Dong Ho pictures are printed on a special kind of Dzopaper. The printing paper is made of bark of a tree called "Dzo".Artists use pine leave brushes to coat Dzo paper with sea bivalvemollusk powder to create a sparkling colorful background. Colors of thepainting are refined from various kinds of tree leaves, which peoplecan easily find in Vietnam. Traditional artists use all-natural colorsfor their pictures: burnt bamboo leaves for black, cajuput leaves forgreen, copper rust for blue, pine resin for amber, and crushed eggshells mixed with paste for white. The painting is covered by a layerof sticky rice paste to protect the painting and their colors. They areso long lasting, so that it is very difficult to make them dimmer eventime or daylight.

Dong Ho Painting hasproduced hundreds of famous works such as the romantic and humorous“Catching coconuts”, “Teacher” which captures old educational practiceand “Jealousy scene” satirizing the polygamous system. But the mostfamous ones are the pictures of pigs with Ying and Yang circles on thebodies. People in the countryside used to buy Dong Ho pictures fordecoration during Tet.

In the past, December was the monthhouseholds started to produce pictures for Tet. Dong Ho pictures weresold at most rural markets. Those who went shopping for Tet neverfailed to bring home several Dong Ho pictures, believing they wouldbring good luck.