God-level Golden Hand

Chapter 21 Desperately
These days, Xu Jingxing's appetite has been increasing, and it has increased exponentially.

It sounds scary, but it's understandable when you think about his workload. He has been working almost non-stop these days, not only exhausting his physical strength, but also his mental energy.Wood carving has never been a purely physical activity, and the consumption of brain power is even more terrifying. Sometimes, just conceiving the shape of a piece of work can make a person rack his brains and exhaust his efforts.

For example, it took him a long time to conceive the almond wood carving of Chang'e flying to the moon. When he was struggling, he almost pulled his hair out abruptly——I was so anxious.

Fortunately, the work of Xiaoqingshan is relatively less mentally exhausting, because the construction party provides the drawings and wood, and the wood has even been cut, waiting for him to carve with the knife, such as flying hoods, hanging falls, and corbels. The class components have been cut into pieces one by one and become plain materials. He only needs to perform artistic processing on the plain materials to make these components look more beautiful and simple.

It's easy to say, but Xu Jingxing still felt a little hard when it came to doing it, because these things are not simple wood carvings, but the components of antique buildings. In addition to being used for decoration, they also have strong functions, such as The corbels support the cornices, the flying covers separate the space, the moon beams bear the weight, and the door hairpins fix the door frames and couplets.

If you want to make these small components both functional and ornamental, it is really difficult to carve. If you do not grasp the scale of carving and overemphasize the ornamental, part of the functionality may be lost and the functionality will be damaged. The structure and lifespan of the entire building will be affected.

Xu Jingxing found out during the interview that these buildings are real antique buildings, almost all of which are constructed of wood, with mortise and tenon structures as the main construction method, and the existence of nails is almost invisible, all relying on the clever articulation of these components themselves. Convergence, any failure of a component may cause the whole building to collapse.

Of course, that's an extreme case.

But Xu Jingxing is very aware of the importance of these gaudy small components, so he is very cautious when cutting the knife, trying to keep the structural integrity of the components as much as possible. For structures with relatively strong load-bearing functions such as corbel columns and moon beams, he will use them. Use as little carving techniques as openwork and openwork as possible, and try to use techniques such as shallow relief or semi-circular carving to keep the structural integrity of the components.

On the other hand, structures such as flower panels, flower pieces, hanging drops, and flying covers can be displayed to the fullest. These structures are relatively decorative, and some are even pure decorations. The sketches only have a general subject matter, as for what carving technique Xu Jingxing uses, he is completely in his control.

It can also be seen from this that the designer of this drawing should only be a designer or carpenter who is proficient in ancient architecture, and does not know much about carving.If you are a designer who is proficient in woodworking and carving, you will definitely handle these details better.

But although the carpenter and the carpenter both play with wood, their emphasis is completely opposite. Not on a channel at all.

There are masters who are proficient in carpentry and carving at the same time, but the number is limited, and the general construction team cannot invite such masters.

If that kind of expert could be invited, where would Xu Jingxing be?
Of course, the difficulty of carving this kind of fancy construction of ancient buildings is lower than that of normal woodcarving creations. After all, they are building components, not toys, and the requirements for details are not as strict as those of toys, which made Xu Jingxing breathe a sigh of relief.

If these components were sculpted according to the standard of sculpting playthings, he would not be able to finish it in a week due to exhaustion.

Even so, he had to go all out. He didn’t go home that night, so he asked Wang Haiyang to help him get some dry food and clear water, and worked overnight with the headlights on. He didn’t lie in the pile of sawdust until dawn and squinted for a while. By the time the workers came to work, he was already in full swing.

One day later, everyone in the Xiaoqingshan construction site was frightened by Xu Jingxing's desperate madness. Wang Gong ran over anxiously, and asked with a worried face: "Xiao Xu, don't burn yourself out!" Ah, I can't afford to have an accident."

Xu Jingxing rubbed his stiff cheeks vigorously, wiped off the sawdust on his face, squeezed out a smile, and signaled that he was fine, "Don't worry, Wang Gong, I know it well," he added: " That’s how I am, I can’t take care of anything when I’m working, I used to do this often, I’m used to it.”

Seeing that although Xu Jingxing was standing and covered in sawdust, he was still in good spirits, Wang Gong was relieved, but he still urged: "You must also pay attention to it. The body is the capital of the revolution. Only with a body can you continue to make money. When the body collapses, Everything is gone."

"Thank you, Mr. Wang," Xu Jingxing expressed his thanks earnestly, then drank two sips of water and continued to work.

That night, Wang Haiyang was on the night shift. During the night patrol, he saw that Xu Jingxing was still busy and showed no sign of stopping. Ask: "Xiao Xu, don't you plan to find a helper?"

While recovering his strength, Xu Jingxing said with a smile, "I can't even support myself, so how can I get any helpers? Besides, who is willing to do this kind of work these days? I have so little money and I'm so tired."

"Where is it so unbearable, isn't it good? This job must have an income of [-] to [-] yuan, right? One job can catch up with the income of ordinary workers for two years. Take him three or five such jobs a year. Son, I can easily become well-off," Wang Haiyang said enviously, "that is, I have to make money to support my family and dare not take risks, otherwise, I really plan to become an apprentice with you and spend three to five years learning this subject craft."

Hearing Wang Haiyang's words, Xu Jingxing, who was originally casual, was moved in his heart: It sounds very good. Hiring an apprentice here will not only reduce his workload, but also pass on his skills. More importantly, he will meet again in the future. This kind of work with a relatively tight schedule does not need to work so hard now.

But is it really possible to find apprentices willing to do this?
Apprentices are called apprentices in a good way, or odd jobs in a bad way. The salary is not high, and they are tiring. The most important thing is that they may not be able to learn the craft, and what is even more frightening is the craft that they have learned through hard work. But it may not be useful.

This is a question that any apprentice must consider, and this worry is even more obvious for a master like Xu Jingxing who is not persuasive.

(End of this chapter)