From right to left: teacher Le Thi Thu Thuy, Huong My and Ha My.

Bac Giang is famous for two woodblock stores at Vinh Nghiem and Bo Da Pagodas, which are destinations for many tourists. With the desire to contribute to promoting the value of woodblocks and creating more tourism products, Huong My and Ha My proposed the idea of "hands-on woodblock printing experience" to teacher Le Thi Thu Thuy.

During the summer vacation, they came to Dong Ho painting village (Bac Ninh province) and Hang Trong street (Hanoi) to learn about “thi’ (Diospyros decandra) wood carvings and printing on “do” paper, and collect verses and proverbs on Bac Giang. Initially, the group made a test by taking pictures of landscapes and then engraved them on the ‘thi” wood panel. Despite expectations, "the first work" was a failure.

Fixing this shortcoming, the group asked the school's art club to draw the main features of landscapes or the portraits of famous characters. Drawings were engraved by laser on pressed wood (instead of ‘thi” wood) to reduce costs but still ensure the same depth of ancient woodblocks. 

After about three months, after many failures, 10"experience woodblocks" were created. Each is 23x33cm in size and includes images and contents on the province’s famous relic sites and people. The difference of an experience woodlock is that the whole content is engraved in the Vietnamese scripts. 

Huong My said "The group invited more than 300 tourists to the Xuong Giang Victory Historical Site and Vinh Nghiem Pagoda to try the printing of woodblocks’ pictures on ‘do’ paper. Most of them were excited and made positive evaluations." 

At present, the group plans to connect the Bac Giang woodblock experience tour with some activities such as introducing the woodblock-making stages at Vinh Nghiem and Bo Da Pagodas; studying the process of papermaking in Trai Cao village, Luc Son commune (Luc Nam district); and guiding the printing on wood and paper.

The group’s idea won the third prize at the province’s 14th Youth and Children Creativity Contest and was appreciated by the organizing board for its application in reality.

Tuyet Mai