Folk clay sculpture, also known as traditional clay sculpture, has a history of more than 6,000 years. It has been passed down mainly in the form of temple god sculpture. Before liberation, it had a broad market among the people and was deeply welcomed and appreciated by the masses. Located in the Huaibei Plain at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui, especially in Linhuan Town, a national cultural town in Suixi County, there is an inexhaustible supply of pure clay, the main raw material of clay sculpture, under the surface (about two meters). Because it is yellow and has the same viscosity as glue, it is named yellow glue mud. It has a unique pure, fine, sticky and hard texture. According to the words of my parents, my family has a history of nearly 200 years. From the ancestors to my father, they are all famous craftsmen of god sculpture in the area within a radius of 100 miles. To this day, I still completely inherit and imitate every production process and technique of their folk clay sculpture craftsmanship, especially the selection of soil and making of mud are particularly important. On the basis of selection, drying, soaking and smashing, two more processes, tumbling and kneading, are added to make the clay as flexible as steamed bun dough, which is more handy to use, making the work smooth, hard and less cracked, and can be guaranteed not to deform for thousands of years. The second is to tie the skeleton. The skeleton is the most important link in the shape, proportion and firmness of the work, and it is the most basic element related to the success or failure of a work. In order to be more sure, it is best to make a "small sample" first, and then enlarge it according to the proportion, which is the most reliable. Then you can wrap straw ropes or straw. The purpose of wrapping straw is to leave room for the shrinkage of the clay, and to reduce the weight and make it easier to stick to the clay. Applying coarse clay is also very important. First, use coarse clay to roughly and accurately make the prototype of the work, which will lay the foundation for making fine clay. However, the thick parts need to be applied multiple times, and the limbs extending out of the body or the flowing lapels need to be supported. For example, wide sleeves should be wrapped with straw or hemp into mud strips to prevent falling or breaking. When the coarse mud is dry and feels hard when pressed with fingers (the fire mouth should not be too hard), fine mud is applied to make it shrink synchronously with the coarse mud to reduce cracks. As long as there is a skeleton, cracks are inevitable, but repairing is a science. Before there is cement material, use more sand to make fine powder, add a small amount of gypsum powder and smash the fine glue mud to make a hard block, rub it into thin strips as needed and force it into the cracks, polish it after drying, and it will never crack again. Small cracks can be smoothed with putty once, and finally polished and colored. Generally, folk clay sculptures are mostly colored sculptures. For larger works, after polishing, they should first be sealed with foreign dry lacquer or cooked tung oil, and then cotton paper should be pasted as the base color. For smaller works, egg white is used to mix and brush it on, so that the works are smoother and brighter. The pigments are better to use Chinese painting colors, which can be guaranteed not to fade for decades. Clay sculpture tools are simple and special. Most of them are made of bamboo and wood according to needs. For example, wooden sticks, wooden hammers, wooden mallets, wooden teeth, snake head (curved) knives, etc. are all carved from jujube wood, paper mulberry wood or pear wood. Small parts are carved from bamboo knives, bamboo shovels and bamboo cones. Of course, the sophistication of tools often reflects the level of a craftsman and should not be underestimated. In particular, it is more difficult to make standing powder relief lines on works. Standing powder is a unique skill in the clay sculpture industry. In the temple god project, my father also invented a wooden human head bogie, which is indispensable, because the light in the temple is generally very dark and the position is high. In order to be accurate, the head must be pre-made and installed before working down, which saves time and effort. At that time, fellow apprentices often imitated and borrowed it. Over the past decades, in addition to completing his job duties, he has created a large number of clay sculptures for large-scale exhibitions and temple fairs held in the region, which have attracted widespread attention from the audience, leaders and the media, and the title of "Clay Sculpture Li" is also praised among the masses. In recent years, the traditional clay sculpture production process and techniques have been used to create vivid characters reflecting the life of the times, small works of fables circulated among the people, and characters and scenes reflecting the major themes of the Huaihai Campaign, which have brought immeasurable social benefits to revolutionary traditional education and modern civilization construction, and fully embodied the value of folk clay sculpture art and inheritance and protection. Nevertheless, due to the endangered situation caused by the fault of more than 60 years in the last century, it is necessary to cultivate new talents and markets for industrial operation to achieve sustainable development. At present, it is urgently needed for the government to attach great importance to and invest funds to carry out rescue excavation, protection and inheritance. Otherwise, folk clay sculpture art will face the crisis of loss and extinction. Information source: Anhui Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Information source: Anhui Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center