Method of making pottery figurines

Through repeated observation, comparison and research by archaeologists, thousands of warrior figurines unearthed in the pit of Qin figurines have summed up the law of * * * making pottery figurines together.

Generally speaking, the production of pottery figurines is a combination of plastic and mold, mainly plastic.

That is, the rough tire of the figurine is made of mud first, and then modified and refined with secondary mud.

The head and hands of the figurine are shaped into rough tires, and then the details are portrayed.

The torso part is hand-molded.

After the head, hands and trunk are made separately, they are assembled and nested into a complete pottery figurine.

To make the figurine head, firstly, the green body of the figurine head is made of clamping or single-mode production combined with hand-made plastic.

Among the unearthed terracotta warriors and horses, the number of terracotta warriors and horses made by combining single mode with hand plastic is small, and most of them are made by closing the mold.

The general clamping method is to divide the figurine head into roughly equal halves and make it with a mold. Then two single models are bonded together to form a complete head of the figurine, and then the details of the five senses are described.

Most of the ears of pottery figurines are made of single mode and attached to both sides of the head.

The bun of some figurines is carved with mud piled on the back of the head; The other is molded separately and attached to the top of the head.

Some braids are carved into grooves in the corresponding parts of the head, and the prefabricated braids are embedded in the grooves.

Braids are bas-relief.

The detailed carving of the head of the figurine focuses on the facial features, beard and hair lines. On the basis of modeling, the five senses depict different personalities and psychological characteristics of characters through carving and modifying details.

For example, the brow bones and eyebrows of pottery figurines are carved into mountain shapes, crescent shapes and willow shapes, and thin eyebrows carve yinxian lines on the brow bones.

The description of the eyes and mouth of the terracotta figures is also ingenious in details.

The eyeball sculpture of the glaring person bursts out; If you look up, the junction between the upper eyelid and the brow bone is sunken; For quiet people, the mouth seam and mouth are portrayed as straight lines; Serious expression, drooping corners of the mouth wrinkles.

Each terracotta figure has a different expression, and its facial muscles change accordingly.

A warrior with grace, the muscles between the eyebrows are carved and raised, and the old man depicts the wrinkles on his forehead; Young man, make facial muscles round and plump by scraping.

The thickness of the muscles of the three rooms and five mountains on the face and the ups and downs of the bones are all very reasonable after careful depiction.

Some of the beards of pottery figurines are carved or attached, such as moustaches with drooping horns, which are mostly carved by land restoration method, and the thin beards are engraved with negative lines; Two flat moustaches, usually pasted on a piece of mud and engraved with moustaches; The beard around the cheeks is made of mud or pasted with mud and scraped.

There are various hairstyles and different carving methods for pottery figurines.

Comb hairstyle is to cover the first child in the head with thin mud, and then scrape it off with comb tool; Chord hairstyle is to paint thick mud on the first tire of the figurine head, and then scrape spiral patterns from bottom to top with a rod-shaped tool. Most temples on the forehead are carved with comb-like tools.

Some people pile mud on their foreheads and carve them into raised rope-shaped sideburns to show the roughness of the characters.

After careful carving, it presents rich and colorful characteristics.

In order to shape the trunk of a clay figurine, clay is first made into a rough tire, and then detailed features, such as clothing lines, armor, belts, hooks, etc. Depicted on large rough tires. The thick tire of the trunk of pottery figurines is made of plastic sheets stacked from bottom to top.

First of all, the pedals on which clay figurines stand are made of square molds, and the method of making them is the same as that of removing mud blanks in rural areas today.

After the pedals are finished, the feet of the terracotta figures are formed, and the legs and shorts are mounted on them. Because of the different costumes of the legs, the legs of pottery figurines are solid and hollow. The legs of a solid statue are usually folded and hammered into a cylindrical Dorobou, and then connected to the heel. In order to show the changing relationship between the bones and muscles of the Terracotta Warriors, the details should be scraped and trimmed.

The method of hollow legs is made by rolling pieces or strips of mud.

Pottery figurine underpants are formed by printing thick rope patterns on the outer sides of the upper sections of solid legs and hollow legs, and wrapping prefabricated mud sheets on the upper surfaces to form trouser leg shorts.

Then, it is to shape the trunk of the pottery figurines.

The trunks of the terracotta figures are all hollow, and they are shaped by the method of mud slab masonry.

The first is to connect the legs of the figurine into a whole with mud blocks.

Mud is piled on the upper part along the periphery to make an oval rectangular chassis, which is about 10 cm high and 4 ~ 8 cm thick.

After the bottom plate of the statue trunk is dried in the shade, the trunk is molded on the chassis by the method of mud slab construction.

The height of the trunk of a clay figurine is 1. 1 ~ 1.2 meters, so it is impossible to build it in a pot with mud sticks at one time. Generally, the lower body cavity is divided into upper and lower parts by the waist, that is, the lower body cavity is built in a pot at one time, and then the upper part is made after being slightly dried in the shade.

In order to make the coiled mud strips dense, the inner side is lined with woven fabrics such as linen and beaten with a wooden hammer.

After the trunk of the terracotta figures is shaped in the shade, the arms of the terracotta figures are glued.

The arms of Terracotta Warriors and Horses are hollow, the straight arms are generally made by rolling mud strips, and the curved arms are made by dividing the elbows into two sections and gluing them together.

After the arms of terracotta figures were bonded on both sides of the trunk and chest, some measures were taken to strengthen the bonding surface in order to enhance the adhesion at the joint, and the lower end was supported by a T-shaped wooden frame.

The hands of the terracotta figures are all made separately. The hands of the terracotta figures are formed by two pieces of molding and bonding, while the hands holding the terracotta figures are kneaded and molded, depicting nails, joints, hand lines, bones and muscles, and flesh, so that the hands of the terracotta figures are "prepared, and the joints are dull".

After the production is completed, insert the figurine hand into the double arm sleeve of the pottery figurine.

After these processes, the large trunk of the terracotta figures is basically completed.

On this basis, the pottery figurines were further carved in detail.

The carving of clothing lines is to paint fine mud on the thick tire of trunk, and then polish, depict and shape the skirt, corner, neckline and various skirt lines of clothing.

Corners and collars are embossed and engraved with negative lines.

Skirts and cuffs are decorated in bas-relief effect.

The belt around the waist of the figurine is often carved by reducing the land, and then triangular and diamond patterns are engraved or printed on it.

Hooks are made into bas-relief or high-relief effects by sticking mud.

Some armor is directly carved on the rough tire of the figurine, while others are covered with fine mud and carved into a bas-relief effect.

Nails, nail straps, etc. Usually made in a single way and then adhered to the nail plate.