Chinese Signboard Carving

Last Sunday, Rox took the opportunity to join one of the Penang "living heritage" craftsmen to carve her own signboard.  These boards are traditionally placed over the entrance of Chinese homes to display their family or clan name or perhaps their ties to a particular district of China.  (There may be other intentions, but this is what we were told!).  So at 9 AM, she showed up and learned she was the only "student" for the day, which meant plenty of individual attention!  After helping select the symbol she would carve, Brenna took off with her friends to hang out for the day (Chris was running in a race that morning).  Brenna and Rox selected the "ancient" symbol for "home" since we have no Chinese heritage (that we know of anyway).  Her instructor, Mr. Lee (are all Penang craftsmen named "Lee"?!), wrote the character on paper with his calligraphy brush.  Rox then traced it's outline onto the board using pencil and good old fashioned transfer paper (remember mimeographs?).  After that, it was time to carve!  It was quite amusing to see the reactions of  the people walking past to see a foreign woman carving a Chinese signboard, but I really couldn't look up very often.  Below is the raw board and the tools used :

After cleaning up the lines and depth (more careful carving and sanding), a coat of ordinary paint primer was applied and our board was left out in the sun to dry for a few minutes.  The next step was to apply 3 layers of black lacquer spray paint:

After the 3rd coat, it was time to let the paint cure.  Friend Michelle (from Spiral Synergy) brought the girls and her son back downtown to meet Rox for lunch at a terrific local Chinese restaurant down the street.  Delicious crispy bbq pork, rice, fried bean curd (tofu), chicken, kai lan (a green veggie, bit like spinach on long stalks) and eggplant....terrific!  We also dropped by a small antique shop around the corner and uncovered a trove of old LPs (78's, not 33's or 45's - any collectors out there?), lighting fixtures, old phones galore and various art and household objects from olden days.  Even an old phonograph.  It was completely disorganized, but it was fun to see what was available.  After that, Michelle and the kids left to see Avengers and Rox met Chris at a nearby boutique hotel (Yeng Keng Hotel) for a cold drink and some more waiting time.  This small hotel has been beautifully restored and would be a fun place to spend a night or two.  It's changed quite a bit since our first visit to Penang in fall 2010.  So back to the woodcarving shop we went.

The next step proved to be the most difficult - applying the gold leaf to the character.  The first step was to apply a glue on the character and then wait for it to become tacky. 

Then, the gold leaf could be applied. Gold leaf comes in small sheets, is very thin and brittle and must be handled with care or it goes everywhere! We had to close the doors to the shop to keep the breeze out - so hot and stuffy.  It took quite some time to complete this step and then, we were a bit dismayed as it stuck to the face of the board as the paint had not quite dried. So, we spent the next 45 minutes pulling off the excess with masking tape. Very tedious, but succeeded in getting most of the unwanted residue off! Glad Chris stayed with me as he was more patient with it than I... In the end, we were left with a really nice, unique souvenir of our time in Penang and were more than satisfied with the results. Mr. Lee was a patient and thorough teacher and we really appreciated his time. Will definitely go back to his shop to make a purchase or two in the future!

The artist and her work (plus a glimpse of some of the recent purchases we made at the Edelweiss Cafe remodeling sale!):