Straw weaving (Xia Pi cattail leaf fan weaving technique)
Pizhou has a long history of straw weaving. According to the "Pizhou Records of Products and Customs" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, "poor old women are also good at needlework. They weave cattail leaves into fans and weave grass into shoes. They are quite exquisite and rare overseas." Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the weaving of cattail leaves fans in Pizhou has become a pillar industry of the vast rural handicraft industry in Pizhou, forming more than a dozen professional cattail leaf fan weaving villages, and thousands of people are engaged in cattail leaf fan weaving. In 1915, the "cattail leaf fan" woven by Pizhou fan weaving artists Li Fengxiang and Huang Zuo was selected to be exhibited at the Panama World Expo and won the silver medal. Pizhou cattail leaf fans have attracted attention at home and abroad and are deeply loved by the people. The Pizhou cattail leaf fan weaving skills are distributed throughout Pizhou. The most concentrated areas of weaving artists are Picheng Town, Guanhu Town, Huayuan Village of Guanhu Town, and Chengnanyan of (formerly) Picheng Town. Every household there weaves cattail leaves and makes cattail leaf fans. It is a well-known professional village for making cattail leaf fans. The weaving process of Pizhou cattail fan has extremely strict requirements on the quality of cattail. Cattails harvested in shallow water or dry water within half a month during the wheat harvest season in June every year must be selected. They are commonly known as "bud cattail" or "small fire cattail". The main tools for making cattail fan are scrapers, rollers, leaf cutters, scissors, brushes, workbenches, wet towels, etc. The main production methods are: 1. Preparation of cattail materials (cattail collection, cattail leaf processing, cattail dyeing); 2. Weaving (plain weaving, pattern weaving, plaiting, twisting and weaving techniques); 3. Decoration (wrapping fan edges, decorating fan handles, and painting and calligraphy patterns with irons). The fan surface of Pizhou cattail fan is generally 2535 cm long, 2025 cm wide, and the fan handle is 810 cm long. There are many shapes, most of which are duck egg-shaped, and some are round, peach-shaped, square and special-shaped fans, etc., with unique shapes, beautiful and generous, and different weaving patterns. The weaving of Pizhou cattail leaf fan is the crystallization of the wisdom of Pizhou folk hand-weaving artists and has high artistic value. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)