Exquisite weaving handcrafts of She Ethnic Group
She’s colored ribbon and bamboo plaiting enjoys the highest praise among its weaving crafts. Colored ribbon, namely figured belt, is also called towel belt. From five or six years old, She girls follow their mothers to learn and weave colored ribbon. The exquisiteness of colored ribbon is an important standard for girl’s celerity and deftness. When a girl is engaged, in the gift presented to the husband, there must be the colored ribbon knit personally. Colored ribbon is not only an ornament, but also a daily necessity used to wipe sweat and brush off the dust. Colored ribbon is generally 1.3 meters long, 0.2 meters wide. The patterns are mainly divided into two types, one is composed of the wicker lines, the other is printed and dyed white flowers patterns with blue bottom. In the content, there are ” 13 rows”,” 12 symbolic animals”, ” water hitting flowers”, “copper cash band”, and “five words belt”. Embroidering the lucky blessings directly on the belt is much more popular in the She counties.
The She inhabited area abounds with bamboo, such as China pink, mottled bamboo, gold bamboo, Thunder God bamboo, which provide rich raw materials for the bamboo plaiting handicrafts. The exquisite bamboo plaiting go through dozens of procedures, including selecting suitable materials, breaking bamboo, dyeing and spraying paint. Other than screen, hanging curtain, pillow, mat and chair for daily use, there are also a lot of vivid, beautiful and exquisite baskets. Take the basket in the goose’s shape as a example, have the goose’s body as the container, the neck as the handle, and the milky white thin bamboo strips as the feather. It is lifelike, beautiful and practical.
A lot of bamboo plaiting handicrafts find a good sale abroad, and win overwhelming popularity. The bamboo hat can be rated as a special skill among She’s bamboo plaiting. As thin as hair, the thin bamboo strips on the top layer of a bamboo hat amount to 220 to 240. The bamboo hat has got two types of outer fringe, two fringes and three fringes. On the top of the bamboo hat, different patterns will be seen, such as swallow, roof, four cases, three eaves, cloud head, swallow mouth, tiger tooth, and star. The nine-layer thin strips in five colors are applied to weave the bamboo hat, which is very exquisite, light and handy, and also watertight. Adorned with bright pink silk ribbons and a variety of pearls, it is much more dazzling and brilliant. She women like putting on a figured bamboo hat when going out to the market or for a visit.
Besides weaving crafts, She’s embroidering art is also worth telling. Women like to embroider figures and patterns onto the collar, the cuffs, the clothes front and the apron. The pattern has natural lines, such as plum blossom, tree peony, lotus flower, peach blossom, chrysanthemum, bamboo flower, orchid, magpie and phoenix. There are also distorted geometry lines, such as Suotong, Wanzi, cloud heads, cloud cross, floating dragon, hilltop, and wicker. The articles for daily use decorated with embroidering patterns are pillowcase, drapery, bonnet, vamp, bellyband, five-cereals pack, cigarettes bag, ect. The embroidery applies the colors of distinct contrast, very beautiful and gratifying.
