Gourd pyrography craftsman passes on skills

Si Chun'e, a gourd pyrography craftsman – in the Dingtao district of Heze city, in East China's Shandong province – has been proudly and faithfully inheriting and promoting gourd pyrography for nearly 20 years.

The relatively arcane world of gourd pyrography – also known as poker work, or fire-stroke decorating – is an unusual traditional handicraft. Generally, when decorating a gourd, the artisan first uses a pencil to draw a sketch on the gourd and then use a soldering iron to heat out the marks bit by bit.

Si Chun'e works deftly on a gourd. [Photo by Zhao Hanghai provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With an electric soldering iron balanced in one hand, Si spends a few hours in drawing peony pictures on a gourd. With the gentle sliding of the burning tip of the soldering iron, lines of varying depths slowly emerge and later, a graceful and luxurious peony flower slowly "blooms" on its surface.

A closer look at Si's gourd pyrography artwork. [Photo by Zhao Hanghai provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Si, a master of his craft, decorates directly onto the gourd. The temperature of the soldering iron varies and the hues produced are also different.

Si said that he had been fond of artistic endeavors since childhood, but at that time he only did some oil paintings. Later, when he saw that there were many people who liked gourd work, he had the idea of decorating them.

Gourds of different sizes and shapes can be seen everywhere in Si's home and each gourd is emblazoned with different patterns and themes.

"The Chinese word for gourd, namely hulu, has a sound similar to the Mandarin words for fortune and happiness – fu and lu – and there are more and more people interested in gourd pyrography," Si said.

Master Si added that he is willing to teach younger generations at no charge, so that the traditional technique can be passed on. (Edited by Jin Yongxue)