Be gentle

On the second day of Christmas, the competition finally entered the judging session of the final round-robin competition.

The contestants all arrived very early on this day, and Huaran naturally also came early.Now that the competition is over, the contestants are no longer strangers to each other, but probably because the atmosphere at the scene is quite tense, everyone's greetings are a bit awkward.

The theme of this competition did not stipulate that it must be a Chinese-style wedding, so the program group also included Western-style wedding items among the materials prepared, but because it was an embroidery competition, most of the contestants chose items from Chinese-style weddings.

Only three contestants boldly chose Western-style wedding dresses and bouquets, and the remaining seven contestants, including Huaran, finally limited their theme to Chinese-style weddings.

Among the seven contestants, two chose the red hijab, one chose the scarf, one chose the wedding dress, one chose the pillowcase, one chose the screen, and Hanaran chose the fan.

Every time the judging contestants need to draw lots again, this time Huaran draws the tenth place to play.Yuan Min, who is also a Suzhou embroidery artist like Huaran, was the first to appear on the stage, and the work he brought was a dragon and phoenix screen.The most shining skill of Suzhou embroidery is double-sided embroidery, which is not only a magic weapon for Huaran, but also for Yuan Min.

Yuan Min was in his early forties and started learning embroidery since he was a child.Her ancestors have produced many masters, and her sister is also one of the representative inheritors of the cultural heritage of the Su embroidery project.Since the first round, she has never dropped out of the top three, and her accumulation of points is far ahead of the subsequent players.

Naturally, she did not disappoint the judges this time. The dragon and the phoenix competed neck to neck, complementing each other into brilliance, golden silk and red thread, magnificent and eye-catching, compared to the Guangzhou embroidery which is good at this skill.The judges were all surprised that she completed such a highly completed work in such a short period of time, and they were constantly amazed.

At the beginning, Yuan Min's work overshadowed the next few contestants. It was not until the appearance of the Hunan embroidery wedding dress combining Chinese and Western styles that finally aroused everyone's interest.This Hunan embroidery contestant is called Gu Xiu, 35 years old and well-known in the field of Hunan embroidery.

During the competition, she often catches people's eyes with innovative ways, but unlike Huaran, who is more inclined to ingenious ideas, her innovations are more bold and out of place, and her results fluctuate greatly.

But this time she obviously made the right bet. The white cheongsam wedding dress is embellished with auspicious patterns in Chinese weddings such as peonies and narcissus. In addition, Hunan embroidery is good at expressing flowers and birds, and the rich and gorgeous colors have created a huge visual impact for everyone. shock.

Huaran watched nervously as the contestants went up and down one by one, her heart beating faster and faster.She was the last one to appear on the stage for the first time, but she didn't expect the pressure to be so great.

Because she didn't do anything in the first four days, she spent nearly one-fifth less time than other contestants. Even though she was satisfied with the final product, she still had no confidence—this might be the last time she stood on this stage. on stage.

"Okay, then we will invite No. [-] contestant Huaran, and the work she brought us is the 'Fish Playing Lotus' butt fan."

When Huaran heard her name, she took a deep breath, and without thinking about it, went to the stage.

But the fan has been pushed onto the stage by an assistant, and it can be seen clearly under the light.

"First of all, I want to ask Huaran, this is a competition with the theme of marriage, why did you think of choosing a fan as your work? Does it have any meaning when it is called a fan?"

The host introduced the topic at the beginning, Huaran tried to maintain a smile, nodded and said: "Yes, in ancient times, brides used not only red hijab to cover their faces, but also fans to cover their faces. In the Tang Dynasty, fans It has become a common etiquette, and it is said that some brides will not remove the cover of the fan until the groom writes a fan poem."

"Sun Jing, are you ignorant?" Jiang Yizhen laughed and teased his partner, "I know this, but fan poems are also called makeup poems, and Tang Shunzong's daughter Princess Yunyang's makeup reminder poems are very famous."

"Jiang Yizhen, I think you did your homework specially, and you still dare to laugh at me, you are amazing, but you memorized a section?"

Jiang Yizhen glanced at Huaran, shook his head and said, "Forget it, I don't want to make a fool of myself, let's leave the time to the contestants and judges."

"I knew you wouldn't."

"Hmph, I don't want to steal the limelight, what do you know!"

Sun Jing and Jiang Yizhen sang together, which caused bursts of laughter from the audience.

Jiang Yizhen turned around and said to Huaran: "Huaran, I heard a gossip that you officially started to complete the work on the fifth day. Did you encounter any difficulties before?"

"Hmm... At the beginning, I couldn't think clearly and wasted a lot of time. Fortunately, I finished it before the deadline."

"It seems that Huaran is very meticulous about her works, and has spent so much time on conception. I believe she won't disappoint everyone this time."

Sun Jing was very supportive, and Hua Ran felt ashamed.

"I hope so."

"Okay, then let's focus the camera on this pair of 'Fish Playing Lotus' fan. You can see that the fan is in the shape of a round fan, with a red lacquered bamboo frame and handle. The embroidery is still the familiar double-sided color. Embroidery, one side is a pattern of fish playing with lotus, the main body is two lotus flowers, and there is a red carp at the bottom. Although the two sides are similar in pattern, the details are different, and the movement is different. Next, we will invite several judges to explain and comment on this piece work, and ask questions to the contestants.”

Jiang Yizhen briefly introduced the work, and then gave the right to speak to the judges.

