Introduction to seal cutting:

Seal cutting is a traditional art form, named after the seal script printed on the ancient seal. It is the art of combining calligraphy and sculpture (including chiseling and casting) to make seals. As far as the production technology is concerned, it refers to carving patterns or characters designed on the plane on materials such as metal, stone, teeth and horns.

A brief history of seal cutting:

The seal originated from the class society, initially as a symbol of documents, and later became a certificate of rights and interests. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, seals were widely used, including articles, gold coins and standard instruments. Qin and Han dynasties were the prosperous period of seals, and the official seals in Han dynasty had formed a whole set of systems, and the forms of seals were more diverse.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the scope of private printing began to expand, and book collection printing, book collection printing and word printing rose. The shape, material, carving and layout of seals have changed significantly. In particular, literati, calligraphers and painters participated in seal cutting, which expanded from craftsmen to literati, and seals entered the era of seal cutting.

Three methods of seal cutting:

1, sealing method

Seal method is the understanding of seal script, in fact, it is the calligraphy of seal character. Ancient seal, ancient seal of big seal, Chinese seal of Miao seal (a kind of seal script with distorted strokes), and useful books of flowers, birds and insects. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, seal script was widely used, and another kind of seal script was called 10-fold seal script, which folded the strokes evenly and filled the printed surface.

Step 2 write a composition

That is, according to the different shapes and sizes of the printed surface, the overall layout is organized by combining different printed texts. The arrangement and layout of seal script characters is the so-called separation of Zhu and Bu Bai. Seal shows its artistic charm in a small range with a few words, so it requires changeable words, colorful layout and artistry. The layout of seals can be roughly divided into artistic laws such as virtual and real density and balance between edges.

3. Knife method

That is to say, there are thirteen ways to use a knife when carving a chapter. In practice, the two methods are mainly cutting and punching. The lines carved by the cutting knife are concise, and the lines carved by the punching knife are smooth. Famous seal carvers in Ming and Qing dynasties all attached great importance to knife work.