Chinese Paper Art

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Here's something very new (well, if you consider almost 2000 years old to be new) and different for His Nibs.com. These Chinese paper art pieces (also known as paper cuts <G>), are all hand-cut and colored by artisans outside of Beijing, where this traditional art form has been continuously practiced for more than 70 generations!

Listed below are just the first few of many subjects that we plan to carry in the future, which will include butterflies, dragons, Chinese blessings and zodiac, tigers, Xi'an Terracotta Soldiers, flowers, fan paintings, pandas, Yamato-e (classical Japanese painting), Dunhaung Flying Fairies, traditional country life, additional Peking Opera subjects, Chinese bronzes, etc., etc., etc.!

The individual pieces are shipped un-mounted -- suitable for framing -- or they can be pasted on windows or walls as is the traditional method. Most complete sets are bound into little booklets, while framed subjects will be available in the near future.

Please click below to read a more detailed description of the art form, and to see what's currently in stock. We hope to be adding categories on a regular basis, so please check back often. Any subject shown can be ordered quite quickly, and if you have a subject in mind, please inquire and let us see if it already exists!

Description

Constellations

Dragons #1

Eight Immortals

FlowerBird #1

FlowerBird #2

Horses

Kitties

Peking Opera

Paper-cut is one of China's most popular and characteristic folk arts. It takes paper as the material and scissor or engraving knife as the tool. The tradition can be traced back to the 6th century. However, it probably emerged even a few centuries earlier. In Chinese culture paper-cuts symbolize the idea of blessedness, luck and fortune. Most Chinese families use them as window decorations and patterns, and for religious and decoration purposes.

In the past, paper-cutting works were sometimes used for religious purpose, serving as decorations for sacrificial offerings to the ancestors and gods. While nowadays, people use paper-cutting works as decorations for entrance gates, windows, walls, columns, mirrors, lamps and lanterns. During some important festivals, such as China’s traditional Spring Festival, it is very significant to paste some paper-cuts on entrance gates. They are supposed to bring good luck for the family. Besides, paper-cutting works are also used for decoration on presents or are given as presents. Some paper-cuts are specially made into embroidery base patterns used in decorating clothes and lacquer work.

The paper-cut art has been widely spread and of a long history. It has exerted an influence on decorative patterns, leather silhouette, printed cloth, embroidery and paintings. Folk paper cutting outlines the natural forms by way of employing characters, symbol and implication to constitute beautiful patterns. In some rural areas in China, various paper objects and symbolic figures are used to be buried with the passed.

Paper-cuts are produced by hand, not by machine. There are two methods of manufacture: scissor cuttings and knife cuttings. By scissor cutting, artists put several pieces of paper together, and then cut out the motif with sharp, pointed scissors. By knife cutting, artists put several layers of paper on a relatively soft foundation consisting of a mixture of tallow and ashes. Following a pattern, the artists hold a sharp knife vertically and cut the motif into the paper. Considerably more paper-cuttings can be made in one operation with knife cuttings than with scissor cuttings.

As a form of folk art, it occupies a significant position in the folk activities. Since the time as early as the Southern Song dynasty, professional paper-cutting craftsmen have emerged. Today, in the countryside, usually only women and girls make paper-cuts. It used to be even one of the craftsmanship that every girl was to master and that were often used to judge brides.

Forms of Folk Paper-Cut

Window Paper-Cutting
Window paper-cutting refers to the type of paper-cutting works pasted on windows as an ornament. In the north of China, farmers' houses are mostly windowed with wooden squares. It is commonly seen that a layer of white leather paper is pasted on the vertical squares, rectangular squares or geometrically patterned squares. In case of some important holidays, such as Spring Festival, instead of the old leather paper, new paper-cutting work is pasted as a symbol of bidding farewell to the outgoing year and ushering the New Year in. The fauna and flora, figurines as well as a series of theatrical tales can all become the themes of the window paper-cuts.

