White Copper All-direction Blessing Fu Character Ruyi Pendant

The eight directions are the four cardinal points plus the four corners: east, south, west, north, and southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest. The folk phrase eight directions all compliant means whatever comes from any direction goes smoothly. It is a good wish, not the name of a deity, and that is the sense the plaque takes. Those four characters were once written on horizontal boards and carved on door studs, for the sake of covering everything.

The plaque is round, with a fu character at the center and ruyi cloud heads around it, one for each direction, all turned toward the middle. The ruyi head shape comes from the lingzhi fungus, big at one end and small at the other, bent into a hook; it is common on the aprons of old furniture, and on the plaque it braces the round face. Ruyi heads are cut in two ways, single outline and double, the single saving labor and the double adding a returning line. The points of the cloud must be rounded — left sharp, they cut like a blade and dig into the wearer.

The fu is raised, with thick strokes and rounded corners. The danger with a character on a round plaque is filling it; fill it and it suffocates, with no air left around it. Here the character occupies the middle and white space is kept on all sides, with the cloud heads pressing in from the outer ring and a gap still left between character and cloud — that is what lets it breathe. A character on a round plaque has to be read upright: hung at the chest, the top of the character up. Reversed, it is simply wrong. Plaques short of white space tire the eye, which is what old craftsmen used to say.

Two options, pendant alone and necklace. The pendant alone is for anyone who already has a cord, and red cord is the steadiest choice — red and white copper are an old pairing. The necklace version has a fine chain that falls to the lower collarbone and shows with a low collar. The chain is fine, so the pendant sometimes turns face inward; both faces of a round plaque are finished, so it looks well either way. Choose by the collar you usually wear: mostly high necks, take the pendant alone with a long cord. The clasp is small and short nails will find it fiddly — a toothpick pushed against it is easier.

The edge of the plaque is raised into a narrow ridge, so a knock lands on the ridge and the face takes no load. When the copper dulls, press it with a dry cloth, and skip toothpaste, whose grit rounds the strokes of the fu. Sweep the hollows of the cloud heads with a soft brush and blow once, and the dust comes out. The fu has many strokes and crowds easily on a round face; here the strokes are slightly flattened to make room. Wipe along the strokes — wiping across takes the dark out of the cuts.