Shandong Province
QuanBei Village
DaZhao Village
Lang Village
LiShe Village
LuLiu Village
MiaoJia Village
Xiaozhan Village
Nie Jiazhuang Village
Gaomi City
Weifang City
Workshop
Lang Village Chapters:
Dough Artist at Work
Liang Xiucai works in tandem with his wife to make several dough figures at once. They go through an intricate process of steaming and drying the dough before painting it and letting it dry again. It all begins with a simple dough from wheat flour and water. Though it was not traditionally part of the recipe, Liang Xiucai now adds a small amount of yeast to accelerate the process.
The artists skillfully knead the dough, using the palms of their hands as well as their fingers. This process helps to toughen the gluten so that the dough will hold its shape properly. Often they will use natural food coloring to dye the dough. The bitter tasting paint is non-toxic, in case children place the toys in their mouths.
The artist then rolls the dough and cuts it into intricate shapes to make the figures to be sold at market. Liang Xiucai uses water to attach different parts of the shape together, most often making roosters or tigers. Once they are molded into shape, the pieces are placed on a round woven mat for drying.
Liang Xiucai’s wife covers the tray with a linen cloth, and then takes the tray into the kitchen where the figures will be steamed in a small earthen oven. Using dried leaves from corn stalks to fuel the fire, she stokes the flames in her smoky kitchen for half an hour. The corn stalks, which are readily available throughout the village, are also used to heat the oven for cooking. Because of the yeast, the dough figures will rise from the oven’s heat. Once steamed, they are placed in the sun to dry.
After this process has been completed, the figures are painted with a transparent paint mixed with glue made from pigskin mucilage. Using brushes made by a customer in Jinan, Liang Xiucai paints the dough pieces using one color at a time. The colors are added in a specific order. Starting with yellow, he paints each piece and then puts them out to dry. He repeats this process for each color: black, red, green, and then blue. These five colors are the only colors he uses.
