde, Zhou Guang, Zhao Fengmei and company employees and personally observed and participated in paper-cutting. Make. Understand the important role paper-cutting enterprises play in the inheritance and development of Yuxian paper-cutting.
Paper-cut manufacturers implement company-style operations and are mostly divided into three departments: design, production and sales. The departments cooperate closely and have a clear division of labor. Currently, paper-cut factories produce paper-cut gifts, with a wide range of packaging ranging from frames, albums to scrolls. There are high, medium and low grades, which can meet the different needs of many customers. In order to solve the problem of paper-cut fading, artists have repeatedly developed new dyes to extend the life of colored paper-cuts and make them more durable. In order to adapt to the needs of the market and maintain an advantage in the competition, manufacturers send people to study art design, introduce new design elements and symbols with the characteristics of the times, constantly develop new varieties of patterns, and introduce the new. In order to facilitate and improve production efficiency, the traditional steps of sample drawing, oil lamp and smoking have been replaced by modern drawing and sampling technology. The traditional paper twisting binding method is no longer used but stapler binding is used. It is worth noting that Yuxian Paper-cutting City has also registered the "Liangyatu" paper-cutting product trademark.
Paper-cutting factories mostly employ paper-cutting workers for production. They range in size from a dozen to hundreds of workers. The workers are divided into knife workers and color workers, who are responsible for engraving and coloring respectively. The technical requirements for knife craftsmanship are more complex than those for color craftsmanship, so it takes about 1 year for color craftsmanship to be mastered, and 3 years for knife craftsmanship. Knife carving requires good physical strength and strong hands, and most of them are male workers. The salary varies according to the skill, usually ranging from 2,000 yuan to more than 3,000 yuan per month. Most of the sex workers are female, and their monthly salary is about 1,000 yuan. Some factories also entrust the processing of orders to people in the village who are good at engraving and dyeing. They require good skills and are paid on a piece-by-piece basis.remuneration. Paper-cutting is a skill that can earn money to support life, so many young people in the village also learn paper-cutting skills.
Because the window grilles of folk stickers and window grilles as handicrafts are used in different ways and purchased by different people, and have different requirements for window grilles, the content, form, and technical processing of window grilles are different. As a handicraft, paper-cut window grilles have a higher artistic level, are more finely carved, more beautiful in design, richer in content, more colorful, lighter in dyeing, and have better visual effects. In addition to beautifying and decorating life, the window grilles affixed to the windows are also required to be practical. In order to last longer and withstand the sun and wind, they must be dyed darkly.
Currently, the demand for window grilles used to stick on windows is small. If someone is specially assigned to go to the market to sell them, the labor cost will be too high and the profit will be low. Therefore, factories generally only produce paper-cut crafts as wholesale gifts with local characteristics. Or sell it in a shop. The factory also processes single-color paper-cutting orders from dealers. Because it saves labor and materials, it has an advantage in price competition. In recent years, the output of single-color paper-cutting has been increasing. It is equal to or even exceeds the output of colored paper-cutting in Yu County by 6:4. .
Paper-cut manufacturers attach great importance to product sales and invest a lot of manpower and material resources in this link. Factory director Jiao Xinde and his team are responsible for the production of paper-cut gifts. Only by selling them at a reasonable price can funds be recovered and production can continue. The more products are produced and the better the sales, the more profits can be made to invest more funds to expand reproduction, thus forming a virtuous cycle of production and sales. Due to the particularity of paper-cut products, the more products are sold and the wider the scope, the more people will know and understand this folk art form, and it is possible for this folk art form to spread for a long time.
