Yellow apricot is considered a symbol of spring, located in the “Four quarters” including Lan, Cuc, Truc, and Mai. This is a tree that many families display on the Tet holiday. Stemming from the desire to keep forever the image of the golden apricot tree in full bloom, Do Xuan Ngoc and 20 associates worked hard to create a 24K gold-plated, bronze apricot tree, setting a Vietnamese record.
Two 24K gold-plated copper apricot trees set the largest record in Vietnam, worth 11 billion VND (440,000 USD)
As the third generation son in a family with a tradition of bronze casting, for many years, Mr. Do Xuan Ngoc (Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City) has always wondered about creating a unique product instead of just going to work as an outsourcing for life.
Incidentally, one day early in 2022, Mr. Ngoc visited an apricot garden located along Highway 13, Hiep Binh Chanh, Thu Duc City, and was told by an apricot grower the story of the family’s ancient apricot tree dying from flooding. The man wished he could remake a gilded apricot tree like that to commemorate. Mr. Xuan Ngoc immediately took this idea and asked the apricot grower to help implement it.
Without much knowledge about the apricot, at first, Mr. Ngoc had to connect with many artisans in Thu Duc apricot village to learn. He embarked on the first apricot tree with a height of one meter and an upright figure.
Unlike plated or gilded with other bronze casting products, Mr. Ngoc said that the processing of apricot trees is more complicated, from creating a standing pose to have a soul, petals, pistil, etc., which requires the casting worker to be meticulous in each detail. detail.
His first apricot tree tested within four months, mainly by manual method, using 25 kg of pure copper as the inner core and plated with about 18 gold threads.
Anh Ngoc (white shirt) and his associates made apricot trees inlaid with gold.
Ngoc said, at first, because he had no experience in engineering and manufacturing technology, he had to do it over and over again two or three times. After that, he tested many different types of gold to evaluate thickness, color and decided to use 24K gold.
“When I made the first 1m6 apricot tree, I thought that in terms of technique, experience, knowledge, and technological equipment, I myself believed I could do it. But because I was subjective, I did not consult the artists. apricot growers, who have knowledge and experience in planting and grafting apricots, so when I made the first finished product, I had a failure and spent nearly 1 billion VND to demolish and repair it.”
From the first apricot tree, he learned and improved gradually to come up with a standard process for making apricots made of gilded copper, going through about 72 different stages. With this process, he embarked on creating a dragon-shaped second apricot tree with a design of three meters high.
First, you have to come up with an idea about the shape of the apricot tree, which can be the shape of the apricot tree, the shape of the dragon roll, the shape of the bonsai… Next is the stage of sketching the model on the computer, printing the sample according to the selected size and proceeding. on the mold. Particularly, the flower has many petals and pistil, which is one of the most noble four woods of Vietnamese feng shui with 5 petals representing the five happiness: Happiness – Luck – Truong Tho – Thanh Cong – Hoa The vase, which has a special meaning, requires a high degree of sophistication, so the craftsman has to mold each part.
“We made this apricot tree in 71 days with 20 workers. The tree is plated with 121 24K gold thread and weighs 285 kg. The width is 2.8m and the height is 3m. The current Vietnamese Dragon apricot tree has a price. 5.5 billion. The apricot flowers are made from copper alloy and then plated with 24k gold, depicting the apricot blossom in the most brilliant period of maturity, symbolizing the luck and happiness that are converging and blooming. . Mr. Ngoc introduces the Vietnamese dragon apricot tree.
Close-up of the Vietnamese Dragon apricot tree with delicate lines, elaborately and meticulously completed details
After mechanical processing, workers continue to sand, assemble, the process by hand, count flowers to count buds, pistils, assemble each module and polish. After the apricot tree is formed, it will be gold-plated in every detail, covered with a nano layer to protect the gold for a long time and prevent dust. The whole process takes from a few weeks to half a year, depending on the size of the apricot tree.
Ngoc revealed that the inner material of the apricot tree is about 65% pure copper and 35% pure zinc. This material has high hardness and durability and does not oxidize during use.
In addition to making Vietnamese Dragon apricot trees, Mr. Ngoc then also launched another apricot tree named Dai Phuc Golden Apricot.
Like the Rong Viet apricot tree, the Dai Phuc apricot tree weighs 397kg, including 2058 flowers, 1,576 buds, 1218 small buds, 23 main branches, and 250 secondary branches. Inlaid from more than 143 gold threads within 860 hours with a total value of up to 6 billion VND.($1=25,000 VND)
Sharing the meaning of these two apricot trees, Mr. Ngoc said: “If the Vietnamese Dragon apricot tree has the shape of a dragon, at the root is a dragon’s head, on the body and the top is the tail of the dragon, I want it to be a symbol for Vietnamese people are associated with the meaning of dragons and fairies, showing that the country is rising as strong as the dragon of Asia, while Dai Phuc apricot tree has an upright shape and is somewhat noble and proud, implying to help the family. The owner attracts the virtues of the four directions and prospers day by day.
Dai Phuc apricot trees cost about 6 billion VND
It is known that after completing the product, the Viet Dragon apricot tree was awarded the certificate of “Vietnam’s largest 24k gold-plated copper apricot tree by the Vietnam Book of Records”.
“I hope each gilded apricot tree will bring the Tet atmosphere to the children living abroad and let international friends know about Vietnamese culture. “
As a person who has a passion for handicrafts, in addition to making giant apricot trees, Ngoc also has smaller apricot trees such as 2m4, 1m8, 1m,… which are gifts to bring. special meaning, can be conveyed to the families of the Vietnamese community in the country as well as to the Vietnamese families residing abroad to be able to display on Tet holiday, in order to promote the good traditional cultural values. of the nation.
“In order to let the people of the country see it, we have put the Vietnamese Dragon apricot tree and the Dai Thu yellow apricot tree and smaller versions to display at a flower fair in Hanoi so that people in the North can enjoy the opportunity. enjoy, while in the South I am waiting for the city government’s approval so that I can parade on Nguyen Hue flower street during this Tet holiday.”
Ngoc hopes that the presence of the record-breaking golden apricot tree will make a special mark for the new year 2023 and spread the beauty of Vietnamese Tet culture to international friends.
Photo: Internet (vinlove.net)