#kesi

Disclaimer: I have no idea about the accuracy of the information shared in the drama, I'm merely transcribing for future reference purposes. Proceed with caution!

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Ep 3: Kesi Weaving

Kesi is an ancient weaving technique with a history over 2000 years that is exclusive to China and is ireplicable by machines. Unprocessed silk is used for the warp and colorful processed silk for the weft. The warp is used across and the weft at places in a silk tapestry. Kesi craftsmen use their shuttle as a pen and perfectly combined silk tapestry, painting and calligraphy.

A lot of valuable and classy tapestry appeared in Song dynasty. That's when the saying "An inch of Kesi is worth ten ounces of gold" originated.

Magpies on branches are coming out of the white silk.

I have long heard Kesi is hard.

And for anything that is produced in my regin,

Do not take it as ordinary needlework.

-Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of Song

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Blossoms and Doves by Shen Zifan from Southern Song dynasty

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Ep 4: Kesi (Cont.)

Song Dynasty was the peak of ancient Kesi's development. It was exquisite in color and basing a Kesi off of a famous painting was popular. Some of these would take months or even years to complete. This period saw emergence of Kesi masters like Zhu Kerou and Shen Zifan.

Blending paintings and embroidery into Kesi appeared in Qing Dynasty which enriched its expression. But some people over abused this which damaged Kesi's artistic values and characteristics. There's no shortcuts in Kesi.

Regular Kesi that is made by connecting the warp and cutting the weft is consistently-double sided. Breaking the tradition by making both sides look different is a recent attempt in Kesi, which was inspired by Suzhou differently-double sided embroidery.

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This was a good ep, check it out for more backstories and beautiful visual storytelling that I cannot capture through transcribing.

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Reintroducing Andrite and Tero’Ra, I present the ‘stuck in development hell’ original character donut steal Kesi, an oc that was made before I turned my ‘thep khufan aren’t an alien species’ Mutants and Magic au as my default Ben 10 ocverse so she stopped being Kesiris.

"An orange-ground dragon kesi depicting a five-clawed dragon reaching for a flaming pearl among ruyi-shaped clouds, its scaly body emitting flames, all reserve on an orange ground, framed and glazed" - Sotheby's

Ming Dynasty

腰圆荷包 hebao by 衣冠百兘