Chapter 383 Playing with incense
“Then what kind of incense does Fourth Aunt, this ‘Middle Four Harmony’, have?”
Fourth Aunt said with a smile: “It’s just my joke, little one. Sihe finally faded away It was a bit inconsistent with the orchid fragrance in the small courtyard, so I added some flavoring to the little sihe, using its penetrability to blend the 'little sihe' with the natural fragrance of the orchids and complement each other. ”
At this point, the fourth aunt tilted her head mischievously: "Guess, elbow, what is the spice added?"
Zhou Zhi rolled his eyes: "Bao Zhao's "Zhongxing Song" 》：Cai Chi San Blue musk deer creates fragrance when the wind blows. Ancient people always liked to associate blue musk deer with musk deer, and musk is also commonly used as a penetrating agent in modern perfumes. I guess the spice added by my fourth aunt is musk!”
"The elbow is really smart!" The fourth aunt smiled and said: "It's just musk."
"Cao Xueqin described the fairy fairy: The fairy's clothes are fluttering, smelling the fragrance of musk orchid, the lotus clothes are about to move, listening to the ring "Pei Zhijian"
"The combination of musk and blue is also good." It’s normal for the ancients.”
“What are the fourth aunts doing now?”
“These are the incense utensils, yours is the furnace, and the rest are seal molds, ash presses, and incense sticks. Spoon, incense shovel, incense sweep, mat. ”
"Incense burners are the most common incense tools and come in various shapes. For example, you have found Boshan burners, barrel-type burners, and tripod-type burners at the county cultural center."
"Metal stoves are not afraid of heat and have beautiful shapes. It is full of changes. For incense burners made of other materials, insulation sand such as quartz and crystal is often placed at the bottom of the furnace to prevent the furnace wall from overheating and exploding. "Now I am smoking and baking incense ash. The incense ash used for making incense seals is very important. If the incense ash is moist, it is easy to break the fire. If the incense ash has not been used for a long time, it will become damp. You can use the carbon baking method or the oven baking method to restore the dryness of the incense ash. ”
"This is called an incense shovel. Now that the incense ash is dry, we need to shovel the incense ash out of the furnace with the incense shovel, put it into this furnace, readjust it until it is soft and even, and then use the ash press to compact the ash, but Be careful not to press it too hard, because too much ash will make the powder difficult to burn.”
This is a meticulous and nurturing work. Watching a furnace of fluffy and messy incense ash gradually being scraped and lightly pressed by the ash press under the skillful and elegant movements of the fourth aunt, it became extremely smooth, even with some small scattered ash on the edge. I didn't let it go, and finally it became a little bit away from the furnace mouth and was extremely smooth. It was really a pleasing thing to see.
"The key to pressing the incense ash is to make it flat, but not too hard. After pressing it, you can spread another layer on the incense ash and press it gently with the incense press." The fourth aunt explained while operating: "This layer It's softer than the bottom layer, and it's not used too much. It is smooth because the incense seal needs to be put on it next, so that more oxygen can be supplied in time during the burning of the incense powder. Okay, look at it, this is what it looks like after the incense ash is beaten.”
“This. Fun." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "I guess. I have a lot of female classmates who would like it.”
“Children still focus on their studies,” the fourth aunt said with a smile, “But if you do well in your studies, it’s good to do this in your spare time.”
“Next It's about making incense seals. This requires a seal mold, an incense spoon, an incense shovel and an incense brush. "This is what the seal mold looks like." The fourth aunt handed Zhou Zhi a strange metal plate in the middle. A complex pattern of auspicious clouds is carved into the hollow.
Upon closer inspection, this complicated pattern is actually a single stroke, and the strokes do not cross from beginning to end.
“Most of the seal molds are made of copper.” The fourth aunt waited for Zhou Zhi to finish reading, took the seal mold over, pressed it on the incense ash, and then began to adjust it carefully: “Its function is to make the loose incense pink, The shape of the seal mold is engraved on the incense ash. Therefore, in the notes of the Song Dynasty, multi-tube incense seals are called "seal incense". "
"There are many types of seal molds, which are divided into metal and incense according to the materials. non-metallic, According to the handle, there are single handles and double ears, and according to the pattern, there are simple and complex ones. "The patterns generally have auspicious meanings. For beginners, it is better to choose a simple seal mouth, which is easy to master."
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Then the fourth aunt opened a porcelain jar: "Here, this is the Zhongsihe I prepared. Orange peel, lychee shell, citrus core, pear pulp, mixed with musk."
"Then it shouldn't be called Zhongsihe, it's five things."
"If you want to argue like this, you have to add orchid fragrance, it's six things." The fourth cousin rolled his eyes and defended the four. Aunt.
“It’s okay to call it Six Gentlemen’s Fragrance.” The fourth aunt didn’t care about the two men in front of her: “One is too penetrating and looks like a villain more than a gentleman; the other cannot be fragrant all year round. , there will always be a few days when the company will be cut off."
The fourth cousin and Zhou Zhi looked at each other, are women allowed to be provoked? ! Is this called not caring? ! Are you talking about you or me? !
I heard the fourth aunt continue to say: "If the seal mold is too complicated, it will look good, but it will have the characteristics of complicated seal characters, many turns, narrow and thin seal openings, etc., so the fragrant seal will be printed. The seal script is relatively thin.”
"If you use a relatively oily incense powder, some retraction will occur when this type of incense powder burns, which can easily cause the fire to break."
"The biggest trouble that beginners encounter is that the fire breaks out. Fire, this is because of the It’s because I’m not familiar with the characteristics of the incense powder, I lack seal-making skills, I don’t know how to control the density and thickness of the incense seal, and I don’t choose a suitable seal mold.”
While telling the story, the fourth aunt was using incense. Spoon the fragrant powder into the mold. Fill the hollow seal lines of the seal mold with fragrant powder little by little several times and in small amounts.
"Okay, the seal characters have been typed, and the next step is to start the seal characters." The fourth aunt said with a smile: "This step requires calmness, and the speed and movement of the hands are even and steady. If you don't pay attention, it will be interrupted by shaking. The delicate seal writing has caused all the efforts to be wasted."
"This step is the most difficult for me." The fourth cousin shook his head: "I can't play it."
"I guess that's a mystery," Zhou Zhi said, looking at the complicated seal characters in the furnace.
The fourth aunt smiled slightly, and gently flicked the lifting rod in the center of the seal mold with her hand, and lifted it out.
In the center of the incense burner, on the gray-white ashes, lies a complex pattern made of brown incense powder. It is a series of four words "Fu Shou Kang Ning", which is very beautiful.
"So simple?" Zhou Zhi couldn't help but be stunned: "This seal script is so beautiful!"
"Hehehe... don't be fooled by your aunt's actions." The fourth cousin smiled with a smile. With pride and teasing: "You will know if you try it yourself when you have time some other time."
"What's next?"
"The next step is to burn the seal." The fourth aunt took out a thin incense stick from an incense tube and ignited it on the pine cone carbon, and then used sparks to get close to the seal. Although the seal heads were very close to each other, they did not touch each other. However, the seal heads of the incense sticks were soon ignited by the heat of the incense sparks.
"Okay, this is the process." Fourth Aunt said: "It's a pity that your incense burner is missing a lid."
(End of this chapter)
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