In the seal cutting studio of teacher Hu Wenxiu in Xihu District of Hangzhou, a dialogue about the integration of traditional skills and modern tools began quietly. Mr. Hu is a professional seal cutting teacher graduated from China Academy of fine arts. He has 17 years of seal cutting teaching experience and has been engaged in seal cutting education in primary and secondary schools for 12 years. She is not only skilled, but also committed to conveying cultural heritage and aesthetic value through seal cutting, so that this ancient art can continue to live in the younger generation.
In the teaching of seal cutting, "grinding stones" is a basic skill that every learner must pass, but it often becomes a link that dampens students' enthusiasm. The traditional handmade grindstone is time-consuming and laborious, especially for children who are full of concentration and eager to drop their ideas, more than ten minutes of mechanical polishing is easy to reduce their interest. In addition, the stone dust produced in the process has long plagued teachers and students, even if wearing masks is still difficult to completely avoid. The real pain points in these teaching are exactly what Mr. Hu deeply understands in his daily work.
In order to solve these problems, a semi-automatic stone grinding machine designed for seal cutting came into being. The equipment adopts double disc design, equipped with 240 mesh emery disc and 1000 mesh sandpaper disc respectively, realizing the complete process from rough grinding to fine grinding. Its unique water spray system can effectively suppress dust, realize "dust-free polishing", and make the learning environment healthier and cleaner. What is more worth mentioning is that the flatness of the stone surface ground by the machine is extremely high, which can be tested by glass paperweight, and almost reaches the level of "motionless", which is an accuracy that is difficult to achieve by hand.
In Mr. Hu's personal experience, the machine shows the characteristics of high efficiency, clean and easy operation. She specifically pointed out that this tool can greatly improve students' learning efficiency and sense of accomplishment-"like a tiger", allowing children to focus more on the design and creation itself, rather than being tired of preliminary preparation. At the same time, she also put forward suggestions from the perspective of teaching safety and practical operation: for primary and secondary school users, consider combining the two discs to simplify the process and installing protective covers to ensure safe use.
This exchange is not only a product test, but also a collision between non-genetic inheritance and contemporary design thinking. The needs observed by Mr. Hu in the front line of education, combined with the designer's exploration of tool innovation, point to the same goal: to make the learning of traditional skills easier, more interesting, and closer to the living habits of contemporary people. As the emotion in the dialogue, "the significance of tools lies in serving people"-whether it is to reduce the burden of work or to protect the enthusiasm of creation, its essence is to make the road of cultural inheritance more stable and further.
In the era of rapid change, the intangible cultural heritage such as seal cutting still shines with wisdom and beauty. Through moderate technical assistance and continuous teaching enthusiasm, we are quietly building a bridge to connect the thousands of years of gold and stone charm with the palm temperature of the next generation.
Hu Wenxiu
Telephone: 13858064270