Later, to decorate the gourds, he started etching them. This involved etching lines on the surface layer of the gourd while it's still growing, using either a needle or a knife. The only problem is that the designs on the gourd aren't well defined.
之後為了讓表面浮現線條，便有了「青刻」，青刻就是在瓜體未定型前，用針或刀劃破瓠瓜表層，待定型時就會結疤，浮現刻劃的線條，缺點是線條不夠細膩、凹凸不平均。