3. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting
grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel,
lacquer, or glass are engraved.
But how about engraving patterns on a leaf which is thin and soft?
Huang Taisheng, born in 1950 in Taizhou, east China’s Jiangsu province, succeeded in
leaf engraving after years of effort and is recognized as a pioneer of natural leaf engraving
art. In 1994, after his artworks were collected to be recognized for a Guinness World
Record, he was awarded a certificate from the headquarters of Guinness World Records
in Shanghai. He was inspired by a moth-eaten leaf whose veins looked like a map of
China. Engraving on thin, fragile, wet, and soft leaves seemed an impossible task at the
very beginning, but he never gave up. With unremitting efforts and help from biological
experts, Huang came up with a special biological solution. When a leave is dipped into the
solution for a certain period of time, it will become suitable to engrave characters or other
demonstrative patterns on it.
In addition to soaking, the selected leaves have to go through several dozens of
processes before changing into beautiful works of art, including trimming, hammering,
pressing, engraving, grinding, ironing and bleaching.
Professional treatment with the special biological solution and the above processes will
make the engraved leaves more flexible, damp-proof and moth-proof, and likely to be well
preserved for a long period.
Huang’s works are highly recognized and collected by many museums in China and the
rest of the world. The themes of his works mainly fall into the following categories:
historical figures such as Confucius and Shakespeare; Chinese calligraphy and murals;
Buddhism; political leaders, cultural gurus etc.
