Courtyard House: Starting in a Ceramics Factory

Chapter 205 New Mission? Preparing to Try Blue and White Porcelain!

The day after the Eighteen Arhats were used to start the first fire, Master Deng took Li Feng to the production specialist's office.

At this moment, a middle-aged woman with slightly curly hair and glasses immediately stood up and began to warmly greet Master Deng and Li Feng.

The main job responsibility of a production specialist is to arrange the production schedule and the types of products that need to be processed.

In this era, senior technicians were highly regarded in the factory. Even Director Wei treated Master Deng with great respect, let alone this production specialist.

At this moment, production specialist Ma Xiaoli spoke politely to Master Deng.

"Master Deng, how could we trouble you to make this trip?"

"I should be the one going to you."

When Master Deng heard what Ma Xiaoli said, he simply waved his hand and said...

"Well, I came here mainly to stretch my muscles and also to show Li Feng the way."

"If you need this kind of work in the future, just contact Li Feng directly."

"I trust Li Feng's skills."

"After a few more years, once I've brought Jiang Fei and Zhang Jiefang out, there won't be anything for this old man like me to do in the factory anymore."

Upon hearing what Master Deng said, Ma Xiaoli couldn't help but laugh and joke with him.

"Look at what you're saying. You're the backbone of our new color painting group in the painting workshop. If you retire, your apprentices will definitely object, and our production section chief, Fang, will also have a headache."

Master Deng then simply smiled and said...

"From now on, it will be the young people's world, so I have to give up my position."

"This time, Commissioner Ma, if you have anything to say, just talk to Li Feng. Li Feng has also worked on large projects, such as the previous national projects, which he participated in."

"Moreover, Li Feng also played an important role in it."

Commissioner Ma immediately nodded to Master Deng and said.

"I know that, I know that."

"Master Li has become quite famous in our factory lately. Many people in our factory know Master Li."

Then Commissioner Ma looked at Li Feng and said to him with a smile.

"Master Li, I'll be looking for you directly from now on."

After hearing what Commissioner Ma said, Li Feng felt a little embarrassed to speak.

"Commissioner Ma, please just call me Xiao Li, or Li Feng is fine too. I don't deserve the title of 'Master'."

After hearing Li Feng's words, Commissioner Ma smiled and nodded at him.

"Then I'll call you Li Feng."

"Actually, this is what happened. Recently, the Ministry of Culture placed an order with our ceramics factory to produce a porcelain painting that is about 2.6 meters long."

"Do you know anything about the subject matter of the painting?"

Li Feng nodded, then answered Commissioner Ma.

“I know that Master Deng has already told me about the subject matter.”

After hearing Li Feng say he knew, Commissioner Ma continued.

"Regarding the Ministry of Culture's request for porcelain paintings featuring dances with Western Xinjiang characteristics, our factory has already reached an agreement with the relevant departments under the Ministry of Culture. We will go to their affiliated ethnic song and dance troupes to gather materials, and their departments have already arranged for dancers specifically for us to use. So, next, our factory's liaison will take you to gather materials."

"Are you willing?"

When Commissioner Ma got to this point, a mechanical voice echoed in Li Feng's mind.

"Ding".

"Activate the task of painting the Western Frontier Songs and Dances on porcelain!"

"Completing the task will grant you a random skill."

When Li Feng heard the mechanical voice in his mind, he was surprised that the long-dormant system had actually activated the mission.

Now that the mission has been activated, Li Feng is definitely not going to let it go.

Because Li Feng knew that even if the skills he acquired were terrible, how bad could they be?

You never know, you might get lucky and acquire a very useful skill.

So Li Feng immediately nodded to Commissioner Ma in front of him and said.

"Of course I'm willing."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here."

"Moreover, Master Deng trusts me, and I certainly won't let him down."

When Li Feng finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at Master Deng beside him. Upon hearing Li Feng's words, Master Deng was very satisfied with Li Feng's answer.

At this point, Master Deng couldn't help but start talking to Commissioner Ma.

"Li Feng is right, he came here to take this job."

"Just tell Li Feng this information directly."

After hearing what Master Deng had said, Commissioner Ma relayed the information to Li Feng.

