The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 314: To restore ancient paintings, I must first learn how to make noodles? (Seeking guaranteed monthly tickets)
"I knew it."

"I knew it."

"I knew the thickness of this shrine was wrong. There must be something strange inside."

"Why should I drag it back..."

Shen Le stared at the photo of the Buddhist shrine displayed on the X-ray machine, his face full of unhappiness, and he kept muttering to himself.

The main seat in the center of this niche must be more than 30 centimeters deep, so that the Buddha statue can be placed inside safely.

However, the niches that house the small Buddha statues around them are only 5 centimeters deep at most.

Then the question is, 30-5=25, what is in the remaining 25 centimeters?
Or are the other places just hollow and wasted?
Shen Le had never thought about it. But now, after a quick X-ray, the answer was clear:
In addition to the main seat, there are a lot of things placed behind the small Buddha statues in the niche.

The images from the X-rays overlapped and had no pattern at all. Shen Le printed out the images from the front, side, and both directions. He looked left and right but couldn't tell what they were...

"Anyway, let's just hope they aren't too badly damaged..."

Shen Le muttered softly, not having much confidence.

Although he specializes in ancient architecture and not woodwork, lacquerware, etc., he has also seen things taken out of old houses and seen what they look like after years of use.

For example, under the ridge of the roof of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City, there is a treasure box with a painted dragon pattern.

Although the treasure box was sealed with lead-tin alloy, when it was opened, the preservation of the items inside was still difficult to describe:

According to records, this box should have contained scriptures, money, five kinds of gold ingots, five-colored gems, five-colored satin, five-colored silk threads, five spices, five medicines and five grains.

However, all the organic matter, the five spices, five medicines and five grains have rotted into a ball, and the scriptures, five-colored satins and five-colored silk threads have also decayed, but are still vaguely visible.

The situation of inorganic materials is much better. Among the five kinds of ingots, gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin, except for the serious rust of iron, the materials of the other four ingots can be clearly distinguished.
The 24 gold coins, engraved with "Peace in the World" in both Manchu and Chinese characters, are still dazzlingly bright, and the 5 colorful gems can also be seen clearly.

If the Buddha statue or various metal Buddhist utensils are hidden in this niche, then it is Amitabha Buddha, and the restoration should not be difficult;

But what if there are some scriptures, paintings, embroidered Buddha statues hidden...

It was soaked in water for an unknown amount of time, and then taken out and placed in a dry place for an unknown amount of time. It was not scientifically cleaned or preserved.

It is said that a thousand years is dry, ten thousand years is wet, and only half a year is neither dry nor wet.

The shrine itself was not rotten. Shen Le thought that it was because the red sandalwood was indeed solid, and secondly, it was because the great demon who collected these things had a very strong demonic aura...

Even so, if the collection in the shrine is organic matter, the difficulty of restoration is so great that Shen Le feels dizzy just thinking about it.

He did not open the shrine, but carefully carried it back to the studio and placed it on the workbench. Then, based on the damage to the shrine, he carefully formulated a repair plan:

This shrine has been in disrepair for many years and is seriously contaminated by dust. The heavily painted silk painting on the front has many cracks and wear, and is missing a part, and the color has fallen off in some places.

Only a few places have faded, and I really have to thank two things for that. First, the demon's aura reinforcement level is too good, and second, the mineral pigments are heavy and adhere very firmly.

In the middle of the niche, in front of each small Buddha statue, there is a round glass piece embedded to block the Buddha statue inside. The glass piece is stained over a large area and partially missing.

In addition, five small Buddha statues have become loose. After being moved and shaken, they can be clearly seen to be disconnected from the main body. Some Buddha statues have even slid into the wooden grid at the back...

Shen Le thought about it for a long time and still felt that directly dismantling the Buddhist shrine would cause too much vibration.

Or should we fix the painting silk first so that it can withstand the vibration, and then dismantle the shrine, so that the damage will be less?

He rubbed his hands together and began to carefully remove the dust from the entire shrine, especially the painting silk.

As soon as the dedicated vacuum cleaner was taken out, there was a burst of excitement in the studio. It was time to get to work!

It’s finally time to get started!

All those things like taking photos, filling out forms, drawing pictures, etc. were really troublesome. It’s still fun to work!
The puppet came running over quickly. The thread swung and wrapped around Shen Le's belt, and then it climbed up quickly.

[Shen Le! Are you ready to start working? Do you want me to help you? Can I get you the vacuum cleaner? Or, can I get you a rag and clean the area around the shrine?]

[I’m coming too! I’m coming too!] A few small silver balls of light floated out from the wick of the small oil lamp, moving up and down, floating non-stop:

[Dust removal is what I am best at! I wipe it with static electricity and it will be absolutely clean! Watch me! ]

[And me! And me!] Hong Jiayi also shouted. The short sword rang, and it came out of the sheath half an inch, clanging: [I am going to moldy standing here all day with nothing to do!]

