The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 343 Buddha Statue, do you think it’s okay for you to repair it like this?

Even with Lan Zhuang's help, the difficulty of Shen Le's puzzle-making work was not reduced to the point where he could complete it easily.

At most, it turns a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with no clues into a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle with a few clues.

It used to take 100 hours to complete, but now it’s half as much, 50 hours?
In short, the whole process of the work was that the alloy boss went from being enthusiastic and giving instructions;
to the point of being restless and turning about;

Then he kept stamping his feet and yelling:
"You are too troublesome!"

“When will it be done?”

"Why do you have to spell these things?"

"...If you are free, can you do me a favor?" Shen Le had to give him something to do so that he wouldn't be idle and disturb him all day long.

He picked out a small bag of gold foil peeled off from the Buddha statue, and then picked out two pieces of gold foil made by the alloy boss himself, held them in both hands, and handed them to the other party:

"Help me try to figure out how to put the new and old gold foil together - or how to stick them together so that they look more harmonious and not too glaring?"

"No problem! Leave it to me!" The Alloy Boss almost snatched the two ziplock bags and turned away.

Gold foil puzzle!
Play with gold foil!

He is a professional at this job!

He is a professional in everything related to gold!

He was swept away like a gust of wind. Only Shen Le was left. He smiled and worked patiently:

"Qingdeng, don't come near! Be careful not to set the lacquer on fire!"

"Zheng Mo, you should also move away. The lacquer with gold glue is very sticky. Don't let it stick to you!"

"And you-"

Shen Le stretched out his hand to block the thousands of black hair. What the hell, if these hairs are stuck to the lacquer, they can't be pulled off, they can't be torn off, and if they are torn off, they will definitely break!
Don't increase his workload!

He worked hard alone, practicing Qigong countless times, using the clarity and concentration brought by the Qigong to help him keep working.

This work was not completed in one go, but first a Buddha's hand was selected and the gold glue paint that had curled and fallen off and then softened again was pasted on it.

Then, mix raw lacquer, cooked lacquer, tung oil and silver cinnabar into gold glue lacquer, and carefully paint the missing parts.

When the paint is dry and no longer sticky to the touch but still a little sticky, start applying gold foil piece by piece:

Pasting gold foil is not an easy task. Because each hand has a different shape, different missing parts, and different sizes, you need to make a plan before pasting the old gold foil:

Fixed point, fixed position, fixed size, fixed process. Several operations are coordinated with each other, and you need to know them in your mind so that you can be accurate when pasting.

Before Shen Le started working, he wrote more than ten pages of notes, and referred to the work results of the alloy boss countless times.

After the whole plan was completed, we started to put it up one piece at a time:

The technique of re-sticking should be light and very gentle. A small piece of 1mm*1mm old gold foil can be removed with a little more force.

After applying it, the gold foil must be pressed firmly, otherwise it will easily curl up and fall off again;

The newly applied gold foil should be combined with the edge of the original gold foil as much as possible, but it should also be adjusted according to the actual operation situation...

Shen Le felt that he was numb from pasting. Pasting gold foil is not just about pasting it. After pasting the old gold foil, it is necessary to do a local leveling process between the old gold foil layer and the body:
When the lacquer is drying, some parts may shrink. Once it shrinks, the surface will become uneven, and once it is uneven, it will not look good when pasted.

Shen Lede checked the joints, the compaction of the old gold foil, and their edge lines bit by bit along their connecting lines. Any instability would be dealt with in time and filled with paint putty.

After applying the paint, you need to use water sandpaper ranging from 180 to 1000 mesh to polish it...

Fortunately, those thousands of strands of black hair took care of the polishing work for him, otherwise, he would really be dead!
After polishing, apply a thin layer of gold glue paint on the entire Buddha's hand and wipe off the excess with rice paper.

After applying the gold glue, new gold foil was pasted on top to fill in the missing parts where the old gold foil was not enough. Shen Le held up the gold foil and the black gold paper holding the gold foil, grinning:

"How do we do this coordinated color and full color..."

He understood the theory, that is, it should look harmonious and unified from a distance, and be able to identify historical information when looking closely, and it should also ensure that the gold foil is firmly attached to it and the stability of the material...

To be honest, the stability of the material is easy, but it is very difficult to strike a balance between viewing from a distance and close up.

Shen Le watched the alloy master do it many times, and he seemed to have some idea of how to do it. However, when he tried to do it himself, he was at a loss again:

“It still doesn’t feel right!”

"So why are you struggling here alone?"

The Alloy Boss watched him put down and pick up, pick up and put down, arranging the gold foil in his hand here and there, but he just didn't stick it up, and couldn't help but complain:

"You are repairing a weapon spirit, not an ordinary artifact! If you can't decide, why don't you just ask it?"

