Making velvet flowers was an endangered folk craft, but it’s now kept alive with more young craftsmen dedicating themselves to the art. Murong Yi, 21, a senior studying at a university in Beijing, is one of them.
絨花制作是一門瀕臨失傳的民間工藝，但如今越來越多的年輕手藝人投身這門藝術(shù)中，讓這門工藝重?zé)ㄉ鷻C(jī)。21歲的北京大四學(xué)生慕容意就是其中之一。
Recently, she was trending on Sina Weibo for her video about how to make velvet flower headwear shaped like a golden phoenix. Inspired by Wang Xifeng, a character in A Dream of Red Mansions, the artwork was made of 4,000 pieces of cocoon fiber in 12 days. Generally, it only takes two to three days to make a velvet flower. The video has received over 2.4 million views on Bilibili.
最近，一段她制作金鳳絨花頭飾的視頻在新浪微博上走紅。受到《紅樓夢》中的王熙鳳一角的啟發(fā)，她花費(fèi)了整整12天，用4000根蠶絲制作了這件工藝品。通常，制作一只絨花只需要兩到三天。這段視頻在嗶哩嗶哩上的觀看量已經(jīng)超過了240萬。
Velvet flowers are called ronghua in Chinese, homophonic of wealth and glory. It was a popular decoration in festivals and weddings. Despite being included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Jiangsu Province in 2006, Nanjing velvet flowers were previously lesser known to the public.
絨花的中文諧音是“榮華”，代表著財富與榮耀。這是一種在節(jié)日婚慶中的備受歡迎的飾品。盡管南京絨花早在2006年就被列為江蘇省非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)，但它以前并不為大眾所知。
Therefore, Murong faced challenges in learning this handicraft. “I started to learn about it five or six years ago from some ancient Chinese costume historical dramas,” she said. She tried to learn from others but couldn’t find many online tutorial videos. Finally, she watched a one-hour TV program, in which an inheritor showed how to make velvet flowers in detail.
因此，慕容意在學(xué)習(xí)這門手藝時也遇到了挑戰(zhàn)。她表示：“我是從五六年前開始，在一些中國古裝歷史劇中學(xué)習(xí)絨花工藝?！?她想試著向別人學(xué)習(xí)，在網(wǎng)上卻找不到多少教程視頻。最后,她看了部一小時的電視節(jié)目，節(jié)目中有位傳承者詳細(xì)展示了如何制作絨花。
Then, there was the problem of selecting and buying materials. Velvet flowers are made of silk and copper wires. “However, it was difficult to buy these raw materials with fewer suppliers at that time,” Murong said.
然后是關(guān)于材料的選擇和購買問題。絨花是由蠶絲絨和銅線制成的?！暗?dāng)時供應(yīng)商很少，這些材料很難買到，”慕容意表示。
Another key step is to choose copper wires in the proper size and type. “The hardness really do matter,” she said. “Even a 1-millimeter discrepancy would lead to a different shape.” Without much experience, she had to make adjustments by trial and error.
另一個關(guān)鍵步驟是選擇合適尺寸和類型的銅線?！坝捕确浅Ｖ匾?，”她說?！凹词故?毫米的差異，都會讓形狀有所不同?！庇捎诮?jīng)驗不足，她不得不反復(fù)試錯，進(jìn)行調(diào)整。
New ideas naturally came up when Murong grew as a skilled creator. She found a way to have ready-made fiber produced in a factory, allowing consumers to skip the time-consuming task of splitting the fiber by hand. Now, people interested in this craft can simply buy the material from her Taobao store.
隨著慕容意技藝日益熟練，新想法自然地涌現(xiàn)了出來。她找到了一種方法，可以讓工廠生產(chǎn)現(xiàn)成的纖維，從而讓買家無需費(fèi)時手工分絲。現(xiàn)在，對這種工藝感興趣的人可以直接從她的淘寶店購買這種材料。
“By doing this, I hope it will lower the threshold for those who want to try ronghua,” Murong said. As a lover of Chinese traditional culture, she said “I’ll learn more about different handicrafts and promote them among young people on social media platforms.”
“我希望這樣做能夠降低那些想要嘗試絨花制作的人的門檻，”慕容意稱。作為一名中國傳統(tǒng)文化的愛好者，她表示：“我將更多地了解不同的手工藝品，并在社交媒體平臺上向年輕人推廣?！?/font>
(Translator & Editor: Su Ziyang(Intern) AND Luo Sitian)
http://www.cycjq.cn/story/3713.html
