The Art and Technology of Stone Carving

• Introduction to stone carving

Stone carving: As the name suggests, it is a stone carving work carved from different stones. Commonly used stones are granite, marble, sandstone, etc. Stone carving is a visible and tangible work of art, and its presentation is the aesthetic embodiment of the sculptor. The style, shape, and form of each stone carving are different.

As an ancient and long-standing art form, it carries the profound cultural heritage and exquisite artistic skills of the Chinese nation. From the rock paintings and wall carvings in ancient times to the exquisite stone carving crafts and large-scale stone carving works of art today, the art of stone carving has been passed down for thousands of years, continuously developed and innovated, and always exudes a unique charm.

The development speed and wide application of stone carving have become an indispensable part of the stone industry. The stone carving technology is even more amazing. Whether it is manual carving or machine carving, the works presented are all exquisite designs of human beings. Next, let us introduce two processing methods of stone carving.

• Artificial carving

Artificial carving is a traditional carving method, producing finished stone, all manual build, and cohesion of the carver's efforts and skills. The carver's requirements are very high, design, conceptualization, painting, carving, and so on to be a one-two punch. From the design conception ideas to painting draft samples, and then to the fine carving, each step shows the craftsman's ingenuity. Carver according to the characteristics and texture of the stone, using a variety of carving tools, stone carving, giving it life and soul.

The most important feature of manual carving is its uniqueness and artistry. Each piece of work is unique, infused with the carver's personal feelings and aesthetic concepts, and therefore has a high artistic value. The lines of the works are smooth, beautifully modeled, and full of three-dimensional sense as if telling the historical vicissitudes and cultural inheritance of thousands of years.

• Mechanical engraving

With the progress of science and technology, the application of CNC stone engraving machines has brought new changes to the field of stone engraving. stone engraving machine can be based on pre-designed drawings or models, and automatic engraving operations, the efficiency is much higher than manual engraving, and can achieve accurate reproduction, suitable for mass production of stone products.

The advantage of machine engraving lies in its high efficiency and accuracy. For some complex shapes, and high repeatability of stone carving works, such as large stone components, relief, stone crafts, etc., machine carving can quickly complete the carving work, reduce costs, and improve production efficiency. At the same time, the CNC stone engraving machine can accurately reproduce patterns and details to ensure the consistency of the work.

• Comparison of manual and mechanical carving

Artificial carving has a long history, and exquisite skills, completed by the carving master by hand, so the works created are more artistic and unique. However, manual engraving is slower, the production cycle is longer, the labor cost is higher, the cost is high, and the accuracy of the finished stone depends on the technical level of the engraving master.

The emergence of using the stone engraving machine carving prompted a fundamental change in the stone engraving process, greatly improving the quality of engraved stone products, and improving the productivity of engraving, so that thousands or even tens of thousands of engravers from the heavy manual engraving work liberated, and greatly improve the working environment of the engraving, so that the engraver's work is more relaxed. However, machine engraving lacks creativity, and mass-produced works often seem stereotypical, lacking artistic sense.

In general, manual engraving is more suitable for the creation of high artistry, and uniqueness, while machine engraving is more suitable for the production of large stone sculpture components, mass production of stone sculpture products, and so on.

• Summary

Manual carving and mechanical engraving are the development of the stone carving process in the course of two important forms. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but in the same way, the ultimate goal is to create beautiful stone carving works of art. With the progress of science and technology, artificial intelligence technology will be gradually applied to the field of stone carving, injecting new vitality. Looking to the future, artificial carving and mechanical carving will work hand in hand, in the inheritance of traditional skills based on continuous innovation and development, and jointly write a new chapter of the stone carving process.