Ah...ah...is it still possible?
Shen Le suddenly realized. That's right, my spirit can speak, it has consciousness, at least, it has emotions!
Even if I'm not sure of its thoughts, I can still let the black hair in the shrine act as an interpreter!

He held the copper sheet in his hand and sat quietly to feel the emotions in the Buddha statue. The Buddha statue with severed head and arms sat opposite him, silent, profound and peaceful.

Shen Le tried to separate a strand of his spiritual power and questioned the Buddha statue, trying to get in touch with its consciousness. After a long while, there was no response at all:

The Buddha statue's consciousness was empty and silent, and it had no reaction to external stimuli. No, it wasn't that it didn't react. Shen Le felt that it didn't care at all:
Paste old gold foil?

can.

Apply new gold leaf?

does not matter.

So don't post it? Keep it as it is?
sure!
Shen Le: “…”

Your Buddhist teachings are so profound that you don't care about material things at all!
Even if he didn't care, he had to pay attention. Shen Le had no choice but to turn around and touch the shrine.

The spiritual power flowed across the shrine like water, and the Buddhist paintings, dozens of small Buddha statues, the clothes, jewelry and black hair in the shrine all reacted.

Shen Le silently imagined several different images, trying to convey them to them, letting them see them, letting them choose:

Which option do you think is better?

Which plan do you think would make the Buddha statue more comfortable and also make you more comfortable?

Almost in the blink of an eye, deep, surging emotions swept over me.

From the gaps in the shrine, thousands of strands of black hair flowed out like a tide, condensing into a huge mass around the Buddha statue. Each strand of hair stood up and pointed at the Buddha statue:
Just stick it like this!

Just stick it like this!

Let me post it!

I'm coming too!
I come!

A peaceful, pious, and eager mind focused on the Buddha statue. Shen Le was in a trance, and it seemed that one figure after another appeared in front of him:
They took off their gold and silver hairpins and handed them to the abbot, who then held the sword in his hand and cut off their thousands of black hairs.

The once valuable gold and silver ornaments were handed over in exchange for baskets of rice, sticks of incense, and even stacks of soft gold foil, which were then skillfully pasted on Buddha statues by craftsmen...

These women kneel before the Buddha statue, burn incense, kneel down, chant sutras, beat wooden fish, pick up Buddha beans, day after day, year after year...

It seems that only by doing this can they find inner peace and avoid being tortured by pain day and night.

"Is that so... these gold foils are your donations, and also your piety..."

Shen Le closed his eyes slightly. Since this is the case, since there is such a connection and intention, then, it’s up to you…

He stopped interfering and raised one hand to press on the shrine, exerting force steadily.

In the shrine, there seemed to be a joyful laugh, and also a sad cry. Then, thousands of black hairs were raised one by one, scrambling to get the gold foil.

Some of them were in groups of seven or eight, carefully holding large sheets of gold foil and applying them to the Buddha statues;
Some worked in groups of two or three, holding tiny pieces of gold foil and carefully applying them to the peeling and uneven areas;

Some were stretched straight, some were bent, and some were measured around the fingers, and then the appropriate size was cut out on the gold foil, which was then placed on the Buddha statue and carefully pressed flat;

Others would wrap small cotton balls and stroke the gold foil carefully, making sure it was smooth and docile without any wrinkles or curls.

"Tsk, you do this job much better than I do."

Shen Le sighed silently. A normal person has 5 to 15 hairs on his head. The hair accumulated in this shrine obviously came from more than one person. There might be millions of black hairs.

A million black hairs are like a million hands, rushing forward together. Their work efficiency will more than double his!
More importantly, during the gilding process, the aura of the Buddhist shrine, the black hair and the Buddha statue quietly communicated with each other.

The aura of the black hair became more vigorous, and the aura of the Buddha statue became slightly more lively, no longer the weak and lifeless state it once was...

"So you are satisfied with this plan, right? You think it's good? You won't dislike it?"

Shen Le asked quietly with his mind. The Buddha's aura fluctuated slightly, but it did not convey any dissatisfaction, but rather a sense of comfort and ease.

After one Buddha's hand was pasted, the black hair hovered unwillingly for a while, and then it quietly retracted when it found that other places had not been coated with gold glue.

Shen Le then opened his eyes and observed carefully:
"Ah, this golden and brilliant appearance..."

If some scholars see it, they will inevitably write a few papers, commenting on the "overdoing", "unclear historical traces", "not complying with the principle of minimum intervention" and so on.

However, the most important thing for me to restore this Buddha statue is to restore its spirituality. If it feels good, that is the best!

It's a pity for my juniors. If they take a photo of such a Buddha statue and use it to write a paper, they will inevitably be criticized by the teacher...

(End of this chapter)