Seal Making

Our teacher for Seal Making was Professor Jim, the same person who taught us about Calligraphy. He told us, though an interpreter, that there are four traditional Chinese arts: poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal cutting. All Chinese artists are expected to be well versed in all four.

This made me smile because I couldn't imagine Andy Warhol engaged in poetry writing. Perhaps I underestimate his scope.

The original purpose of seals was to identify the sender of a message. Seals were to be as unique as a thumprint. In ancient China, before the invention of paper, messages were written on bamboo scrolls, then tied with string, the string sealed with mud, and the mud imprinted with the sender's seal. If the message was opened, the seal could not be made by anyone other than the sender, so the tampering would be evident.

With use, over time the edge of the seal wears down. Sometimes moderns seal makers with break down the seal edges to make them look old. Even today, some Chinese use their seals for their signature at the bank.

Inexpensive seals are made of soapstone, but there is a kind of stone the same color as chicken blood (what color is chicken blood?) that is used for expensive seals. In our class we used soapstone, which is very soft, and we were glad, because even with very soft stone, it took a long time to etch a seal.

First those of us without Chinese names were assigned a name. My son is named James, which has no Chinese equivalent, so they assigned him the same name as James Bond, 007, which he found rather thrilling. Then the simplified characters for the name are translated to ancient or more formal letters, which always require more strokes. Then we reversed the image, and copied it in ink onto the bottom of the soapstone.

James and I worked on his seal for over an hour, etching tiny strokes in a small block of soapstone requires patience. Somehow, in the same time, Sarah did two, one in English and one in Chinese. The teacher made sure our etching was deep enough to show up on imprint. Seals always use red ink, and James and I were quite pleased with the red mark on our notebooks. He has the seal to take home, I will probably take it to class with me Monday to talk about it with the class.

I hadn't expected to enjoy calligraphy or seal cutting so much, but the pleasure the instructor took in his craft crossed the language barrier as though it did not exist. It is always wonderful to meet someone who loves something, and is happy to share it with others.