Years as an Apprentice

Becoming a Master After Seven Years of Apprenticeship

In general, an apprentice could graduate after 3 years and 4 months of apprenticeship. However, Master A-fa believes that 3 years and 4 months are actually not enough to fully learn Master’s skills and craftsmanship. Even if he had been exposed to all the processes, it was difficult to become proficient in such a short period of time. Therefore, he spent 7 years with his master to gradually become familiar with the skills of knife modification and application and learn how to copy the appearance of statues, as well as the delicate and exquisite artistic techniques such as lacquer thread coiling, painting, and gold leaf layering to strive to achieve perfection in every aspect.

Master A-fa said that usually in the first 3 years and 4 months, apprentices had learned the statue sprucing techniques such as drawing lacquer threads and painting, and some apprentices would end their apprenticeship at this time. However, in fact, craftsmanship such as draft drawing, prototype copying, fine trimming, and face opening are the focus of statue sprucing. Because regardless of whether a statue of a god is painted or not, it already has a basic image, which is the key to the soul of a statue.

Moreover, Master A-fa only learned how to mix lacquer during the last two years of his apprenticeship, especially the lacquer used for laying gold leaf. This is a very important step in the craft. If the proportions could not be grasped correctly, the gold leaf would not be able to fit the statue smoothly. Master A-fa didn’t realize it until he accumulated enough experiences in this part in his 6th year as an apprentice.

Figure 2-6c: Master A-fa tells us: regardless of whether a statue of a god is painted or not, it already has a basic image, which is the key to the soul of a statue.