Is this legible?

[Cherie Lee]

I carved this symbol out and I wanted to make sure that it was legible to native speakers, could anyone confirm what this says to me?

[Shelley]

What did you think it was? Where did you get it from?

Is it chicken egg or goose? It looks very delicate and you have managed to do it quite well.

 

[陳德聰]

It is recognisable as 美 in a calligraphy font. But I think probably the limitations of the medium have resulted in it having a bit of an illusion that the strokes were done in a strange order. But there are no strokes cause it's a carving.

[Shelley]

Ah yes now I see it.

 

 

[Cherie Lee]

Thank you for your comments.   It is carved in a duck egg for the moment.   It's really just a concept piece to see if it even works.   I was intending it to say "beauty", but both traditional and simplified Chinese would need 'connector' sections to hold it together, ruining the point, really.   So the calligraphy form seemed the best chance to pull it off.  I speak, read and write exactly zero Chinese,  so Internet searches, comparisons and crossed fingers! 

The person I am making it for is Chinese,  and can read and write traditional and simplified, but confesses that he does not read calligraphy well,  so my goal is to make it as readily readable as possible.   It's such a beautiful artform, I want to do it as least a *little* justice! 

If there are any suggestions on how I might improve upon it, they would be warmly welcomed. 

There are several other words that will also be there (I hope! ), so I might make this same request soon for a couple other test pieces, if no one minds.   The assistance is invaluable,  as the finished piece will be an ostrich egg,  and the whole project will be useless if it doesn't even say anything! 

[Lu]

It's not perfect - as Chen Decong says, the stroke order seems a little off here and there - but the imperfections are negligable and it's very good. The person you're making it for will be able to read it and will likely be amazed.

 

If you'd want to make it perfect, you'd probably have to learn about Chinese calligraphy, to get an idea of how characters are written and what the stroke order behind the result is. But your skill is carving, not Chinese calligraphy, so it would take a lot of effort invested in what is basically a detour.

[roddy]

Would something from seal script work better in this format? 

[Cherie Lee]

I have not been able to get it out of my head that TWO of you dear people were able to look at that and tell that the strokes would have been done in the wrong order.   As I am about to attempt my next character, I can't stop thinking that good enough might not be good enough after all.  

 

My original plan was not to leave it as a simple silhouette 'cut-out', but ultimately to 'round it off' (relief engraving).  But to do that effectively,  I *would* need to know the stroke order (and treat it accordingly) so I know which one would be 'in front of' (so to speak) the other. 

First of all,  does that sound like the general idea?   Or is my ignorance starting to glow too much?  (It's vast,  so I wouldn't be insulted if you pointed it out [gently]!)

 

The difficulty level is part of what I'm enjoying, but I don't want the whole piece to suffer because I'm thinking too loftily! 

 

Thank you again (but i can't promise I won't have more and more questions...one keeps leading to others).  THAT'S a good journey! 

[歐博思]

The iOS/Android app "Pleco" has stroke order diagrams, and I believe they are included in the base, free version. But if you just left the strokes as they were and called it your artistic expression, I don't think anyone would really look down on it for what it is.

 

 

[Shelley]

As it would normally be written in black ink it would be difficult to tell which strokes were on top as it were.

 

Correct stroke order shows itself in the overall finished character. It makes writing it flow and ensures that you don't forget a stroke which is possible with some characters that have lots of strokes although sometimes i struggle to remember ones with only a few .  Not sure it would make any difference in a carving, or how you would be able to do it.

 

Maybe you should search for pictures of the character you want carve and see what you get and how it is done in various materials. For example this https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1324&bih=734&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=chinese+character+double+happiness+carved+in+jade&oq=chinese+character+double+happiness+carved+in+jade&gs_l=psy-ab.12...8889.33305.0.35375.57.57.0.0.0.0.123.5380.31j26.57.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.29.2938...0j0i30k1j0i24k1j0i67k1j0i8i30k1.lOzQmcFFPnY is double happiness carved in jade and other things, this is very popular for weddings and birthdays. It is two of the these 喜 melded together. There is also a few variations for the character for long life 寿 shòu.

 

I am a crafter, I do everything from embroidery, crochet, paper crafts, and more. I really like chinese calligraphy, it appeals to my artistic side, so I have spent some time researching some of these things for my own work in fact if you are interested have a read of my post in this topic on this page https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/43982-why-chinese/?page=2

This is so you can see where I am coming from and that I am more than happy to help if I can.

