Step one: Prepare tools

1. Prepare seal materials: commonly used seal cutting dictionary, sandpaper, mirror, 2 writing brushes (small pens such as langhao and yanghao are acceptable), ink and inkstone , printing bed, engraving knife, ink pad, several copies of printing paper (copy paper or rice paper), brush (discarded toothbrush can also be used), brown tiger (for edge extension), rubbing bag, etc.

Preparation of the stamping stone: spread the sandpaper flat on a horizontal table (preferably choose a glass surface), use a stamping stone (choose a stamping stone that is the same size as the stamping surface to be printed) on the sandpaper Sand until the printing surface is smooth.

2. Design of printing manuscripts: Beginners should use Linyin, the Qin and Han dynasties, and mostly Linyin. We choose one side of the printing, attach a piece of translucent paper (rice paper or history paper) to the printing manuscript, and use a brush to dip in ink to prepare the printing manuscript.

If you want to create a seal, you can use a seal stone to print traces on the paper and then use a brush to outline the border. Look up the dictionary to select the appropriate seal characters to design the seal surface. When designing the seal surface, you should pay attention to the harmony and unity of the seal and the middle. Leave the print blank. (There is a lot to introduce in the creative process. Due to the limited space and editor's level, I will only give a brief introduction here)

3. Stamping on the manuscript: Beginners should use the method of stamping with watermarks. This method The distortion of the method will be greatly reduced. After all, it is too difficult to write the seal directly on the stone just after learning seal cutting. Attach the printing manuscript to the stone, use a clean brush dipped in water to wet the printing surface, wait until the printing surface is completely wet, use rice paper to absorb the excess water, and when it is dry for about 8 minutes, attach a new printing force and press evenly Print surface. Finally, the manuscript is removed and the manuscript is basically copied onto the seal stone. Put it in front of a mirror and see if there are any areas that need to be modified. If you are capable, you can also write directly on the stone.

Step 2: Use the knife to treat seals

Since ancient times, there is no fixed method for knife skills, and the tools vary from person to person. Some people like to use big knives, while others like small knives.

1. The method of holding the knife for seal engraving

The first method is similar to the method of holding the pen. Use your thumb and index finger to hold the handle of the knife, with your middle finger against the handle. The ring finger and little finger are close to each other. Middle finger. When carving, use the knife with all five fingers, and extend the little finger forward to touch the seal stone, which plays a role in stabilizing the wrist and controlling balance. It is suitable for small printing materials with soft texture and fine and strong Zhuwen iron wire seal seals.

Second type: Use your thumb to hold the handle of the knife, hold the upper end of the handle with the remaining four fingers, and use the five fingers to move the knife from top to bottom. When engraving, you have both fingers and palms, all relying on the flexible operation of the wrist. This way of holding the knife is easy to exert force, and the lines of the engraving are thick and powerful, and it is suitable for engraving large seals with white text.

2. How to carry the knife

The knife punching method: tilt the handle of the knife sideways and insert the corner of the knife into the stone. When the fingers are strong and the palm is weak, use the five fingers and the wrist to push the knife hard and make up and down, left and right, smooth and reverse carvings. Among them, the horizontal stroke is made by tilting the knife outward and inserting the right corner of the blade into the stone. When moving the knife, push the knife from the outside of the right to the left with the middle finger. For vertical punching, use the middle finger to move the knife and move the knife up and down to make the stroke.

For thrusting, you pinch the handle of the knife with your thumb and index finger, touch it back with your middle finger, place the handle of the knife in the "tiger's mouth" on the palm side, and push forward from the bottom. When using the knife punching method, the ring finger and little finger play a positioning role, resisting the seal surface, controlling the force and preventing the knife from running away.

The punching method is suitable for engraving white text. The punching force should be moderate and even. If the force is too strong or the knife is inserted too deep, it will be difficult to move the knife and you will not be able to move freely; if the force is too small or not On average, if the knife is shallow, the line marks carved out will be floating and fragile. The punching method is easy to express the round and flowing style of the seal, and the lines are strong and straight.

Knife cutting method: Hold the knife with five fingers, the handle of the knife is vertical, insert the corner of the knife into the stone, use the wrist force to press the knife downwards repeatedly, so that the corners of the two knifes alternately cut into the stone, and the cut marks are Connected to form printed lines. When cutting, do not press the knife too hard, otherwise the marks of the knife will be uneven and look like jagged edges. The lines carved out should be coherent and integrated. The text engraved by the cutting method is thick and vigorous, the cutting method has a strong meaning, and it can carve harder printing materials.

