Qingtian stone is rich in color, peculiar in pattern, glassy, opaque, slightly transparent to translucent, fragile, soft and delicate with few impurities, and easy to play with knives. It is the earliest stone species for seal cutting in China. Qingtian stone is produced in qingtian county, Zhejiang Province, and its varieties are white frozen, loose frozen and fengmenqing. The best is translucent, so it is called "light frozen stone". Its appearance is as smooth as jade, and its colors are light green, pink green, purple, light yellow, blue gray and so on.
Shoushan Stone is produced under Furong Peak in Shoushan County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. If the stone contains other ingredients, it is colorful, such as yellow, white, red and purple. Ordinary Shoushan stone is not as fine and waxy as Qingtian stone, and its knife feels rough and softness is not as good as Qingtian stone. The surface of Shoushan stone with good texture generally presents pearl, condensed fat and glass luster, and most of them have greasy feeling. Shoushan stone can be divided into tiankeng, puddle and mountain pit, with more than 60 kinds. As far as quality is concerned, tiankeng is the first, puddle is the second, and mountain pit is the second. There are many kinds of Shoushan stone, such as Bai Furong jelly and brain fat rouge jelly. Tiankeng Stone, referred to as "Shi Tian" for short, is produced in the ancient sand layer of paddy field beside Shoushan River, and is collected by digging deep into the soil, among which "Tianhuang" is the best. Tian Huangshi, nicknamed "the king of stones", is a leader among Shoushan stones. It is a yellow translucent frozen stone with a yellow surface and clear rules in its muscles. Among them, "golden yellow" and "orange peel yellow" are the rarest and most expensive, while "loquat yellow", "osmanthus yellow" and "cooked millet yellow" are also rare and extremely expensive. Shuikeng stone is produced in the foothills of Kengtouzhan Mountain. Because of the steep vein, it is easy to produce crystal frozen treasure. Most of them are transparent, with good luster and fine quality. Shankeng Stone Mine covers an area of 10 square kilometers, with many products, great differences in texture and complex changes.
Chang fossil, produced in the mountainous area of Changhua Town, Lin 'an, Zhejiang Province. Often fossils have oily luster, slightly transparent to translucent, and very few are transparent. There are many kinds of colorful stones, mostly white, gray, red and purple. Most of them are calm and tough, with obvious flaky fine white spots. There is a kind of "lotus root jelly" that seems to be cooked with lotus root powder, and there is a kind of "bloodstone" that condenses in the stone like chicken blood. The so-called chicken blood is actually that the stone contains cinnabar. "Bloodstone" is the most beautiful and extremely valuable, and the stone is drier than Shoushan stone. At present, Xunyang County in Shaanxi Province also produces "bloodstone".
Balin stone is produced in daban town Fossil Mountain, northwest of Balin Right Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Stone is bright in color, peculiar in texture, delicate and moist, soft in texture, high in transparency, and softer in hardness than Shoushan stone, Qingtian stone and Changshou stone. The disadvantage is that the pigment composition is not stable enough. Bahrain bloodstone, for example, is easy to oxidize and fade. Balin stone can be roughly divided into five categories: bloodstone, Yellowstone, frozen stone and colored stone. There are scarlet, orange, yellow, purple, white, gray and black.
Others are pyrophyllite produced in Inner Mongolia, Dasongqin stone in Ningbo, Laishi stone in Yexian County, Shandong Province, Putian stone in Putian, Fujian Province, and fine coal stone in Shaanxi, all of which are suitable for stone carving. As long as it is suitable for seal cutting, all localities can choose stones according to local conditions. Gold, silver, copper, jade, agate, ivory, ox horn, bamboo root and boxwood can also be used for carving. But these textures are hard and astringent, so beginners should not master them. Practice engraving first. The higher the achromatic degree of Yin Shi, the higher its uniformity and cleanliness. The cleaner the stone, the finer the texture and the more suitable for cutting.
When buying stones, be sure to bring a flashlight. When sellers bring stones, they often put some lubricating oil such as olive oil on them, which is called maintaining stones. In fact, this practice will cover up the defects of the stone itself, and cracks can't be seen with oil. The flashlight can see the oiled stone. Among many Yin Shi, bloodstone is an easy imitation. There are so many imitations on the market that it is really difficult for experts to identify them. The simple way to distinguish is to burn with a light flame. If it gives off a special smell, it must be fake, because real stones can't burn a smell. This method is particularly effective for distinguishing fake stones made of synthetic materials. In other cases, the bloodstone is broken into small stones, then mixed with chemical synthetic substances, and finally made into something with bright colors and huge volume. In this case, you must rely on your eyesight to distinguish. If you are an ordinary player, don't make blind decisions without being sure.