Carving a story of skill

"The learning process is arduous. Different fonts require different levels of detail. The Yangzhou style is especially strict because it follows imperial standards."

For example, the three pointed dots in the Chinese character xin (heart) are slightly different and should take on the respective shapes of a water drip, a kidney and a melon seed, she says.

"Even the slightest mistake, a literally hair-thin margin of error, can result in significant differences when printed. One faulty character renders the entire block unusable," she says.

"There are no shortcuts or tricks to mastery — just continuous practice," she says, quoting her father.

The most elemental skills require at least half a year of training, and it takes around a year to be able to carve even simple characters, she says.