Materials
woodblock carving
ICH Materials 64
Photos
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Prerequisites
Besides Sek-chung and Min-dru, there are also other tools crucially necessary for the art. To mention these; Tag-pai Shing, jeli (plane) and Sok-som (sandpaper) to smoothen the plank, Par-yig (script sheet), Pyin (glue) to paste the script, Sek-chung, Min-dru, Dar-do (whetstone) to sharpen the tools, Pe-kar mar-khu (mustard oil) to soften the wood, phag-ze (brush) to clean he surface, and Chu-rey (damp cloth) to cover the woodblock.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Production Process
Production Process\nThere are series of techniques of traditional production process. occasionally, these are procedures are highly recommended to be followed in order to produce qualitative scripts, beauty and the life durability of the woodblocks.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Procedure 6, 7, 8
6. 1st step: Using Min-dru, scripts with a circular shape are pierced and made hollow. The skew chisel is used next to pierce upwards along the border of headlines and vowels. This stage is called go-key or making cracks on the side.\n\n7. Reversing the woodblock yig-drui go-key, the shape of headline and vowels is made vivid.\n\n8. Keeping the woodblock in the right position, using the chisel consonants, strokes, and even the dots have to be carved from the left hand side line. This step is called Tsug-ju or piercing.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Traditional Treating
Traditional Treating and Staking Methods\nSoaking the carved woodblocks in very hot mustard oil is a traditional way of treating and refining woodblocks for durability.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Woodblock stacking
Proper stacking and care should be maintained to locaet the woodblocks. It is recommended not to stack one another on the top since there is high risk of breaking the scripts when it is being used. Therefore, woodblocks should always be stacked in a horizontal standing position with a foam sheet cut in its size and insert between the woodblocks to protect the engraved scripts.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Respect texts as the speech of Lord Bddha
Thus, in fortresses, monasteries, temples, and even in some private houses in Bhutan, huge collections of ancient scriptures are found.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Yig-par (script engraving)
The name ‘Par-zo’ is a combination of two meaningful units. ‘Par’ refers to figure or an image and ‘zo’ denotes art. However, the engraved products are generally called Shing-par or can also be said in the reverse order as Par-shing which is literally engraved woodblock.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Pe-ling biography woodblocks
These woodblocks still preserved at Kun-zang dra monastery, one of his temples founded in the 15th century in Bumthang district, central Bhutan.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Shing-par (woodblock) close-up
Yig-par appears in smaller size compared to Dhar-par blocks. It entirely contains Buddhist scripts sometimes with few portraits of some enlightened beings. Scriptures like Buddhist cannons, commentaries, philosophies, instructions, meditations, etc. are often engraved on both the side. However, both the Dhar-par and Yig-par will have identical mirror-like scripts.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Printed prayer flags
Normally for Dhar-par printing five different fabric colors; white, yellow, red, green and blue are used. These colors represent five elements while cloth is purposefully used for the durability. The prayer flags are either attached to a pole and hoisted on the hills or stitched on a rope and hung on the tree branches, across the cliffs, bridges' railing, and in the sacred places.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Birch tree close-up
Betule utilis tree is grown abundantly at elevations of 4,800 to 3,000 meters above sea-level along with Junipers, conifers, and rhododendrons. It grows as high as 15 to 25 meters approximately. The leaf measures 3 to 10 centimeters long with paper-like maroon bark.
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Par-zo, The Art of Woodblock Carving_Tools Holding Techniques 2
However sometimes, woodblocks can also be seem placed on the desk with the left fingers supporting firmly from the left end that aids to produce qualitative woodblock.
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