In the afternoon, Xiao Zou, the factory's liaison officer, will take Li Feng there.

After learning some information from Commissioner Ma, Li Feng left the production department with Master Deng.

Li Feng roughly knew what he was supposed to do in the afternoon: take photos or do some on-site sketching.

Commissioner Ma just said that the dancers who assisted him in sketching were said to have come from western Xinjiang.

As for more specific information, she didn't know, because Li Feng would have to find out for himself. As for the camera, the factory's external liaison, Xiao Zou, would arrange everything, and he could just go wherever he wanted.

When Li Feng followed Master Deng to the new color group, Han Ming and others were painting.

At this point, Master Deng directly instructed Han Ming and the others to bring the eighteen Arhats, which had just finished burning the first fire, back from the kiln.

After hearing what Master Deng said, Li Feng couldn't help but say something to Master Deng.

"Shall I go with Han Ming and the others?"

Master Deng nodded in agreement.

"Um!".

"it is good".

Be careful when moving it.

Li Feng said he understood.

So Li Feng and Han Ming headed towards the kiln.

As the two left the New Color Group, Han Ming couldn't help but ask Li Feng a question out of curiosity.

"Where did you and Master Deng go just now?"

"Has something happened again?"

Li Feng didn't hide anything from Han Ming, so he explained it to Han Ming.

"I might be getting another big job. I'll be going outside the factory this afternoon to gather materials."

When Han Ming heard that Li Feng was going to collect materials outside the factory in the afternoon, he couldn't help but say to Li Feng with some helplessness.

"well".

"There's nothing we can do about it."

"You just need to work on this a little more."

"When we used to paint pastel colors, we would at most copy flowers, birds and such, but painting new colors is indeed different from the pastel colors we used to paint."

“Last time, Zhang Jiefang told me directly that Master Deng had Zhang Jiefang use a brush dipped in ink to paint a portrait.”

"Isn't it making things difficult for people to draw portraits with ordinary brushes?"

"Although the paintbrush and the calligraphy brush are similar, the painting methods are completely different. It is impossible to do the same thing as the paintbrush."

Li Feng nodded after listening and said, "It is indeed quite difficult."

"It really tests one's brushwork."

"However, Master Deng is training him to be a key member of our new lottery team. If we don't put some challenges on him, will he be able to succeed?"

"Moreover, Master Deng plans to have Zhang Jiefang and Jiang Fei prepare for the Level 1 Painter assessment after October."

Han Ming was somewhat surprised when he heard Li Feng's words.

"They haven't even finished their apprenticeship yet? How can they be so fast?"

Li Feng nodded and said.

"Although they haven't graduated yet, Master Deng's idea is to have them both graduate before October, and then prepare for the first-level worker assessment in the group."

"But speaking of which, you guys should be arriving soon, right?"

Han Ming shook his head and said.

"Why".

"It's still early."

"Our pastel master told us to learn more in the new color group, and he would consider graduating when we returned. As for becoming a first-level craftsman, we don't know how long we'll have to wait."

When Han Ming got to this point, he couldn't help but sigh.

After a few seconds, he spoke again.

"If I haven't been promoted to Level 1 worker recently, it's not a big deal. It's still pretty good to draw here in the new color group."

"The salary is at least much higher than that of a regular first-level worker."

"If Jiang Fei and Zhang Jiefang are both promoted to first-level worker, their salaries will be much higher than ours."

When Han Ming said this, an envious expression appeared on his face.

Currently, Han Ming's salary is about the same as Zhang Jiefang's and Jiang Fei's. However, once they are promoted to Level 1 Painters, Han Ming will be on a completely different level from Zhang Jiefang and Jiang Fei.

In this ceramics factory, there is a significant difference between the status of apprentices and junior workers.

If you have a few opportunities to be promoted to junior worker after you graduate from your apprenticeship, but you don't succeed, then you can only do odd jobs.

However, generally speaking, there are very few people who can learn to draw but fail to pass the test.

After all, the learning period for painting apprentices is much longer than that for other professions.

Therefore, those jobs that require physical strength, such as pulling or shaping the potter's wheel, are generally easier to master quickly.

However, some of these jobs did not meet the requirements for first-class workers, so they were eventually relegated to odd jobs.

