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My seal-carving dream started as early as my primary school days.
In primary school, we learned to make "potato stamps", and I became immediately obsessed with the idea of creating my own stamp/seal. Unhappy with the fact that potato stamps could only last a few days before it became moldy and had to be thrown away (those were work of art being thrown away there!), I started looking for other more permanent materials.
I tried melting candles, then molding it with a flat-bottomed small container to create the necessary flat surface. It could be carved easily, and it did not have an expiry date as the potato stamp, but unfortunately, it could not be inked (how do you ink the waxy surface of a candle? I should have guessed from the beginning). :-(
Then, having observed my elder sister worked on her linocut project (part of the art subject taught in her secondary school), I bought a piece of linoleum, cut it into small pieces, and use them to create various stamps ("Top Secret" and other words that are considered "cool" by a small kid). But the problem with these stamps was that they did not have handles.
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I self-learned how to make Chinese seals during the term break between Year 1 and 2 in U. At that time, I simply bought all the necessary tools and a dictionary on ancient Chinese scripts, and just plunged into making my first seal.
Until today, despite having read about the proper techniques, some of my techniques still remain unorthodox.
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Yesterday, I decided to make another seal, after a hiatus of at least two years.
And I also decided to take pictures of the various stages for sharing here in this blog.
Here then, is how I go about carving a seal:
Step 1: Decide what words you want to put on the seal.
In this case, I wanted to make a seal that says "基督是主" (Christ is Lord).
Step 2: Find out from the dictionary how to write those words in ancient scripts (usually "jinwen, 金文", "xiaozhuan, 小篆" or "yinzhuan, 印篆"). Don't decide on which yet. Just copy down all the possible choices (except the ones you downright dislike).
Some words can come with lots of choices. Try to go for similar style for all characters. In this case, I chose to use xiaozhuan (小篆).
Step 3: Then choose the stone (印石) you want to carve those words on.
Stone seals (made from soapstones) come in various shapes and sizes. I usually work on those with irregular shapes or rounded rectangular shape. I seldom use the square ones (that neat row of stones on the left, below), unless requested for. In this case, the use of a square seal would be impractical because of the elongated form of the xiaozhuan script.
The picture below shows my 3 "finalists".
And I went for the one on the right. The smallest of the three.
The stone I chose, from another angle (looks like those "R.I.P." headstones, doesn't it?):
Step 4: Sand the seal surface with fine sandpaper on a flat surface. This is to make sure that the surface of the seal is really flat.
The proper technique is to move the seal slowly in the shape of the number "8".
If you sand it with unidirectional to-and-fro strokes, the sanded surface will end up being convex. If you want to know why, rub your fist on the desk in unidirectional to-and-fro strokes, and with each stroke, try to feel on which part of your fist the most pressure is exerted on.
Only on two sides, right?
If you move slowly in the shape of the number "8", you can ensure that the force is evenly exerted from all sides.
Step 5: Clamp the seal in a special wooden vise.
A really clever device, this.
Some seal-carving masters rely only on their vise-like grip to hold on to the seals. Unimaginable. For one thing, let me tell you that my wooden vise has suffered many accidental jabs from my carving knife. Ouch. Enough said.
Step 6: Draw the border. This gives you a clearer picture of how much space you have left for the actual characters.
Step 7: Write the characters in mirror-reverse. Somehow, I could do that directly, and quite naturally (maybe it's because I am left-handed); if you can't, do this with the help of a mirror.
Real masters do this with real Chinese calligraphy brush. Well, I'm not a good calligrapher, so, I cheat with a fine felt-tip brush. :-p
After writing down the words, use a piece of tissue to remove excessive ink. Don't wipe; you will smear the writing. Just firmly press the tissue down on the surface, then lift.
If you are lucky, you get a "preview" of what the words will look like, on that piece of tissue. (This is the time to spot any mistake you may have made, trying to write in reverse.)
Generally, you should write in thicker strokes than you intent the seal to end up with, because the black color of the ink is the only contrast you have against the powdery white of carved sections, to help you discern the precise border between carved and uncarved sections.
Step 8: Choose a suitable carving knife.
For this job, since the seal is quite small, and I wanted to make a 朱文印 (zhuwen yin; literally "red-character seal") with refined strokes, so I chose the smallest knife.
The choice of knife partly depends on the kind of strokes you want the words on the seal to end up with. If you want "macho" characters with rugged edges, bigger knives may be more advantageous, since you would need to carve in swift strokes (冲刀法). But if you want refined characters with smooth edges, smaller knives may be better for carefully chipping away the unwanted sections slowly (切刀法). Nevertheless, there are those who are able to produce refined characters with bigger knives.
For me, I prefer the small knife, but I have no patience to slowly chip away the unwanted parts, so I do swift strokes even if I wanted refined characters. :-) If I'm lucky, I get what I want. If not, well, there's always the option to start over...
Step 9: Start chipping away the unwanted parts. Sharp eyes and steady hands are tremendous advantages here. And also patience. You can't rush this.
That is, theoretically speaking.
As mentioned earlier, I am the impatient type. So, for the most part, I do it with swift strokes. :-p
Therefore, accidents sometimes happen.
On this occasion, I accidentally chipped away a crucial stroke of the character "是" (but the truth is, it was not because of my swift-stroke technique; in fact, I was unusually patient at that moment and was slowly chipping at the edge of the stroke in question, when suddenly a whole chuck came off. Might have been impurity.)
So, I had to sand away the mistake (using a coarse sandpaper this time) and start all over again (from Step 6).
After another two hours, I finally finished carving the seal (below; sorry, no auto-focus for my phone's camera; but you will see the detailed impression of the seal at the end of this).
Step 10: Try out the seal.
Seal pastes (印泥) are usually red. But if you want, you could also find (from the right shop) blue, green, yellow, and black seal pastes.
Do some minor touch-up on the strokes that you are not happy with, and the job is finished.
Always wipe away (using soft tissue) excessive seal paste after use, lest it hardens and sticks permanently to your seal. Once in a while, wash your seal in warm water, and brush away the residue of the seal paste using relatively soft brush (such as oil-painting brush).
Because some of the seals were eventually given away (or sold; more stories on these later), I keep the impressions of all (almost all anyway) my seals in thread-bound books such as the one shown below:
That really gives it the very "Chinese" feel, doesn't it?
Finally, find a fancy little seal case that fits.
The inside of such cases are lined with sponge to protect the seal. After all, they are not real "stones". Soapstones are quite fragile. That is in fact why it can be carved easily.
Below are the impressions of my new seal. The first one is made with a rather oily seal paste which I do not really like (but easier to find, and very cheap). After some time, the oil will seep around and spoil the look:
This second impression is made right after the first one above without re-inking (or, I should say, re-pasting). It will give you a better picture of the actual thickness of the strokes:
The third one below is made with another brand of seal paste which I much prefer (less oily, and the color is not as dark as the other one). But sadly, I can't seem to find the same brand (万能印泥) any more:
In seal-carving, minor flaws are good. In fact, necessary. It is what makes a seal unique. You can try to carve another seal with the same words, but the stone will be different, the natural flaws in the stone will be different, and the mistakes you make carving it will be different.
As long as you don't chip away an entire stroke from a word, that is. =.=
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One final note on where to get seal-carving tools: as far as I know, the best place to go is The Shanghai Book-CNPIEC Co. (K.L.) Sdn. Bhd (上海书局).
The address:
63C, Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
If the address doesn't ring a bell, it's near Petaling Street (茨厂街). :-)
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