Huo Hanwen was the first to speak. Because of his in-depth research on traditional culture, he often explained to the audience some knowledge that the contestants wanted to express that ordinary people did not understand.

Huo Hanwen held the microphone in his hand and smiled kindly: "Before commenting on Huaran's works, I would like to praise our little Jiang first. Being able to know but also know the makeup poems really proves that you are very caring. Has anyone else done it because of your heart?" I don't know that this competition is interested in our traditional culture, but at least you are really involved."

Jiang Yizhen said "thank you" with a smile, and Huo Hanwen continued: "As for the poem about Princess Yunyang getting married, the fan poem is like this, 'Princess Huanyan is expensive, and she married Marquis Wu's family. Heavenly mother tunes fans, Japanese brother pity flowers. Urge the shop of Baizi tents, and wait for the Qixiang car to be blocked. Let me ask if the makeup is not done, and the east wants Xiaoxia', it can be said to be quite charming."

The audience burst into applause for the erudition of the judges. Huo Hanwen waved his hands modestly, and continued: "We all know the director of Su Embroidery. This time, combining the theme of marriage, it is really a very smart choice for Huaran to choose Embroidery. One side of the product is the pattern of "fish playing with lotus". Patterns such as fish playing with lotus, butterfly exploring flowers, and phoenix wearing peony have always been common patterns in Chinese wedding customs products, which contain very rich metaphors and express implicitly. It describes the process of couples falling in love and getting married and their desire to have more children, so it fits our theme very well.”

"Looking at the two sides, we can also see Bingdilian and Pisces playing in the water. This should be the entire artistic conception that the double-sided embroidery wants to express. The fish playing with the lotus, the fish holding the lotus, and the Bingdilian and the Pisces playing in the water summarize the new couple from before marriage. , marriage and the whole process after marriage.”

Following Huo Hanwen's explanation, the camera also gave a close-up of the work.Only then did the audience see that the red carps on the two sides of the bottom are of the same body and different heads, looking through the light, it seems that they have crossed the interface and are in a tailgating scene.The two lotus flowers also have overlapping sepal petals, like lotuses with parallel pedicles.

"Huaran is a contestant, we have watched her grow up all the way. Her style can be said to have inherited the most distinctive characteristics of Suzhou embroidery. It is fresh and meticulous. Although it is not as shocking as some other contestants at first glance, it is very beautiful. It’s intriguing. As far as I am concerned, I like this work very much. As for the other ingenious features, let the other two judges and teachers discover them.”

Huo Hanwen's comments almost commented on all the images that Huaran wanted to express on the bright side. Huaran deeply admired his embroidery accomplishments, and bowed: "Thank you, Teacher Huo, for your comments."

Huo Hanwen was followed by Wang Yuanzhi, who gave comments on embroidery skills and some suggestions and opinions, and finally said: "It is quite rare for Huaran to have such skills at this age, even compared with her predecessors, but you still have it." There is a lot of room for improvement, I hope you will continue to work hard..."

Just when everyone thought she was going to end the comment, Wang Yuanzhi suddenly said: "Wait, the part where the flower dyes you... Please show me the camera teacher, it is the stem part where two lotus flowers meet... Yes, I want to ask Huaran, what kind of silk thread is this?"

A close-up of the work was shown on the big screen. Before, everyone only saw this part as a gradual blue-black color, which is not obtrusive to the lotus stem, and it did not attract the attention of others just now.

"It's hair strands."

Huaran gave an answer that was beyond everyone's expectations, but Wang Yuanzhi nodded, "Sure enough, the hair is concentric. Using hair as silk thread is not unique to Cantonese embroidery. Suzhou Hair Embroidery specializes in this art."

As she spoke, she glanced at Huo Hanwen, and said with a smile: "Old Huo's speech is good, it's really intriguing."

Huo Hanwen laughed loudly, "Then you can also save some for Teacher Kevin to talk about."

"Thank you Mr. Huo for giving me the opportunity. I've been holding back for a long time," Kevin immediately took over the conversation, holding the microphone without making any circles, and said straight to the point: "Xiaoran, did you use the same trick again? The lighting engineer lighting Master, please light up, let us see if that is the word 'simeng'."

The lighting engineer gave the light on the back according to the words, and the studio gradually darkened, only to see that the shadows presented by the fan pattern looked like the word 'silk' and the word 'dream'.

There was an uproar in the audience.

This competition uses silk dream as the key word. Silk dream can be understood as the name of the organizer, or the vision for embroidery, a traditional craft, or the purpose of holding this competition.The first nine contestants did not particularly rely on this during the creation process, because a little interpretation of the works can be said to be on this.

But Hanazan's cryptic but extremely straightforward expression is more impactful than those interpretations.

Huaran's voice sounded at this time.

"The key word this time is silk dream, whether it is the silk dream company or for our players, the 'silk dream' is a theme worth expressing. Before the host Jiang Yizhen and Mr. Huo both mentioned that the fan became a custom in the Tang Dynasty, but Speaking of the Tang Dynasty, everyone must think of another word, that is the Silk Road."

"At that time, Silk Road spread real objects, but today's Silk Dream wants to spread culture. Now every player, every person who devotes himself to this industry is working hard for this, and I only thought of this in the end. A way to express your gratitude and expectations.”

The author has something to say: Ah, in fact, writing competitions is the most tiring, although I am basically talking nonsense.