[陳德聰]

From your response, it appears you essentially have the idea. The reason it looks like this one has improper stroke order is that some lines which would be expected to be continuous appear to have been disjointed.

 

 

For example, the strokes in this picture are meant to be continuous, but the middle of the three lines has been carved to appear as though the left side is part of the line coming in diagonally from top right, and the right hand side looks like it's part of a separate stroke that swoops down to the left as well. I think just making the middle vertical section more discrete would have solved this.

 

[Cherie Lee]

Oh my goodness I completely see what you're saying!   I can fix that easily enough when I do the actual piece!   The carving looks more like the dominant line is a zig-zag, instead of straight strokes.  Thank you thank thank you!   The visuals were *hugely* helpful.

 

Each of you has helped so much.   The pleco app will be very informative on many levels, including just getting a firmer grip on some (otherwise) basics,  and the jade carvings gave me a whole different way of thinking of a seperate section that I was utterly stuck on.  

 

PLEASE stay tuned!   I need and appreciate you!  I'm hoping to complete the second character today, and fully expect to have similar issues. 

 

But now. ....I can make this better!   And hopefully better still!

[Insert big cheesy grin here ]

 

 

 

[Cherie Lee]

So now that I'm thinking of the other section, the jade "double happiness" carvings come to mind.   

I was trying to find something similar that said "thank you", but the main one that keeps coming up under that search doesn't seems like the character xie xie.  Can you tell me if that's what this jade carving says?   It seems so very different from what I've been getting used to seeing.  

 

If I can find "thank you" in the same idea as the jade carvings I could change my direction entirely and it might make all the difference

[Lu]

The jade carving says 祿, meaning something like 'good fortune'.

[Shelley]

Thank you is not usually one of those characters that is used in carvings and art. Much more preferred are things like good fortune ,luck, love, peace & harmony, long life and so on.

 

That's probably why you see good fortune used instead of thank you.

[Cherie Lee]

Thank you - I guses that leads me to new questions (good answers always should! )

 

Ultimately,  my goal is for the main carving on the front to be "beauty" and above that is a boarder that repeats "thank you" (the obverse will say "grace").

 

The Chinese characters for "beauty, grae and thank you" were not too difficult to find (although I might not have the right grace - it should mean graceful as opposed to 'a state of favor').  But that is still incomplete. 

 

The point of the gift is for it to basically read, "thank you for your beauty,  thank you for your grace"  but I'm starting to suspect that's not as easy as I was hoping!   I can't find how to write the "...for your. .." part, and I'm starting to worry the syntax additionmight change the character itself???

 

I don't know if a sketchy sketch might help visualize, but just in case. ...

 

[陳德聰]

For giving thanks I think you should use 恩 rather than 謝謝. Just a personal feeling.

 

Edit: after rereading your post I suspect you were going to use 恩 for grace. So maybe ignore my comment haha.

[lips]

Just a single 謝 is better then 謝謝 in this case.

[Cherie Lee]

(A two part posting for simplicity sake)

 

Dear 陳德聰, you've officially stumped me.  I haven't come across 恩 in my searches for either "thank you" or "grace".  So I might be more lost than I thought! 

 

The thank you got easier when I reversed my thinking thanks to Shelley. So this is the character and layout I was going to use for that: (here,  the black parts are what will be removed).  I would prefer a formal "thank you", as opposed to a casual "thanks", but I'm guessing as a continous wrap-around boarder it should read ok.  The more traditional character use here, as opposed to the calligraphy styling of the "beauty" and "grace" centerpieces might help formalize the sense of gratitude I hope to convey. 

So if my thinking is clear there, then I might be able to set "ty" aside and focus on the last character. .....

(2nd posting coming right up)

 

 

 

[Cherie Lee]

The character I was hoping meant grace, as in graceful and elegant,  was this one,  but I can already see where I'm going to have some stroke confusion. 

The near liquid fluidity of the calligraphy style caused me trouble before (TY beyond words  陳德聰 for showing me the light! ),

and I don't want to falk into that trap.

As the calligraphers brush drags some ink from cross strokes the clarity of liNE can soften. 

The first part of this character (is it even the right character?  Panic sets in) seems fairly straight forward, but then it gets tricky. 

It seems the tip top of that vertical stroke is actually the flick of that top dot, and THEN the line descends more straightly down? 

 

Do you have any guidance left in your heart for a poor hapless carver who just wants to day a proper thanks?  (sorry about that - it's just kind of my way of telling you how much I do appreciate the help - I WAS last and floundering before this)