Textile, Hand Stitching

Textile restorer:

Sewing with needle and thread

Walking into the studio of the restoration Hall of the Chinese Silk Museum, it is quite as if the air is frozen, contrary to the bustle and bustle in other areas. A few pieces of textiles are fixed in the hands of the master, while the magnets are fixed in the hands. In their skillful mending, the time is like a reversal, and the millennium cultural relics can "turn decadent into magic".

Tailor made, great knowledge of cultural relic restoration

At first glance, the repairman is "fully armed", wearing a white coat, masks, gloves, and the working table is also equipped with lighting equipment like operating lights. "It feels like an operation," the reporter joked to Wang Shujuan, deputy director of the Technology Department of the China Silk Museum. She responded with a smile: "the cultural relics restored here have been unearthed all over the country. The first thing to do before restoration is to check the" disease. ". Sometimes I feel like a doctor, but the patients are ancient textile relics. "

Disinfect, remove dust, clean and level cultural relics There is a lot of preparation before the restoration of cultural relics. Wang Shujuan said: "the team adheres to the restoration concept of" scientific diagnosis and accurate treatment ". Before the treatment, it is necessary to analyze the cultural relics before treatment. " The reporter told her that each piece of cultural relic had to be customized.

In Wang Shujuan's opinion, compared with other cultural relics, the restoration of textile relics is more difficult. "Take the unearthed silk fabrics as an example. Because they are protein fiber fabrics, most of them have problems of decay, mildew and embrittlement, which can easily become fragments when touched. If there are decorative techniques such as lace, the restoration process will be more complicated. " In her words, "these babies are more delicate."

Not long ago, Wang Shujuan and her team members successfully restored the silk fabrics unearthed from Huang Sheng's tomb in the Southern Song Dynasty. After 15 years of work, she has restored countless cultural relics, but she is most impressed by the restoration experience. "A purple brown gilt striped dress unearthed from the tomb is too fragile. Many parts of it have become in a state of lock, so it is very difficult to repair it." The team moved a lot of thought, with a piece of backing underneath, covered with a layer of crepe yarn as thin as cicada wings. The cultural relics were sandwiched between the two before they were fixed. This crepe yarn has a lot of advantages. Wang Shujuan said: "it was independently developed by our scientific research team. It is not only thin, but also has excellent light transmittance. Sometimes it can't be felt after sewing for a long time." Thanks to the R & D innovation of repair auxiliary materials, the textile repair effect is better. The research team has also developed silk protein reinforced spray, which can be repaired in two ways: physical and chemical.

Although the work is hard, we are looking forward to inheriting it

While speaking, Fu loushuqi, a teacher who is leveling cultural relics, calls out "nail pain". She told reporters that when leveling cultural relics, they need to be fixed with magnets. The magnets are very thin. If you pick them up and put them down, you have to pick them up and put them down. After a day of fiddling with them, your fingers don't have to be pinched. What's more, they need to maintain the same posture for a long time. As a result, most restorers suffer from occupational diseases such as cervical spondylosis and periarthritis of shoulder. "Sometimes the unearthed relics give off a bad smell, which needs to be adapted slowly." Wang Shujuan said.

In this way, the restoration of cultural relics is a hard job. Wang Shujuan light smile, "as long as enough attention will not feel bitter." She said that this job needs to be patient and calm, but the most important thing is to love and have a good attitude to talk about technology. "Although there have been many interns in the studio, most of them are scared away by this loneliness." Then she shook her head helplessly. There are more than 20 members in the team, all of them are "women's army". The average age is over 35 years old. She said that she occasionally "panicked" and worried about the lack of reserve forces. How should this "ingenuity" be passed on?

"At present, we mainly rely on" helping and guiding. " Wang Shujuan said that if a cultural relic is repaired by experienced teachers, new people can also grow rapidly. "We have a pigeon pattern brocade robe of Liao Dynasty in our collection. It took more than three months for seven young girls led by teacher Lou Shuqi to repair it." The stitching area is only 4 mm, and the stitching area is 4%. Wang Shujuan said that the restoration of this cultural relic can be called "devil training", and has also carried out a strict and even harsh needling training for the newcomers. "There is no shortcut to improve the restoration skills. Only by being patient and" grinding "can the skills be continuously improved." After this "devil training", the level of girls has improved by leaps and bounds.

The story of cultural relics enters thousands of families

Today, not only is the museum a "guide", but also many workstations are set up outside the museum to guide local cultural relics workers to learn how to repair. "Xinjiang workstation was first set up since 2011. Our key scientific research base of the State Bureau of textile and cultural relics protection has set up 6 workstations at home and abroad, and trained more than 50 textile restoration talents for the local people."

"So many talents have been trained. Have you ever counted how many pieces have been successfully repaired so far?" Wang Shujuan did not think much of it in the face of a reporter's question. She admits that although there are statistics every year, such quantitative data are not significant. "The numbers are not as realistic as this one-on-one repair!" she sighed.

With these hundreds, thousands of years of silk fabrics together for a long time, in Wang Shujuan's eyes, they are no longer cold unearthed cultural relics. The reporter noticed that Wang Shujuan's eyes at silk fabrics would inadvertently show love. She said the relics are not only "patients" but also "friends" to herself. "For those" critically ill "cultural relics, we must first let them" live "and then" live again. "

In order to cooperate with the Silk Road restoration team, Wang Shujuan is still trying to repair the Silk Road in June 2020. The first time she was an anchor, she was a little nervous and prepared a lot. "When it comes to cultural relic restoration, many people always feel that it is mysterious and remote. We hope to show you every step of restoration through live broadcasting." Wang Shujuan said: "if the restoration can make the cultural relics" live ", then using new media such as live broadcast to let more people approach the cultural relics restoration, understand the history behind the cultural relics, and give full play to the cultural and popular science values of cultural relics, which is to make the cultural relics" live. "