Crafting velvet flowers

Making velvet flowers was an endangered folk craft, but it’s now kept alive with more young craftsmen dedicating themselves to the art. Murong Yi, 21, a senior studying at a university in Beijing, is one of them.
绒花制作是一门濒临失传的民间工艺，但如今越来越多的年轻手艺人投身这门艺术中，让这门工艺重焕生机。21岁的北京大四学生慕容意就是其中之一。

Recently, she was trending on Sina Weibo for her video about how to make velvet flower headwear shaped like a golden phoenix. Inspired by Wang Xifeng, a character in A Dream of Red Mansions, the artwork was made of 4,000 pieces of cocoon fiber in 12 days. Generally, it only takes two to three days to make a velvet flower. The video has received over 2.4 million views on Bilibili.
最近，一段她制作金凤绒花头饰的视频在新浪微博上走红。受到《红楼梦》中的王熙凤一角的启发，她花费了整整12天，用4000根蚕丝制作了这件工艺品。通常，制作一只绒花只需要两到三天。这段视频在哔哩哔哩上的观看量已经超过了240万。

Velvet flowers are called ronghua in Chinese, homophonic of wealth and glory. It was a popular decoration in festivals and weddings. Despite being included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage List of Jiangsu Province in 2006, Nanjing velvet flowers were previously lesser known to the public.
绒花的中文谐音是“荣华”，代表着财富与荣耀。这是一种在节日婚庆中的备受欢迎的饰品。尽管南京绒花早在2006年就被列为江苏省非物质文化遗产，但它以前并不为大众所知。

Therefore, Murong faced challenges in learning this handicraft. “I started to learn about it five or six years ago from some ancient Chinese costume historical dramas,” she said. She tried to learn from others but couldn’t find many online tutorial videos. Finally, she watched a one-hour TV program, in which an inheritor showed how to make velvet flowers in detail.
因此，慕容意在学习这门手艺时也遇到了挑战。她表示：“我是从五六年前开始，在一些中国古装历史剧中学习绒花工艺。” 她想试着向别人学习，在网上却找不到多少教程视频。最后,她看了部一小时的电视节目，节目中有位传承者详细展示了如何制作绒花。

Then, there was the problem of selecting and buying materials. Velvet flowers are made of silk and copper wires. “However, it was difficult to buy these raw materials with fewer suppliers at that time,” Murong said.
然后是关于材料的选择和购买问题。绒花是由蚕丝绒和铜线制成的。“但当时供应商很少，这些材料很难买到，”慕容意表示。

Another key step is to choose copper wires in the proper size and type. “The hardness really do matter,” she said. “Even a 1-millimeter discrepancy would lead to a different shape.” Without much experience, she had to make adjustments by trial and error.
另一个关键步骤是选择合适尺寸和类型的铜线。“硬度非常重要，”她说。“即使是1毫米的差异，都会让形状有所不同。”由于经验不足，她不得不反复试错，进行调整。

New ideas naturally came up when Murong grew as a skilled creator. She found a way to have ready-made fiber produced in a factory, allowing consumers to skip the time-consuming task of splitting the fiber by hand. Now, people interested in this craft can simply buy the material from her Taobao store.
随着慕容意技艺日益熟练，新想法自然地涌现了出来。她找到了一种方法，可以让工厂生产现成的纤维，从而让买家无需费时手工分丝。现在，对这种工艺感兴趣的人可以直接从她的淘宝店购买这种材料。

“By doing this, I hope it will lower the threshold for those who want to try ronghua,” Murong said. As a lover of Chinese traditional culture, she said “I’ll learn more about different handicrafts and promote them among young people on social media platforms.”
“我希望这样做能够降低那些想要尝试绒花制作的人的门槛，”慕容意称。作为一名中国传统文化的爱好者，她表示：“我将更多地了解不同的手工艺品，并在社交媒体平台上向年轻人推广。”

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高一839期