Although they were doing odd jobs, their wages were quite good, but there was no room for advancement. Compared to other factories, the wages for odd jobs in this ceramics factory were much higher.

Upon hearing Han Ming's words, Li Feng couldn't help but offer him words of comfort.

Don't worry.

"With your skills, becoming a first-class craftsman is only a matter of time, so don't worry about it."

"And last time, weren't quite a few people temporarily transferred here?"

"Aren't Ge Ming and Zou Chun the same?"

"Once you've mastered the skills here, it will definitely be much easier to go back and paint with pastel colors. Compared to modern color painting, pastel painting requires a lot of consideration regarding the overall feel and texture."

"The new color focuses more on the description of color and objects. Although some things need to be painted in the same way as pastel, they are not used often."

"Just like the Arhat I painted this time, it took Master Deng a long time to teach me and revise it before I finished it."

When Han Ming heard Li Feng say this, he couldn't help but sigh.

"I know".

"I'll focus on making money now, and we'll see when I return to the pastel section in June."

When Li Feng heard Han Ming's words, he asked Han Ming in surprise.

"Are you going back in June?"

Upon hearing this, Han Ming then explained to Li Feng.

"Um!".

“We’ll be going back in June. In the new color group, Master Deng is the only one who has actually been transferred to the new color group.”

"So if you're included in the new color group, then there are six people."

“Master Deng has high standards and doesn’t think much of us. Although I want to stay, there’s nothing I can do.”

"Moreover, Master Fan and Master Liu have no plans to take on apprentices for the time being."

"That's all we can do."

As Han Ming spoke, his heart was filled with sighs.

Li Feng took a deep breath and then began to comfort Han Ming.

"I believe you will soon become a first-class painter."

"Your mastery of flowers and birds has almost reached the level of a beginner craftsman."

"If you join the pastel section in the future, will you continue to paint flowers and birds?"

Han Ming thought for a moment, then shook his head at Li Feng and said.

"The limitations of flower and bird painting are still too great. I want to try landscape painting, and Master Jiang, who is in charge of my pastel painting group, is good at both flower and bird and landscape painting."

"At that time, I want to change the painting style."

"Although I know that landscape painting is easy to learn but difficult to master, I think it requires a deep understanding of the subject to be able to paint landscapes well."

"I'd like to try that.".

"Moreover, there are actually not many apprentices learning landscape painting in famille rose porcelain; rather, there are more apprentices learning landscape painting in blue and white porcelain."

"This may be related to the painting method."

"When it comes to blue and white porcelain landscape painting, I secretly went to see it. The feeling of unrestrained and bold strokes is completely different from our meticulous brushwork."

"I was envious of that feeling."

After listening to Han Ming's story, Li Feng couldn't help but imagine himself holding a brush and painting boldly on the porcelain blank. In the blue and white landscape painting, many painting techniques on Xuan paper can be displayed.

For example, axe-cut texture strokes and rice-dot texture strokes.

There's also a touch of water and sky, with the cobalt blue pigment spreading directly through the porcelain body, creating a hazy, diffused effect.

This is a very beautiful technique.

of course!

If Li Feng wants to paint it, that's not impossible; he can simply buy a porcelain blank for the slab.

Any unglazed porcelain blank can be painted with cobalt blue pigment.

Li Feng could buy finished porcelain blanks from the factory at a low price, since unprocessed porcelain blanks from the factory are quite cheap.

If Li Feng buys it, there will be absolutely no problem.

So Li Feng nodded to Han Ming and said.

“I’ve wanted to try painting blue and white porcelain before. I’ll buy an unglazed porcelain slab and try painting on it after a while.”

"Let me tell you, I'm quite familiar with the people in the pottery workshop, do you know that, Zhou Jianjun?"

"He's Director Zhou's son; he's my senior."

"And I used to work with Master Wang."

Although Han Ming knew that Li Feng used to be a potter, he did not expect that Li Feng's master was Master Wang, so he looked at Li Feng with some surprise.

“Master Wang is actually your master. Since you have people in your pottery workshop, it won’t cost us much to buy porcelain slabs.”

"Brother Li Feng, we'll be relying on you to buy porcelain blanks from now on."

(End of this chapter)