Pearwood Renewal: A New Year Print

Returning designer Su Tang comes back to a woodblock New Year print workshop and discovers cracks spreading across an old pearwood key block. Master craftsman Chen Yan guides her through patient restoration: first dismantling the old repair strips, wedging the back of the block with pearwood of matching grain to stabilize its structural stress, then carefully recarving the broken fine lines of flowers and birds. The two run test prints and color overlays in stages, embracing the paper's natural subtle bleeding rather than chasing absolute precision. After nightfall, the restored block is displayed beside a complete finished print. Su Tang grasps the heart of traditional craft, lets go of her obsession with perfect replication, and decides to stay and study woodblock care and carving-printing under Chen Yan.