San Saba County news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1874-19??, 1892-07-15
CARVING THE TEA ROOT.
industry Which Furnishes Employment =
Many Celestials.

industry Which Furnishes Employment -
Many Celestials.
For more than hundred genera
lions there has been a guild OF artists
in this pop lOas prov nee OF Fo-kien
whose life work is the convers on Of
tho gnarled and interlaced roots Of the
ten tree into things Of beauty. that is
beauty from celestial point OF view
says u writer in the Collector The
herb whose leaves gladden. western
Palutes in the form OF Colong. Hyson
ana SouchOng. is hardy plant and
takes a firm hold on mother earth.
Its roots seems to have no regular
law OF growth. Sometimes they de
veAOp very muoh rs beard sprouts
from the cain; at others they separate
and move along parallel lines as If
they were q lignose centipede. Ia
general may bessuid that they make
one large. clumsy mass from VIII en-
shoot ont anywherg from three to
thirty roOtletS Their surface Is never
smooth. but always irreC larry cor
rugated. The value OF 4 root depends
upon its size its outline its free
dom from decay aud its suggosti t.
ness of some everyday obiec,- 1t is
rare that a main root mass IS more
,hau six inches in diameter Such
belonging to trees ranging in age from
thirty years 10 century. In re-
-ueutly thcv attain to twelve ard
d. inches and are then said by
t,h , experts 10 be 400 and 500
years Old. 800 suo.- tho coil ND
allowed 5T 10 sb ars dry in the open
air under shed Or e,,. - III ,no,t,
erately warm room. The ioos> ~, -
is carefully removed as is the los-
bark and all pieces decayed cracked
or wormeateu. The Artist then
determines what it is to be The
iavorlte types are dragons bufaloes
cows, carnivores bears mandarins
priests bowling dervishes dancers or
mythic heroes. II the root cannot be
worked into one of these shaDes it is
converted into q pedestal or platform
for a figure piece. The primary
operation consists in saving it INTO
rough shape. This is done with Il
fine cross-cut and the clean eGges
removed By rubbing them on tiles or
bricks. Sometimes IA root Is bent by
aoftening it with steam or boiling
water and then twisting it in any
desired direction.
Now comes the hardest task Of all
The most valued piece is that which
allows no art and seems perfectly
natural. The carver goes over the
block. removing here fiber and there
a set OF roots here thinning out one
on the under side and forcing il down
and there burning another and ex-
banding it at the burned point I
have one in my drawing-roOm which
is a capital figure of dragon. rear
ing and opening his jaws as if to
spring upon his prey. Careful ex-
animation shows that nothing has been
added 10 the mass but that hundreds
of fbors knots and corrugafious have
been skillfully removed.
In nearly every instance a human
figure made in the same manner or
carved from wood OF the same color
or else partly made from tea roots and
partly from carved wood is added
to the first piece The designs are
endless in the field. Learned men.
lecturi1g birds msudarins standing on
dragons boys riding on cows and other
ridiculous ouadrupeds dancing beg
CARS men fighting each other are the
commonest groups. but OF the more
uncommon there are thousands One
famous artist IN FoOchow claims to
have produced. with the aid of his
apprentice over fifty thousand diff
ferent designs. and. judging from his
stock on hand his claim seems reason
able enough.
The tearOot carvings are seldom
very costly. running from 80 cents 10
Sl0L Nine-tenths bring less than 81
each. 4 handsome set OF dozen can
be purchased for 500 which VIII dec
crate u drawing-room or hall better
than bric-a-brac manr times more ex-
pensive. The figures are strong dur
able and in 10 danger OF fracture by
Bridget or All Sin. Outside of their
aesthetic yalue they are of interest in
showing the wonderful ingenuity and
economy of our Chinese cousins.