3. Method of engraving the seal text

Double-knife method: Apply knives on both sides of the seal strokes, and use two or more knives to carve out the solid lines of the seal strokes. Zhuwen seal is to carve the outline along both sides of the strokes, and use the method of cutting and stamping to remove the bottom of the seal outside the strokes, so that the seal strokes are raised on the seal surface. The knife used to carve the red seal requires smooth air flow and uniform lines. The cross-section of successful calligraphy is like a loach's back, which produces the artistic effect of a calligraphy center pen that penetrates the back of the paper and is rich and full.

The double-knife method is used to engrave white text seals. The knife is applied along both sides of the inner strokes of the seal text to carve out the solid lines of the strokes, leaving a flat seal surface and concave stroke lines. Engraving white text requires even and sharp force, and the outline of the printed text must be clear and smooth. Each stroke of the double-knife method needs to be carved out twice or more with a knife. The operation method is to fix the knife position and direction of the knife, rotate the seal stone, and basically apply the knife on the right side of the line. Finally, use a cutter to cut The dovetails and stubble left at the beginning and end of the line are trimmed.

Single-knife method: The fingerprint strokes are completed with a single-line knife mark, which is used to carve fine white text. Use a knife to mark the actual strokes of the seal. The single-knife method does not only use one knife to carve it once, but can also be carved repeatedly. However, all knives must be used in the same direction, and no traces of repeated knives can be shown. The single-knife carving method requires the knife to be hidden and firm, forming a spicy, natural and unmodified effect.

Border processing

4. Modification processing: After using the above knife method to carve the seal, don’t rush to seal it. We will apply a layer of ink and compare it with the original manuscript. See if there are any areas that need to be modified, and make additional adjustments.

At this time, everyone should use a knife to engrave when making up the knife, instead of using a knife to scrape the lines bit by bit, remember! Only in this way can the lines have strength. Finally deal with the borders. Distressed and damaged.

Step Three: Seal

There are still stone chips on the newly carved seal surface, which should be gently washed with a toothbrush.

Dip the ink pad evenly on the entire printing surface so that there will be no missing lines when printing.

Sealing is actually a technical job. Many people tend to ignore the sealing aspect. No matter how good the carving is, it is not as good as the seal. Isn’t it a pity? After cleaning the printing surface, dip the printing surface in the ink pad instead of pressing hard, so that the printing surface is evenly in contact with the ink pad. When the printing surface is evenly covered with the ink pad, prepare to seal. When sealing, a book or professional printing pad is placed under the paper, and some even use a printing gauge to ensure that the printing surface is neat and not tilted. Fix the seal with your left hand and press the seal evenly with appropriate force with your right hand. Do not use too much force to ensure that the printing surface can evenly touch the paper, which will have better results.

Step 4: Engraved edge and extended edge

Engraved edge

The so-called edge generally refers to the edge engraved on the side or back of the seal. Text, inscription.

First coat the side of the seal to be engraved with ink so that you can clearly see the effect of the knife. If a side margin is engraved, it should be engraved on the right side of the seal surface, and the margin should be on the left when stamping. In this way, as long as the direction of the margin is followed, the seal position can be avoided from being reversed.

The specific carving method is: use the corner of the knife to carve, "point" to carve with the upper edge of the knife and the side of the knife, "horizontal" to carve with the knife edge from right to left downward, and the knife is slightly heavier when lowering, " The "vertical" cut is slightly heavier when cut, and the "turn" is usually carved with a single cut. The turning is completed with two cuts, sometimes it looks like one cut. Once you understand the single-blade regular script edge sword technique, you can master it with repeated practice. As for the cursive seals, they can be made by Deng Shiru and Wu Rangzhi, the Wei steles can be made by Zhao Zhiqian, and the seal scripts can be made by Wu Changshuo.

Two points should be paid attention to when creating a seal: first, the text can record events, memories, and times, and can also express artistic experiences and opinions, but the text must be elegant and tasteful; second, the composition and composition of the seal The form should consider the effect of matching with the printed surface so that they complement each other.

Edge extension

First wipe the printed surface clean, and then use a brush to add water to the stone surface to make it slightly wet. You can also add a little paste to the water. Then cover the stone with Lianshi paper (or thin and even rice paper), face up, so that the part of the paper on the stone surface is completely wet. Then cover the copy paper on the history paper, and use a brown broom to brush on the copy paper. Be gentle at first and avoid penetrating the paper due to wetness. Change the paper and just cover it and rub it so that the Lianshi paper sinks completely into the edge openings and the edges are clear. Then use a rubbing bag to ink. The ink must be newly ground ink or fresh ink, and old ink cannot be used. The rubbing should be dipped in less ink to make it absorb the ink evenly. You can try it on paper first (the ink should not be too thick), and then tap it quickly on the paper (do not drag it flatly), and the ink color will gradually deepen. The thick and shiny ink is called "Wujin Tuo", and the light ink that is evenly spread is called "Cicada Wing Tuo", but the key point is that the wording is clear. After the rubbing is done, wait for the ink to dry, then peel off the history paper, and the rubbing is completed.