Chapter 250 - 112: Wickerwork and Foraging by the Sea
Storing the graphite crucible was a real headache for Chen Zhou.
Such an important item wasn't needed right now but had to be ensured to function properly when required in the future.
Given the awful environment of the isolated island, it felt to Chen Zhou like storing strategic nuclear weapons.
At this moment, he missed the 200g moisture absorber that came "free" with the dried fruits he used to buy from Pinduoduo.
Unfortunately, with the previous rewards, whether canned food, edible soil, garlic, or Autumn White Almonds, the moisture absorber was of no use, so he had to figure out a solution himself.
After wrapping the graphite crucible, Chen Zhou placed it next to the stove to warm it up a bit.
During this process, he thought of the charcoal sticks he often used.
As everyone knows, the porous structure of charcoal or activated carbon can effectively absorb moisture and eliminate odors in the air.
If he placed the wrapped graphite crucible in a relatively closed environment and sprinkled some crushed charcoal inside, it might prevent the crucible from becoming damp.
Having figured out a feasible method, Chen Zhou immediately emptied a gift box, then took some charcoal sticks carved into rod shapes, broke them into pieces, and lined them at the bottom of the box, finally placing the graphite crucible inside with care.
Worried that there might not be enough charcoal sticks, he fetched a few pieces of wood that produced less smoke when split, placing them by the stove for later use.
When the fire inside the stove weakened, he would put these pieces of wood in, seal the stove's mouth, and by morning, he would have a batch of high-quality charcoal.
Strictly speaking, most of the charcoal he burned before was not qualified charcoal.
Because real suitable charcoal for use and storage is not made with open flames like this but requires a charcoal kiln.
The key to making charcoal in a kiln is to control the placement of the wood, ensuring they can heat evenly and facilitate smoke emission.
With this premise, ignite the wood, control the fire, allowing the charcoal to burn in an oxygen-poor environment, heat-pyrolyze, cool, and then remove, that's the made charcoal.
This type of charcoal is dense, doesn't crumble easily, and comes in large chunks suitable for work with high demand.
Whereas the charcoal Chen Zhou made were all incompletely burned wood from the stove, suitable for burning as firewood on rainy days, or barely usable when sliced into small strips for drawing, but fell short if used for filtering water or absorbing moisture and odors.
...
Busy as a bee, he placed the precious soy sauce, soap, and fine salt in places where the cat couldn't easily knock them over.
Then he tidied up the fire-starting materials and handsaw, oiled the steel saw blade, wrapped it in fur, and placed it in the carpenter's tool box.
Before going to sleep, Chen Zhou finally had time to take a look at "A Complete Guide to Non-Heritage: Bamboo, Rattan, Grass Weaving", to fill his gaps in weaving techniques.
Under the bright light, he sat upright on a wooden chair, quietly flipping through the book.
Among the three major categories, rattan weaving was the most valuable, with supplementary brown weaving next, and grass weaving ranked third.
Bamboo weaving could be said to be the least useful, because there wasn't any bamboo on the island, making bamboo weaving akin to castles in the air without raw materials.
Turning to the correct page according to the directory, he began to absorb knowledge bit by bit, starting with material preparation.
Unaware before reading, but it was only after that Chen Zhou found out how laughable his previous self-attempted weaving of rattan baskets was.
According to the non-heritage rattan weaving process introduction, there were more than ten procedures.
From the most basic rattan striking (removing knots on the rattan), to picking rattan, washing, drying, bending, pulling, shaving rattan, and to bleaching, dyeing, weaving, varnishing, and other processes, it was complex and lengthy.
Moreover, a considerable number of tools were needed.
There were common tools like scissors, dagger, tape measure, hammer, shovel, as well as saw, awl, pliers, watering can, brush, and other tools. Without their help, some relatively complex rattan weaving products would be very difficult to make.
Luckily, the book provided a relatively detailed and comprehensive display of the size and form of these tools, even if Chen Zhou didn't have them now, he could slowly make them in the future.
After the detailed process, came some of the most basic weaving techniques, simple design ideas, and how to construct the framework of rattan weaving crafts.
Such as the flat knitting method suitable for making baskets and mats;
The twisting method suitable for creating a sense of dimensionality and texture, capable of weaving complex patterns and structures;
And the hook knitting method that uses crochet hooks to knit rattan into various shapes, and the winding method that wraps rattan around other objects to form various unique shapes.
After skimming through, over a hundred pages had passed, following the introductory tutorials on weaving techniques and design ideas, came the practical part.
According to the book's description, rattan weaving is extensive and profound, theoretically, experienced master craftsmen in rattan weaving could weave all traditional furniture using rattan.
In reality, just the non-heritage inherited rattan weaving color varieties alone have over 5000 types, divided into four main categories: rattan mats (da), rattan seats, rattan weavings, and rattan furniture.
Among them, rattan mats broadly refer to semi-finished products woven from rattan skin into lengths resembling fabric, with patterns changing according to weaving techniques, can be freely cut, equivalent to a special fabric.
Rattan seats include bed mats, square mats, pillow mats, and sofa seat covers, etc.
Most of the rattan furniture belongs to traditional Chinese furniture, including tables, chairs, benches, sofas, beds, cabinets, coffee tables, boxes, and screens that fall within the furniture range.
Rattan chairs are the most popular among them, and can be further subdivided into various styles like dragon and phoenix chairs, plum blossom chairs, dining chairs, etc.
The rattan weavings occupied the most space in the tutorial section because they might be the most suitable for beginners to make or sell.