Chapter 160 - Chapter 160: Chapter 140: Punishment, Ill Give It a Try! (Please Subscribe) (2/2)

As a professional cultural relic restorer with less practical experience but solid theory, Old Bai completely understood the professionalism of forging porcelain depicted in Lin Chuan’s book.

“Damn, you’re really professional, Old Lin!”

Old Bai genuinely complimented.

Without any exaggeration, as a master’s student specializing in cultural relics restoration, he was utterly impressed by the professional knowledge and highly feasible steps revealed in “Last Week’s Antique”.

Old Bai even had an idea.

He could follow the steps described and combine them with his theoretical knowledge in his field to replicate a Qing Kangxi Five-colored Fish and Algae Pattern Douli Bowl.

That feeling was like watching some enlightening videos, feeling an itch in his heart, and desperately wanting to put it into practice.

For example, video tutorials on gaming techniques.

But the plot of “Last Week’s Antique” was so interlinked and compelling that Old Bai couldn’t bear to put his phone down, immersing himself in the world of antique forgery instead.

In the novel, Mr. Lin later took the Douli Bowl to the most famous treasure appraiser in the city, who authenticated it as real.

Afterward, Mr. Lin also forged a variety of antiques and curios, including calligraphy and paintings, jade objects, pottery jars, bronze ware, and so on.

Until dusk.

The afterglow of the setting sun filled Wenbai Studio, elongating shadows of bottles and jars, the air suffused with the intertwined scents of restoration liquid, paper, copper, and earth.

Whoosh—

Only then did Old Bai put down his phone, took a deep breath, and stretched languidly to loosen his muscles.

He looked at all the bottles and jars in the studio, his hands itching to do something.

Finally.

His gaze settled on a bronze vessel close to him, standing about 42 centimeters tall with a base diameter of approximately 15 centimeters.

This bronze vessel was known as a ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel,’ an oval-shaped container for wine, adorned with taotie-like patterns, inscribed with markings, and had handles for carrying, sealed with a small lid on top.

It was a bronze counterfeit Old Bai had found in the Modu antiques circle; its shape, taotie pattern decoration, and inscriptions were all of decent craft, so Old Bai spent several hundred yuan to purchase it for his studio, occasionally fondling it and appreciating its features with great interest.

As it happened.

The steps for replicating bronze ware were explicitly detailed in Lin Chuan’s “Last Week’s Antique”.

Though it lacked a crucial technique, for Old Bai, he could compensate with his theoretical knowledge of cultural relics restoration.

“Replicating a cultural relic isn’t illegal, let’s give it a try!”

Old Bai was a man of action; he immediately set to work, aiming to make the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ even closer to its appearance during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties period.

Replicating cultural relics was actually a way to enhance his skills in cultural relics restoration.

So, Old Bai was very excited.

“Last Week’s Antique” described numerous methods for forging bronze ware.

For example, the false rust disguise, splicing, and burial methods.

Now, the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ in Old Bai’s hands was already cast using the sand-casting method, which is a high-level technique. Only the rust marks and patina were inconsistent with the expected age.

“Following Old Lin’s method, I should first age it, then fake the bronze rust, imitate the patina with a special liquid, and finally cover it with earth, treating it with special techniques to create soil penetration for the perfect deception,” Old Bai thought.

Let the work begin!

Old Bai followed the steps for forging bronze ware in “Last Week’s Antique,” locating sulfur water in his studio, heating it up to produce hot sulfuric acid, which he then poured over the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’.

Applying the sulfur water was a common aging technique.

The sulfuric acid solution could corrode the bronze, slowly turning its color to antique bronze, or even black, making it appear much older than it was.

This step was simple.

The most difficult parts were creating the copper rust and the oxidized patina.

Ancient bronze ware buried underground for a long time interacts with moist soil, groundwater, and other organic and inorganic substances, resulting in chemical reactions that cause rust.

But because this rust formed gradually, the layers were complex and the colors varied. Furthermore, natural fractures around the edges of the bronze ware, if picked at with a knife or struck with a hammer, would flake off in chunks, somewhat reminiscent of a ‘crumbly’ texture.

To deceive convincingly, one must focus on producing authentic-looking rust and patina.

Old Bai meticulously followed the ‘Antique Forgery Textbook,’ step by step, using a mix of glues such as adhesive, rosin, Bletilla Striata Paste, and lacquer, mixing it with real rust from the bronze, integrating a variety of mineral powders and pigments, then irregularly applying it to the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’.

Soon, this step was completed.

The ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ instantly took on an entirely different look, with layer upon layer of rust marks emerging on the bronze surface, and the body’s oxidized patina showing different colors and irregular patterns, as if it had weathered three thousand years, exuding a sense of vast antiquity.

Next was the burial.

Old Bai was quite adept at the burial technique.

He found a plate of moist earth in his studio and buried the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ in it, alternately using a heater to dry the soil and then moistening it with water, occasionally shaking it to accelerate the reaction between the bronze and the earth.

This step took a full day and night.

It was only on the following evening that the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ of the early Western Zhou period was finally ‘excavated’.

“Success! Hahaha!”

Old Bai, holding the freshly unearthed Western Zhou bronze ware ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel,’ his eyes gleaming, his face full of excitement and agitation.

Old Lin, I admit I spoke too loudly yesterday.

This replicated bronze ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ was incredibly authentic-looking in every aspect, be it the exterior, decorations, inscriptions, rust marks, patina, or soil penetration. It was impeccable!

Old Bai examined the ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ from top to bottom, left to right, but could not find a single flaw, treasuring it as if it were a precious gem.

That’s when an idea suddenly struck him.

—Find a treasure appraisal master to authenticate its genuineness and see if it could indeed pass as the real thing.

“There are many treasure appraisal masters doing live appraisals online. I’ll have them evaluate this ‘Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel’ to judge its authenticity,” Old Bai said with a smirk, his face filled with anticipation!