Shadow play is selected from many games that conform to the theme of play within the framework of the theme of play. Shadow play, a traditional handicraft, integrates the artistic expression forms of light, shadow, sound, color, motion and stillness. Under the operation of the performers' subjective initiative, shadow play is performed and narrated in a regular and story-like manner, bringing pleasure, cheerful and fluctuating spiritual feelings to the viewers. Most of its presentation is flat. In this regard, we start from the materials and processes of traditional handicraft - shadow play, to explore the possibility of 2D to 3D, and at the same time simulate the characteristics of its materials with other materials, so as to expand more possibilities in the application of materials for the design.

In the analysis, exploration and extension of traditional handicraft and traditional materials, the raw material of traditional handicraft shadow puppet-skin will be used as an important material. However, how to make good use of the effects and characteristics of shadow play, and purposefully demonstrate the design concept with the help of the characteristics of the material itself, and solve the weaknesses of the material itself are the difficulties of this material exploration, analysis and expansion. In the analysis and understanding of shadow play, the effect presented by shadow play is the ensemble performance of light, shadow, color, pattern, story, operation, etc., and if we continue to go deeper, we will find that the permeability of the material itself has relatively important significance, and the permeability of the material makes the color and structure of shadow play appear under the action of light.

Skin is a material that is extremely susceptible to moisture and is easily deformed in a natural state, but craftsmen will make clever use of this feature. Since skin is very hard and difficult to carve in a dry state, craftsmen will wet the skin before carving, and will put the skin in a wet towel, which needs to cover all the skin. Here, you can also put the wet skin in a sealed bag to let the skin evenly wet, and then wait for some time to reach the right humidity, easy for craftsmen to carve. The traditional production process of shadow puppetry is generally flattened, wet, carved, colored, flattened, combined and other steps.

The traditional handicraft of shadow play is based on our great help and thinking on how to change the plane of shadow play into three dimensions in the design concept. The help is that the original production techniques and techniques of shadow play are largely retained in the process of transforming three dimensions, which provides the basis for our production. The thinking is how to solve the problems of skin shaping and styling. Finally, on the basis of the original traditional handicraft production, two important steps of shaping and shaping were added, which are roughly flattening, cutting, wetting, coloring, shaping, shaping, combination and other steps. The following are some of the more important steps to elaborate.

Painting Methods｜dry method, wet method Features｜uniform, level, gradient In the painting step, the dry method and the humidity method have their own characteristics. The dry method is suitable for making layered colors in the color, while the wet method can make the gradient more natural.

Molding Method｜Mold, manual Features｜Regularity, curvature, efficiency Mold molding is suitable for regular shape, with good standard. Manual molding is flexible, suitable for irregular shapes and radians, relatively poor standard, low efficiency.

Stereotyping Method｜Heat setting Features｜Temperature, stability, dry Heat shaping is a relatively efficient shaping method, which has a certain temperature of the wind will quickly evaporate the water left on the surface of the skin, so that the skin becomes dry and achieve the role of styling, the skin is relatively hard and will not be deformed in the dry state.

Wood wax oil on different paper

Method｜Apply by hand

Features｜Texture, transparency, similarity with skin

Different paper due to its different texture and fiber, under the action of wood wax oil presented the transparency effect is different, the test paper has cardboard, vellum, kraft paper, rice paper, etc., the test result is that the transparency effect of rice paper is the best, and the effect of material leather is the most similar.

Painting Method｜Apply by hand Features｜Gradient, level, texture The coloring process is done by hand, using tools such as clean patches and colored wood wax oil, first applying a light color and then a dark color. If the color on the surface is not uniform, use a clean cloth to wipe it.

Paper, pvc, wood wax oil

Due to the limitations of the natural properties of the skin, its size is restricted, so in order to make a model with a certain size, we need to explore effective solutions, and explore the simulation of materials, how to simulate the permeability of the skin is the problem we solve, in the experiment we tried the possibility that the paper will become translucent under the action of wood wax oil. The result is similar to the natural effect of skin. But the paper is relatively thin can not support a considerable volume of the model, in response to this problem we intervene in the use of transparent material PVC, PVC in the model to support the role, but also have plasticity, but will not affect the transparent effect.

2018 winter analysis, exploration and extension of traditional materials and techniques, we start from the traditional handicraft shadow play production process and materials, in the shadow play effect and expression form, we feel the wonderful shadow play on the two-dimensional plane, in the characters, colors, patterns have given us great thinking, how to expand and think on the two-dimensional shadow play? At this point, we put shadow play in another dimension, that is, three-dimensional, to look at and think about the expression and artistic presentation of shadow play.

The material characteristics and production process of shadow puppets gave me inspiration, such as the possibility of wet molding and stereotyping of shadow puppets. Moreover, the natural attribute limitation (size limitation) of shadow play gives us the possibility to think about making models that exceed the size of the skin, which introduces the exploration and application of analog materials, which is the comprehensive application of PVC, paper, wood wax oil and other materials.

Therefore, explore more possibilities and more design languages between traditional crafts and traditional materials and contemporary design, so that traditional crafts and traditional materials have infinite possibilities and new vitality.