Qingdao is never short of skillful craftsmen. During the recently held 5th Folk Creative Hand-made Art-craft Contest, craftsmen from the grassroots compete with each other with their own unique skills. Exquisite sugar painting, paper cutting, stone painting, and wire flowers attract many citizens to stop to watch. 10 overseas students from Zimbabwe even asked for apprenticeship on the site.
Compete against creativity on the spot
The Qingdao Haiyun Square is the place where 64 participants competed with each other with their own skills. According to the sponsor, the number of contestants this year is the most and all of them are from the grassroots level. The works for competition is also the most diverse, including 20 categories and over 60 items such as sugar painting, egg shell carving, clay sculpture, manually paper folding, dough modeling, electric pyrography, wire flowers, knitting, fabrics, shadow puppet and cross-stitch. Different from full time folk craftsmen, they pay more attention to creativity, for example the obscure living waste can be recycled and converted into something astonishing.
Bring good luck to children
“To welcome the Year of Rooster, I specially made 2 roosters out of wire flowers. It usually takes 2 days to make a rooster,” said Luan Jiamei, a citizen who is a frequent contestant. Every year she brings self-made gadgets to the contest including little buckets made of ice cream sticks, cartoon fish made of mango seeds and crickets wrenched by steel wire. With the hands of this 79-year-old woman, many living wastes have become treasures. Shao Ruiqin is the inheritor of tiger-head shoes and tiger-head hats, an intangible cultural heritage. “I learned from my family members at my young age. I have made tiger-head shoes and hats for over 20 years. Cut a piece of your clothes in the middle into two parts after embroidering. Then a pair of tiger-head shoes can be made. Nowadays only a few people know the skill.” To the delight of Shao Ruiqin, more and more young people have begun to like tiger-head shoes and hats and want to bring auspicious signs for their children to set on their new feet.
Qingdao father and son sugar painting “sweetens” Italy
Gao Guangyao is the youngest contest. This young man born in 1992 is famous after the 1990s sugar painter in Qingdao. “My father and I make sugar paintings together. My mother can pinch dough figurine. This time my mother and I participate in the contest this time.” Different from traditional sugar painters, Gao Guangyao, the young man, has more brilliant ideas and can size popular elements at present. Under his spoon, syrup is converted into a paintbrush to sketch various pictures including traditional twelve Chinese zodiac signs and his favorite cartoon One Piece.
To the pride of Gao Guangyao, last year he brought his sugar paintings to Italy and showed the glamor of Qingdao sugar paintings to foreigners. He not only sold sugar paintings, but also accepted Italian apprentices. In the contest site, 10 overseas students from Zimbabwe showed keen interest in sugar painting. “It is easiest to paint rabbit. Firstly I paint for a few times, then you can have a try.” Gao Guangyao patiently narrated every step and taught these overseas students hand by hand how to play with sugar painting.
A Qingdao female teacher turns stones into canvas
The Qingdao female teacher who painted pictures on fallen leaves used to sweep the Circles of Friends. In the contest, Shenlin, an ingenious Qingdao female teacher, showed her astonishing creativity. She, who has received professional training in oil painting, turns stones into canvas. Among the exhibited works, no matter it is a tactful kitty or gentle Matryoshka doll; Shenlin paints all on stones. Because this year is coincidentally her animal year, the 36-year-old Shenlin specially created a large rooster on a stone. Yu Bo
