Iron painting, also known as iron flower, has a long history and is a pearl in the treasure house of Chinese national crafts. Originated in the Tang Dynasty, it is a unique art form created by using scissors as pens and iron as ink. It uses tinplate as material and is made into iron paintings with clear outlines, distinct black and white, and elegant style through cutting, drilling and other methods. Tangshan iron painting draws on the layout of Chinese ink painting, integrating folk paper-cutting, wood carving sculpture, gold and silver jewelry forging and other skills into one furnace. It uses iron as raw material and is based on the draft. After forging, cutting, drilling, welding, shaping, annealing, baking varnish and other processes, it is made into various pictures such as flowers, figures, landscapes, grass insects, etc., which are simple, elegant, beautiful and delicate. Liu Limin is the third-generation inheritor of Liu's iron painting. He was born in Fengnan and is 48 years old this year. Since childhood, she has liked the iron paintings left by her predecessors. After graduating from junior high school at the age of 16, she has been engaged in the study and production of iron paintings. In the 1980s and 1990s, when iron paintings appeared in factories, she worked with more than 100 workers in the factory to make them. At that time, the iron paintings were very popular in large, medium and small cities across the country and even in foreign markets. They were praised by foreign friends and were called "cold beauty". After the 1990s, the iron painting skills gradually declined and the iron painting factories gradually closed down. Because she could not give up her love for iron painting craftsmanship, after the factory closed down, Liu Limin did not find other jobs, but made iron paintings at home every day. In order to carry forward this art, she continued to explore the techniques, visited many older generation iron painting makers, as well as iron art production in other regions, such as Wuhu iron painting and Malanyu iron painting, etc., to extract the essence from them and make the iron paintings in her hometown more exquisite and realistic. She also expressed the beautiful scenery of her hometown in the form of iron art according to the changes in her hometown. For example, the iron painting "Beautiful Huifeng Lake" she made was very popular and well received in Yunhe Street. Because of her love for iron painting art, she spent almost all her family's savings on more beautiful and fashionable design and mounting. In her home, finished iron paintings can be seen everywhere, such as fairies with fluttering skirts and spirited horses. They are lifelike. The production of iron paintings is very complicated and very delicate. Its materials are mostly some dull iron plates. Craftsmen use hammers instead of pens to knock out the iron plates into a general shape, and then carve them carefully, trimming the iron plates into shape one by one, and then cut out some decorations with scissors. The most delicate process is welding. Its welding is different from general welding. It uses pure silver and copper powder, and welds little by little. There can be no carelessness. This is not the end. The iron paintings that have been beaten into shape need to be sprayed with paint. The iron paintings to be sprayed with paint are first cleaned with acid water, rust removed, and then sprayed with black paint. After the paint is dry, it is nailed to the white base plate, and then an iron painting is completed. Source: Tangshan Municipal People's Government (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Source: Tangshan Municipal People's Government (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)