Riding the wind of rebirth

Restoration work often involves grinding materials such as azurite and lapis lazuli, so tools like mortars and pestles are always on hand.

Zhou Zhi asked Zhang Gong to find all the paper used for the restoration of the museum's collection, then selected two types, tore them into pieces, put them into a mortar, added water, and prepared to start grinding.

Zhuoma asked, "Huh? This kind of paper is obviously coarser than the paper from the island nation, why use it?"

"Because grinding also has the function of breaking down the fibers. It looks coarse now, but it will be just right after grinding." Zhou Zhi explained patiently while working: "If we use paper with fibers as fine as those in Japan from the beginning, it will become even finer after grinding, and it will be impossible to make it exactly the same as the original paper."

"Oh." Zhuoma nodded. The principle was simple, but it wasn't easy to think of in a short time. Moreover, the requirements for the proportions and experience were not simple either. Zhou Zhi seemed to do it casually, but if I were to do it, the effect would probably be vastly different.

The process of grinding the paper back into pulp is very simple, but Zhouzhi's method is a little different afterward. He tore off some white Xuan paper and held it in his left hand. He used a coarse-pore straw to draw a little pulp and dripped it onto the holes in the pages. Then he used a corner of the folded white Xuan paper to gently press around the holes.

Excess moisture in the holes is absorbed by the white Xuan paper, leaving only paper fibers. After repeating this process several times, the thickness of the paper fibers piled up in the holes becomes the same as the thickness of the book pages. Apart from a slight difference in color, it can be said to be quite perfect.

Zhou Zhi took the bamboo knife used for repair and scraped and pressed the repair point again. After this action was completed, everyone found that the original hole was almost completely consistent with the surrounding area, except for a slightly lighter color.

“That’s about it. Why don’t you give it a try?” Zhou Zhi said to Zhuoma.

Zhuoma took the tools and tried to repair another tear on the page, with Zhou Zhi giving her guidance.

The technique itself isn't difficult; the challenge lies in understanding the finished paper and its production process. You need to know the basic formula and production process of this "washi," as well as the pulp concentration and paper thickness, before you can use methods similar to "papermaking" to repair it.

The saying goes, "Adding one point makes it too long, subtracting one point makes it too short." This precision is measured in drops, and the effect is different depending on whether the paper is in pulp, wet, or dry state. At least in the current environment, it can only be judged by hand and eye.

Zhuoma was indeed skilled. Apart from needing Zhou Zhi to tell her the proportions, her technique was flawless, prompting Zhou Zhi to ask curiously, "Have you tried this kind of repair method before?"

"No, I just learned it from Teacher Zhou." Zhuoma was quite satisfied with the results of her restoration.

“Then you truly deserve the title of ‘skilled and dexterous.’ When I first tried, I was far inferior to you.” Zhou Zhi couldn’t help but recall the saying—that skill is worthless in the face of talent: “You are truly a natural-born expert.”

After speaking, he straightened up and said, "Director Liu, Engineer Zhang, I strongly recommend that Zhuoma join the ancient book restoration project. After systematic training, she will definitely surprise everyone."

"Director..." Zhang Gong's face immediately lit up with joy.

“Then you mustn’t hold back your skills from Zhuoma…” Director Liu was overjoyed: “I’ll take this as a master covering for his disciple.”

"Master!" Zhuoma admired Zhou Zhi immensely, and called him "Master" with great sincerity.

"I'm not qualified at all." Zhou Zhi quickly waved his hand: "Sparring is no problem. Our industry is currently severely lacking in manpower. More people participating is always a good thing. Don't worry, we can discuss any doubts we have. I promise I won't hold back anything I know."

"Then I agree." Liu Yijie said with a smile, "Zhuoma, you should learn from Zhouzi in the future." "Yes! I definitely will!" Zhuoma said with a smile.

“Let’s call this repair method the ‘abrasive dripping method’ as Zhuoma calls it. It works very well for repairing minor penetrating damage.” Zhou Zhi finished speaking and added, “It just requires a lot of experience from the restorer, so it’s not easy to promote.”

“Learn this one first, Zhuoma. Don’t rush. Take your time. Once you’ve repaired one thing, you’ll master it.” Liu Yijie still felt sorry for Zhuoma: “Experience is accumulated step by step. It’s better to master one thing at a time than to be a jack of all trades and master of none.”

"Okay, I'll remember it."

"You just mentioned there was another difficult issue?" Zhou Zhi asked.

“Ah, right, color fixation.” Engineer Zhang immediately said, “Antique paper needs to use new paper to simulate the oxidized color of old paper. We usually use dyes to color it. In order to minimize damage to the books, we use natural plant dyes.”

"The problem now is that the colorfastness of natural plant dyes is too poor, and color differences will appear after the paper dries completely. Over time, the repaired parts will fade, making the originally uniform color lighter."

"We're currently using red tea leaves to restore this edition of the Compendium of Materia Medica," Zhuoma said. "The color it produces is very close to the book's color, but there's a problem: it's not stable enough. Master, do you have any solutions?"

"This problem isn't actually difficult to solve," Zhou Zhi asked. "How many years old is the tea you're using?"

"Huh? Is there such a thing as a tea-drinking ritual?" Nowadays, people are far less particular about tea than they are in later generations. The concept of vintage tea is not widely known in most parts of the country, except for a very small number of people in Fujian and Guangdong. Therefore, when Zhou Zhi asked everyone how many years old their tea leaves were, everyone was completely dumbfounded.

Zhou Zhi said to Zhang Gong, "This kind of unstable coloring is usually caused by insufficient pigment aging time, especially for natural dyes. If possible, various dyes such as gardenia, he shou wu, tallow tree leaves, and turmeric should be stocked up. Using dyes that have been aged for the right time to dye paper will prevent this problem from happening again."

After saying that, he added, "Tomorrow, Zhuoma, come to Suihuaxuan. I'll give you a 30-year-old Yazhou brick tea. Take it and try it out as a dyeing experiment."

“So you still need to come often, Zhou Zi.” After leaving the restoration room, Liu Yijie said to Zhou Zhi, “You’ve made progress on our restoration project as soon as you come. It seems like no problem is a problem for you.”

"No, it's just that I happen to have some experience with these two questions," Zhou Zhi said with a smile. "Director Liu, let's not forget our business. We've kept Grandma Yan waiting."

“I have no problem.” Yan Zhenwei smiled and said, “Calligraphy and painting mounting are inseparable, and dyeing paper is something we often do. Watching you restore ancient books, I have also learned a lot.”

"It's here." Liu Yijie led everyone to a room and opened the door: "The Yan family's old collection in the museum, except for the parts that were moved and organized, is all here."

The conditions in this storage room are excellent, with proper temperature and humidity control, fire prevention, and dust control facilities. There are also daily patrols, and the entry and exit requirements are very strict, which shows the importance that the provincial museum attaches to it.

This collection forms the foundation of the ancient books section of the Sichuan Provincial Library, so it's normal for it to receive such treatment.

The fifty thousand volumes of books were stored in camphor wood box-like book chests, arranged in one room, which was quite a sight. (End of Chapter)