entry #2 iteration 1

ENTRY 2

Chinese seal engraving

ENTRY 2

Chinese seal engraving   Iteration #1

In the first iteration of my Chinese seal project what I did was to gather all the supplementsthat I need.

Seal Stones (I have three seal stones at home they were a gift from my friend in china and at last I chose a small red one, because my research on line recommend me to use a smaller seal stone for the first try. Simply because a smaller stone a one stoke could b e a visible engrave but not for the big stone. )

Iron engraving tool (this one is made for wood however after some research I find this one also could be used to carve soft seal stones)

Gloves (still missing)

Goggles (to prevent the small dust and the possible injuries to the eye)

Acrylic matt (a working space and a protection of my table)

Chinese Calligraphy brush

Ink

Sand paper ( to soften and level the surface of the stone)

Water

Towels

Tape

Rice papers

Elastic (to stabilize the rice paper for the impression of the pattern)

After this step what I did was to ask one of my friend for specific information on how to process this project. Then I begin to discover the pattern that I wanted on my seal. To be precise, I wanted my name in the ancient language of “Qin” dynasty. Then I looked up online and some calligraphy books that I borrowed from my friend for the correct character. This is what I have discovered.

Then I sanded my seal stone, and started to cut out some rice papers to design my name and arrange them in a good pattern. By the way, calligraphy is really hard to control on such small scale of writing.

What changes have I made?

The reason that I changed my timeline and schedule is because I reconsidered that I should make patterning learning as iteration #1 because I think it is important step to add on my identity. The ancient Chinese character made this iteration really special.

Timeline and Schedule

For the actual carving three iterations, I make it as approximately 6-8 hours project two days a week (not including the time for the essay).

First iteration, I will spend 1-2 hours in designing and studying the pattern

1-2 hours will spend on the practicing of the curving pattern on erasers.

4-6 hours will spend on the actual engraving on the seal stone.I will mainly spend my time on engraving because stone engraving can take a long time. 

July 25:

 Literation #1 1~2 hours on designing and studying the pattern (entry 2post on the blog)

Write the draft of history (minimum 300words)

July 27:

Bring the history draft to the class

Literation #2 seal engraving around 1~2 hours (entry 3 post on the blog)

Write the draft of material (minimum 300words) (print)

August 1:

Finished result of literation #3 seal engraving. (entry 4 post on the blog)

Write the draft of reflection (minimum 300words) (print)

August 3:

Bring in the draft reflection draft (minimum 300words) (print)

August 8 :

3 iterations

final draft

4 blogs completed