We are so lucky to know Mr. WU, SHI-WEI, the successor of national treasure artist SHI ZHEN-YANG. Because the school director knew Teacher Wu’s wife, we had the opportunity to find a carving craftsman who could explain the Turtle-shaped rice cake mold to us.

Teacher Wu let us touch and observe the "Carved Lion Setting" of the round sculpture with our own hands. "Carved Lion Setting" is a building component located on a beam in traditional architecture. Use "Carved Lion Setting" to learn about common wood carving decorations in temples and related folk customs.Let us also appreciate his masterpieces, from intaglio, relief,Application works of basic traditional wood carving techniques such as openwork and round sculpture demonstrate the variability and creativity of traditional wood carving techniques.Along with the basic carving course of Turtle-shaped rice cake molds, Teacher Wu asked us to carve the Turtle-shaped rice cake molds and accepted our Interview at the same time.

Q1：Teacher Wu, how many years have you been doing carpentry?
A1：In terms of sculpture, I have been studying under a master for almost 4 years, and I have been creating on my own for almost 10 years now.

Q2：Do you ever cut your hands while carving?
A2：You will definitely cut your hands while carving, so you have to set a rule for yourself.My own rule is: the carving knife should face the same side when placed on the table, and it should also face the same direction when put back after use.Knives should not be thrown around to ensure a safe working environment. Also, when you want to speak, the knife must be placed on the table, and you cannot wave it with your hands. At the same time, when the knife falls, don't think about catching it, jump out of the way quickly, because the knife is very long and heavy.
If there are sawdust on the table, I won't just remove it with my hands. I will brush it off with a wooden brush because the knife is very sharp. The master's carving knife should be sharpened by himself, and the curved knife should be polished with a sand wheel.As for whether it will cut your hand, of course it will, but the cut will be beautiful and neat, so as long as you apply medicine on time, it may be healed in three days. Usually when carving, it is scratched by the knife.So when you came here just now, I told you not to get too close to the table, because if you accidentally get scratched by the knife, it will be very serious.

Q3：What are the different functions of these knives on the table?
A3：Use a large knife to carve it, and the marks will be clean and neat, while the small knife will make more messy marks.The key point of carving is that the carving marks made by the knife should be clean and neat, and the whole work should not be messy and messy. Carving works require more aesthetic feeling.Therefore, we try to use large knives for carving, but there are some patterns that cannot be carved with large knives, so we have different styles of knives. When carving, the curved arcs can be connected with a knife, and the carved work will look better.

Q4：Have you ever thought about giving up?
A4：The creation of crafts inherently has its ups and downs.Sometimes you can't create something without inspiration.But when your inspiration comes, you will feel that creating is smooth.So sometimes someone will say: "Master, why is there no progress in this work?" This is when the creation is at its lowest ebb.In fact, you cannot say whether you like or dislike the craftsmanship, it should be whether you are inspired or not. Now that I have started to create sculptures, I will not give up.