Jade Pendant D.I.Y.

After the treasure hunt in the Baibao river which offers a upstream trekking and bicycle trail, we headed to a do-it-yourself jade store in Shoufeng village which was one of the Japanese immigrant model villages around 1920. In 1960's, it produced massive jade products that were sold worldwide. But, the jade value dropped and the business died down because of social changes.

Common specie of spider in Taiwan
It was between two rails of a bridge on the way back to the main
highway from the riverside of the road. It was a good close up
shooting spot for taking this picture.

We arrived at the D.I.Y. store for making our own jade products.

It is the only store offering this service for visitors in Hualien.
The owner used to produced jade products and sold them overseas.
But after the declined of business and the flourish tour industrial,
he transformed his business into a D.I.Y. place for the public.

This was the workshop. The numbers were the indicators for

how many processing steps have to go through and where to

start the process for making your own jade.

Some people didn't have time or were not interested to making
their own. They could buy directly from the owner.

The jade was cut into small pieces for visitors
to choose. It was a problem for choosing a piece
of jade because each piece looked good to us.

First step: teaching how to operate the machine
to smooth the edges of the stone.
The first run used a coarse sand wheel
to smooth the angle of the rock. It was a threat
for a first time user because of being unfamiliar with
the machine and worrying about their ingers
getting injured, especial finger nails.

The elder master inspected the stone at each
step and explained how to meet the requirement.
I had to translate and communicate with both.
It was not an easy job.

The store manager took over the job and
showed us how to make it.

My sister-in-law watched as the elder master show her the correct technic.

The manager demonstrated again. Fortunately,
she only had two customers who occupied much
of her time. I wondered if she had a lot of customers
how she handle them?