A clay craftsman named Zhang Yu showed off his sculpting process when making a statue of Lord Guan, a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion.

The impressive video was filmed in the city of Tianjin on September 23, 2012.

Zhang, the sixth-generation of a family of clay artists, was seen shaping Lord Guan's figure out of the clay first and then painting the colours on it after it was dyed in a machine.

Zhang reportedly originated from Tianjin and he is a folk artist deeply loved by Chinese people.

Clay Figure Zhang originated from Tianjin is a kind of traditional folk art deeply loved by Chinese people. Zhang Yu is the sixth-generation inheritor of Clay Figure Zhang. He started to practice this craft since his childhood. In this video, he shows us how to make Lord Guan from the well-prepared material.

The first step is to construct the initial form, then to depict the details, and then to dry the work in a cool place, and to make it more solid through electric kiln firing. But because the figure is solid, cracks will appear in the process of drying and firing. The next step is to repair these cracks with putty and polish them with fine sandpaper. It takes months to come to the final step: Coloring. In order to make the color more beautiful and lasting, generally one needs to color thirty or even forty times.

The following is the credit for the music used in the video:
Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4397-sovereign
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license