Gate Label

Festival Paper-Cutting

It is a type of paper-cutting works that hang on the gate sills. It is also called "hanging label", "hanging money". It is in the form of flag with big head, double size and lower part as tassel. It is engraved on red paper or multi-colored paper, with geometrical patterns. Embedded with figures, flowers, phoenix, dragons and the other propitious characters, the gate label must be hung in series when hung up.

It is used to decorate the household appliances and indoor furniture, such as teapot, soapbox, basin, and dressing mirror. It takes the form of circle, rectangle, peach, pomegranate and other propitious patterns. The auspicious themes and red color imply happiness.

Gift Paper-Cutting

Shoe Paper-Cutting

Gift paper-cut is attached to cake, birthday noodle and egg. In Shandong Province, people attach it onto the "happy egg" to celebrate a baby's birth. Tortoise-patterned paper cuts symbolic of longevity are commonly seen in the countryside of Fujian Province.

Served as the base pattern for shoe embroidery, it is cut into a bundle of flowers or a shape of crescent moon, which are embroidered on the head of shoe or matched to the size of the shoe vamp and along the two ends. With themes of flora fauna and birds, shoe paper-cut makes possible doubled needling and color changing, two embroidery techniques.

Paper-Cutting Flower Bundle

This kind of paper cutting has a layout pattern. It takes a form of a circle-shaped flower with two or four even sizes. The paper can be folded up and cut into a flower bundle in two or four even sides. This pattern has its great merit in decoration.

• Exoticism:
All of our paper cuts are handmade by folk experts in China, where paper-cutting has been a traditional folk art dated back to 105 A.D.
• Quality:
The pictures are carved from special Chinese paper, and manually painted with bright Chinese ink.
• Feature:
The pictures are cut out inside as well as at the edges, and each motif is a perfectly unbroken piece. Therefore they are harmonious with many kinds of background. You will marvel at how the delicate links connect the whole picture together.

In Chinese culture paper-cuts symbolize the idea of blessedness, luck and fortune. Most Chinese families use them as window decorations and patterns, and for religious and decoration purposes.

Ordering Procedures & Returns

International customers, please note, we will not falsify shipping documents

Credit cards, for the quickest fulfillment of your order, are accepted through PayPal, a secure site allowing you to use your credit card without us even seeing the information. If you'd like to make use of this credit card service, please let us know when you email your order and address, and we'll email you the appropriate Request for Payment, and instructions for the simple payment procedure (you don't need to join PayPal to use it).

If you would like us process your credit card directly instead, then please email us:

1. Card # (dividing this number in two, between two emails, will ensure security)
2. Expiration date
3. Name on card
4. Address for billing statement
5. Card verification # (3-digit number printed on the back of your card. It appears after and to the right of your card number, or 4-digit number on the front of your AMEX card).

If you'd rather pay by money order or check, kindly make payable to:

His Nibs.com
2540 W. Union Street
Allentown, PA 18104

We ship via insured Priority Mail
(email for cost)

Please send your order and shipping address (along with any questions) to:

orders@hisnibs.com
(on PayPal transactions, the email address may also display as stonebri@sprynet.com -- both are valid)

We will email you back with your order total (PA residents please add 6% sales tax)

Warranties and returns

If an item proves to be defective, in most cases the manufacturer's warranty will apply. However, please email us first so that we can determine the easiest way to resolve the problem to your satisfaction. In the case of fountain pens -- which are a bit more individualistic than other writing instruments -- what may at first appear to be a defect (hard starting or poor flow for example), can in almost all cases be resolved with a few simple 'tweaks' to the nib, which we'll be happy to guide you through or perhaps suggest returning to us for adjustment.

Should you wish to return a non-defective item within 3 days of receipt because it doesn't suit you for some reason, again please email us and we'll arrange an exchange, credit or refund (minus any shipping/insurance charges), if the item is returned in an 'as new' condition. If you've dipped a fountain pen to try its writing characteristics, kindly clean off any ink residue prior to shipping -- to save us both a nasty surprise .

We want you to be happy with your purchase from His Nibs.com and hope to have you join the ranks of our many long-term, repeat customers!

Revised: February 8th, 2010

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