"...Okay, stop arguing." Shen Le sighed, picked up the little wooden puppet, and put it back on the drawing table by the wall:

"Be good and accompany your sister Lanzhuang to paint, okay? Or, if you have time, go get a hair dryer and blow the red wedding dress inside and out, so that she won't complain about it getting moldy?"

It’s a headache. These little guys have so much energy.

Pinocchio performs four times a day, each performance constituting a lesson. When he returns home, he can still do somersaults, dance, and tease this and that every day.

Not to mention the red wedding dress. All the cleaning work at home has been given to her. She has pulled out all the grass on the roof, and yet she still complains every day that she has nothing to do.

Do we all have to work intensively 24 hours a day like a doll cabinet to avoid getting bored?
Obviously there are also good personalities among the weapon spirits... Just look at Lan Zhuang and Luo Pan, one is patient and steady, the other is taciturn and never causes him any trouble...

He calmed the puppet and forcefully turned off the oil lamp, and finally he was able to concentrate on his work.

It is not difficult to remove dust from the picture frame, sides, back and top of the Buddhist shrine. Just vacuum them once and then wipe them with a soft cloth to remove stubborn stains.

Only the colorful silk painting made Shen Le feel troubled:
Do I have to take it down directly from the shrine and wash it?

Such a large silk painting with so many holes on it would easily break and deform just by taking it apart!

Instead of taking it down, they just used the common method of restoring ancient paintings, pouring boiling water on it...

It is almost 100% certain that boiling water seeping into the Buddhist shrine will cause great damage to the wood behind it and the collections inside the wood!
Shen Le searched for information, searched for information, and searched for information desperately. After searching for a long time, he found a method in a corner:
You can roll dry dough over the picture to "dry clean" the picture and absorb the dust!
He was also worried that the information he found was unreliable, or that it was not suitable for the situation he was looking for. He took a photo of the entire silk painting and sent it to Teacher Zhang, asking him for advice on how to clean it.

Teacher Zhang's message came back quickly:
"Have you found a new old item? The painting on this shrine needs to be repaired. I wonder if dry dough can be used?"

"Yes, it can be used. I have also found relevant information, and some experts use this method. In addition, the painting method of these Buddhist paintings is very similar to that of thangka. You can look up thangka restoration--"

Shen Le thanked him profusely. Then, he asked a soul-searching question:
"Then teacher, how much dry dough should be dried?"

"..."

A long string of ellipsis popped up in WeChat. After a long while, Teacher Zhang's reply came again:
"Can you make pasta?"

"will not!"

Shen Le replied confidently. Why would a kid who grew up in a Jiangnan water town need to know how to make noodles?
Not only can I not cook pasta, but even my daily staple food is rice. I rarely eat noodles!
Even if you need to eat noodles, you can just go out to a restaurant. If that doesn't work, you can buy a bag of noodles from a street shop, or a bag of dumpling wrappers or wonton wrappers. Anything will work.

I have never learned the skill of making pasta!

"..."

Of course, without the basics of making pasta and kneading flour, it would be difficult for Teacher Zhang to teach him. The other party was silent for a long time, and then threw seven or eight videos at him in one breath:
"Come on, follow the instructions in these videos and learn how to knead the dough first. Knead until your hands and the bowl are not sticky, and the bowl is completely clean without any flour. That's basically it.

——Then, find a few more ancient paintings of the same type and roll the dough you kneaded on them. Roll and knead it a few more times, and you will almost get the hang of it!"

Thanks to those chefs on Bilibili who work tirelessly to post videos teaching people how to cook. There is always one that suits you!
Especially those that are for "beginners" and "can be learned after watching the video"!

Shen Le thanked him sincerely. He opened the videos one by one and turned to the end:
"Teacher Zhang, do you also play Little Red Book?"

"Oh, Xiaohongshu is very useful for finding guides. Sometimes it is even better than Bilibili... It is very interactive, with many people answering questions, and the answers are very detailed..."

Shen Le was speechless. He clicked on it and saw that it was indeed there. From which kind of flour to use, to what temperature of water to use, all kinds of questions that only newbies would ask were answered.

So Shen Le pushed the shrine aside, rolled up his sleeves, and began his painful life of adding water when there was too much flour and adding flour when there was too much water:
Too much water again!
It’s less again!
The flour flew out!

The water was clearly measured with a measuring cup, the flour was weighed on a scale, and I followed the instructions, so why did the result still turn out to be wrong? !

By the way, why should I explore so hard on my own?

I can just find someone to guide me!

"Boss, is there anyone here who is good at kneading dough? Can you give me some help? I don't ask for much, just teach me how to knead dry dough!!!"

　It's a new month!
　　It's a new month!
　　Vote for the cat with your guaranteed monthly ticket!

　　Cat wants a ticket——

　　
　
(End of this chapter)