Restoring cultural relics: Starting with the crying Tang Dynasty figurines

The hole has been patched up. Looking at the broken half of the tree trunk, the original painting used dark ink to outline the tree trunk and light ink to texture the inside, with bold and powerful brushstrokes.

The broken half is gone; it needs to be replaced.

Su Yuan looked at the tree trunk on the other side and decided to use the same ink color and brushstrokes to fill it in.

He dipped a small brush in light ink, tried a stroke next to it, and compared it with the texturing technique of the original painting. It looked similar!

Then, he dipped his brush in ink and added a stroke to the patch on the silk, following the direction of the original painting. The ink was a little lighter than the original painting, and he couldn't finish it in one go; he had to apply several layers.

After the first coat dries, check the effect. If it's too light, apply another coat.

After the second coat dried, it was almost done, but it blended in with the surrounding ink and became difficult to distinguish!

After repairing the tree trunk, Su Yuan took another look at the small hole in the stone.

Those holes were small and didn't need a base; we could just cover them with patching cloth. We patched four small holes, one of which was along the outline of the stone. When patching, we simply connected the line, so it looks like it was never broken.

It was getting dark outside.

Su Yuan turned on the desk lamp, and four scrolls of paintings covered the worktable, with patches on them one by one like patches on clothes!

The jade ring has always been warm and has never cooled down.

Footsteps sounded at the door. Someone was walking in the corridor. They paused at the warehouse door, then continued walking.

Su Yuan ignored him and continued looking at the large landscape painting.

The wormholes in the upper right corner have no image content in the sky; just fill them with silk, no need to add any brushstrokes.

He picked out a light-colored piece of mending silk, cut it into small pieces, and pasted them on one by one!

After patching the five holes, the sky in the upper right corner is complete. The color of the patch is lighter than the surrounding area; it will be adjusted when we do the aging process.

Su Yuan moved the large landscape painting aside and took out the smaller one.

The upper right corner has many wormholes, and the silk is brittle, crumbling at the slightest touch. Su Yuan dared not directly apply the silk patch; he had to reinforce it first!

He mixed another bowl of thin paste and used a soft brush to apply a thin layer to the entire upper right corner.

The paste seeps into the silk threads, binding the brittle threads together and preventing them from crumbling.

Wait until the paste dries before applying the patch.

There were seven or eight patches of varying sizes stuck in the upper right corner, the largest being about the size of a broad bean. After finishing, I flipped it over and saw patches upon patches!

Su Yuan straightened up and stretched his shoulders, noticing it was completely dark outside. He glanced at his phone again; it was almost seven o'clock.

I didn't eat lunch and I don't feel hungry now.

He carefully rolled up the four scrolls, put them back in the painting box, and closed the lid. He didn't put the tools away yet; he would use them again tomorrow.

After tidying up some of the trash, he glanced at A-Wu a few more times, turned off the lights, and went out.

After a quick dinner, he went straight back to his dorm. He glanced at the bright spot on the bronze mirror on his desk, feeling a bit tired, and quickly fell asleep…

The next day, when Su Yuan arrived at the repair center, Chen Xiaohe was waiting at the entrance.

With a grin, he wanted to watch him work. After entering the warehouse for a short while, Chen Xiaohe picked up the figure painting and examined it against the light.

Why are you touching it?

Su Yuan walked over and snapped at him, and Chen Xiaohe bared his teeth:

"Hehehe, I just wanted to see. The face patch is pretty good, but these two patches look really awkward."

Su Yuan didn't reply, but took out the aging tools and materials from the toolbox.

Chen Xiaohe quickly made way for him but didn't leave; he just stood there watching.

Su Yuan smiled and made a kicking motion with his foot at him. Chen Xiaohe pouted and moved back. Su Yuan then moved the portrait in front of him.

The two patches on the lady's face were applied last night. After the silk patches dried, they were whitish in color, and their color differed from the surrounding silk.

He dipped a small brush in soy sauce and applied a thin layer to the patched silk.

After the color was absorbed, the patch became darker, but it was still lighter than the original artwork.

You have to take it one step at a time, slowly, and you can't rush it.

After the first coat dries, apply the second coat, and after that dries, apply the third coat.

When I applied the fourth layer, the patch's color was almost the same as the surrounding silk color, but it was still a little yellowish!

Su Yuan mixed some ochre, added a little ink, diluted it with water to a very light consistency, and then used a brush to lightly sweep it across the patched silk.

This time the color is right, a yellowish-brown hue that blends seamlessly with the color of the old silk, making it difficult to discern any boundaries.

Next comes adding strokes!

Starting with the lady's nose, the original painting outlines the nose with light ink, and the sides of the nostrils are tinted with ochre to give it a three-dimensional look.

Su Yuan dipped a small brush in light ink and made a stroke on the patched silk, following the brushstrokes of the original painting.

The brush tip should be fine, the pressure should be light, and the ink color should be light!

With one stroke, the outline of the nose appeared. He looked at it, compared it with the undamaged nose next to it, and the intention matched.

Then, apply a dot of ochre to each side of the nose and gently blend it out with the belly of a brush.

The color seeps into the fabric and looks like it's grown onto the surface.

The right eye is a bit more complicated. The lady's eyes are long and narrow with upturned corners. The pupils are painted with thick ink, giving them a bright look!

Su Yuan moved his wrists and first outlined the eye sockets, drawing them in one stroke with light ink and fine brush, without breaking the line.

After drawing the eye sockets, I added a small, dark dot to the center of the pupil.

After I finished looking at it, its eyes seemed to come alive. I compared them with my left eye, and they were the same size and had the same expression!

Chen Xiaohe stood to the side with an admiring expression, without saying a word.

Su Yuan moved the figure painting aside and picked up the large landscape painting.

The ink on the tree trunk needs more. I touched it up twice last night, but the color was still a bit too light. He dipped his brush in dark ink and traced over the areas where he needed to touch up the strokes again.

This time the ink is darker, matching the dark ink of the original painting!

The small holes on the stone are simply aged today. There are four small holes distributed on the stone, two of which are right on the texture lines of the stone.

The wire broke after it was repaired, but it's working fine today.

Su Yuan dipped a brush in light ink and, following the direction of the texturing lines, added a stroke to the patched silk. The line was now connected, coming from the left, passing through the patched silk, and ending on the right.

Now it looks exactly like it was never broken!

The other two holes are in the blank spaces of the stone, without any image content, so it's even simpler; just make them look old.

After applying three coats of dark soy sauce, the color quickly became the same as the surrounding silk color.

The one with flowers and birds is the simplest!

After aging the wormholes on the edges, the color of the patch on the largest part in the lower left corner was too dark, so I applied two coats of light ink to adjust it.

Su Yuan turned the painting over and looked at the back again. The patch was attached firmly, and the paste hadn't bubbled.

The bird's feathers are relatively intact, so it's best not to move it if you don't need to.

The color of the hibiscus flowers in the painting has faded considerably, but the pink edges of the petals are still there, and the gamboge of the stamens has turned grayish-yellow.

Su Yuan didn't touch up the colors; the fading was the original mark left by time, and it was best not to touch it!

The patch with the most patches was in the upper right corner of the small landscape painting, with seven or eight small patches crammed together. Su Yuan carefully aged each patch one by one, applying two or three coats of old soda water to each one.

When I was painting the last small section, the tip of the brush touched the original painting next to me, leaving a light ink dot.

"How did you manage to slip up..."

He frowned, quickly took out a damp cotton swab and gently wiped it off. The ink spot came off without leaving a trace.

Seeing his flustered appearance, Chen Xiaohe couldn't help but chuckle to himself!