How to make pottery figurines:
During the cleaning and restoration process, the thousands of warrior figurines unearthed from the Qin Terracotta Warriors pit were repeatedly observed, compared and compared by archaeologists. Research has summarized the unique rules for the production methods of pottery figurines.
In summary, the production of pottery figurines is a combination of molds, with plastic as the mainstay.
That is, the rough body of the figurine is first made of clay, and then the clay is remolded a second time to modify and carve out the details.
The heads and hands of the figurines are molded into rough shapes, and then the details are carved.
The torso is hand-sculpted.
After the head, hands, and torso are made separately, they are then assembled into a complete pottery figurine.
To make the figurine head, first use the mold-making method or single-mold production combined with hand molding to make the rough body of the figurine head.
Among the unearthed Qin figurines, there are only a small number of pottery figurines made using a combination of single molds and hand sculptures, and most of the figurine heads are made using the mold-joining method.
The mold-closing method generally divides the figurine head into two roughly equal front and rear halves, which are made with single-piece molds. Then the two single-piece molds are joined and bonded to form a complete large-scale figurine head, and then the face is sculpted. Detailed sculpting of facial features.
Most of the ears of pottery figurines are made separately from a single mold and then attached to both sides of the head.
Some of the buns of the figurines are carved with mud piled on the back of the head; others are molded separately and attached to the top of the head.
Some hair braids have grooves carved into corresponding parts of the head, and the premade hair braids are embedded in the grooves.
The braid is in low relief.
The detailed carvings of the figurine heads focus on the facial features, beards and hair lines. The facial features are carved and modified on the basis of molding to depict the different personalities and psychology of the characters. feature.
For example, some of the brow bones and eyebrows of pottery figurines are carved into the shape of mountains, and some are carved into the shape of crescent moon or willow leaves. Thin eyebrows are carved with negative lines on the brow bones.
The sculpting of the eyes and mouths of the pottery figurines is also very ingenious in details.
For those with angry eyes, the sculptured eyeballs will protrude; for those with raised eyes, the intersection between the upper eyelids and brow bones will be sunken; for those with a calm temperament, the mouth slit and the mouth will be in a straight line; for those with a serious expression, the creases at the corners of the mouth will droop.
Each pottery figurine has a different expression, and its facial muscles also change accordingly.
For those with a martial expression, the muscles between the brows are bulged; for the old, wrinkles are carved on the forehead; for the young, the facial muscles are rounded and plumped using scraping techniques.
The three courts of the face, the thickness of the muscles on the five mountains, and the ups and downs of the bones are all very reasonable through careful depiction.
Some of the beards on the pottery figurines are carved, and some are attached, such as the mustache with naturally drooping corners. Most of them are carved using the ground subtraction method, and thin lines are carved on them. The two flat beards in the shape of a splay are usually made by attaching mud pieces and then carving the whiskers; the large ring-shaped beard is made by piling mud or attaching mud pieces and then scraping and carving.
Pottery figurines have various hairstyles and their carving methods are also different.
The grate hair style is to cover the first child of the head with a thin layer of mud, and then use a grate-shaped tool to scrape the hair lines; the string hair style is to cover the first child of the figurine head. The thick mud is then scraped from bottom to top with a stick-shaped tool to form a spiral pattern. Most of the hair lines on the forehead are carved with a grizzly-shaped tool.
In order to show the different personality characteristics of the characters, some people piled mud on their foreheads and carved them into raised rope-like sideburns to show the roughness of the character's personality.
After detailed carvings, it presents rich and colorful features.
To shape the torso of the pottery figurines, first use clay to make a rough tire, and then carve out detailed features on the large scale, such as clothing patterns, armor, belts, hooks, etc. The roughness of the torso of the pottery figurines The tire is made by lamination step by step from bottom to top.
First, make the footrests for the pottery figurines to stand on. The footrests are made with square molds. The production method is the same as the method of removing mud in rural areas today.
After the pedals are made, the feet of the pottery figurines are shaped, and the legs and shorts are attached to them. Due to the different attire of the legs, the legs of the figurines are either solid or hollow. The legs are usually made by folding clay pieces and hammering them repeatedly into cylindrical clay rods, which are then molded onto the heels. In order to show the relationship between the tendons, bones and muscles of the figurine's legs, detailed scraping and trimming is required.
The hollow legs are made by rolling mud sheets or mud strips.
To make the lower body shorts of pottery figurines, a thick rope pattern is printed on the outside of the upper sections of the solid legs and hollow legs, and the prefabricated clay pieces are wrapped around them to shape the legs of the shorts.
Next, the body of the pottery figurine is shaped.
The torsos of the pottery figurines are all hollow and are shaped using the clay strip construction method.
First, the legs of the figurine are connected as a whole with clay blocks.
Pile mud around the upper part to make an oval-shaped rectangular chassis about 10 cm high and 4 to 8 cm thick.
After the base plate of the torso of the figurine is dried in the shade, the torso is shaped using the clay strip building method on the base plate.
The torso of the pottery figurine is 1.1 to 1.2 meters high. It cannot be molded with clay strips in one go. It is usually divided into upper and lower sections with the waist as the boundary, that is, the body cavity of the lower section is first cut. , after the plate is formed once, wait for it to dry slightly before making the upper section.
In order to make the mud strips of the plate dense and dense, the inside is lined with woven fabrics such as linen and hammered with a wooden hammer.
After the large-scale molding of the torso of the pottery figurine is finished and dried, the arms of the figurine begin to be glued together.
The arms of the pottery figurines are hollow. The straight arms are generally made by using the clay bar construction method, while the curved arms are divided into two sections at the elbow and are made and glued separately.
After the arms of the figurine were bonded to both sides of the torso and chest, in order to enhance the adhesion at the joints, some measures were taken to reinforce the bonding surface, and the lower end was supported by a T-shaped wooden frame.
The hands of the pottery figurines are all made individually. The palm-shaped figurine hands are made by two pieces of molding and bonding, while the grasping-shaped hands are made by kneading and molding, and are carved. The nails, joints, hand lines, muscles, bones, and skin make the hands of the figurines "the skin and flesh are clear and the joints are dark and complete."
The figurine hands are made and inserted into the sleeves of the arms of the pottery figurines.
After these processes, the large-scale pottery torso is basically completed.
On this basis, further detailed carvings were made on the pottery figurines.
The carving of clothing patterns is to apply fine mud on the thick tire of the trunk. After applying the mud, it is polished, carved, and shaped into the skirt, corners, collar, and various skirt patterns of the clothes. .
The corners and collars are embossed and engraved with negative lines.
The patterns on the placket and cuffs create a bas-relief effect.
The leather belts worn around the figurines’ waists are often carved out using the ground subtraction method, and then triangular, rhombus and other patterns are carved or stenciled on them.
The belt hook is made of clay to create a low-relief or high-relief effect.
Some of the armors are carved directly on the rough tires of the figurines, and some are covered with fine mud on the rough tires to create a low-relief effect.
Nail nails, nail strips, etc. are usually made from a single mold and then adhered to the nail sheet.