《西施》~ "迷你西施! ~ 标准款, 嵌盖, Solo pax 97.3ml! Mini Xi Shi - Standard Silhouette and Spout” with Qian Gai interface, Bao Shan Duan Ni 宝山段泥, by Craftsman Chen Yu 陈羽。
https://www.realzisha.com/pages/fully-handmade-zisha-art-and-craft-and-tea-pairings
《西施》~ "Mini Xi Shi"
This is the delectable Xi Shi model crafted by our dear Chen Yu! This small volume, GONG-FU purposed Xi Shi at ~100ml! AND crafted in our Cao Family's new release of our family stock of the rare type of Bao Shan Duan Ni!again after consultation between our family seniors. Bao Shan Quarry 宝山矿 is an integral part of Huang Long Shan (sometimes the Craftsman or Artist may sign off as Bao Shan Ben Duan to simply integrate the common knowledge here in YiXIng, that Bao Shan quarry IS part of Huang Long Shan i.e. adding the character Ben 本, in short for Ben Shan 本山 which is Huang Long Shan), and it is very important to all of us concerned here holding up YiXing ZiSha Art. Bao Shan Duan NI is also an integral part of one's collection of the Duan Ni here in our YiXing ZiSha hallowed fraternity.
https://www.realzisha.com/pages/fully-handmade-zisha-art-and-craft-and-tea-pairings
*It take 3 workers 3 days to manufacture 1800 machined pots (cannot be made from ZiSha) from the jigger-jolly machine, it takes 1 worker 3 days to manufacture 9 half-handmade pots from perfect moulds for the spout, lid, lid knob, body and handle,
It takes 1 Fully-Handmaking Craftsman 3 days to craft 1 Fully-Handmade ZiSha work.
We have not mentioned the degree of extreme skill the FHM Craftsman needs to perfect for five years before a perfect XiShi or Fang Gu is up to par.
We have not mentioned that the JJM pots have close to 100% success rate as they are made from cheap non-zisha ceramic materials and of a consistency maximised for ease of forming in the jigger-jolly machine, and the HHM pots having perfect forms (popped out from moulds for the spout/lid/lid knob/body and handle) and hence much higher success percentage out of the kiln.
A Fully-Handmade ZiSha piece from our Craftsmen, has a very low success rate, of 40-70% for Zhu Ni to Zi Ni works, and further lower if engraving and clay sculpting are crafted in.
Include the further maths comparing the selling prices of a typical jjm pot at US$80-120 and a typical hhm pot at US$150 - $250.
Come to YiXing, instead of reading keyboard warriors don't even know the reasons behind the steps taken for a FHM work, never walked all the nooks and crevices in YiXing, not least step foot in actual YiXing, and we will show you all on the ground, the jjm and hhm factories, all the distribution centers for their wares, the outright fakery, the pretence and you can tell how colossal their markups are when you buy them at $80 - $250 (cost each is 15-30rmb to 150-200rmb). Theirs are businesses. I am Craftsman Xiao Ran and I speak English, Russian and Chinese, we show you around.
Ours is a total mission for our culture and for the tea.
Getting one of my colleague Craftsmen’s one Fully-Handmade ZiSha work here, is not just getting a Premium piece,
It is getting the highest value piece far, far and away, from the jjm and hhm pots.
Belong to the top echelon by owning a $195 Fang Gu from Craftsman Chen Fa Chu or a $235 Xi Shi from Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming.
The reason for getting a ZiSha work is for its porosity.
Hence our Craftsmen’s dedication to Fully-Handcrafting to maintain its porosity to the maximum.
If they can earn much easier money by jumping over to hhm factories, they would have done so, but why do our Craftsmen keep to their Fully-Handmaking craft?
Our Craftsmen are not intellectually amiss in committing their lives and sacrificing their livelihood for themselves and their families they need to feed, by dedicating and upholding Fully-Handmaking ZiSha works.
They know it is worth it, and it is the only way to experience the best tea for all of us.
They know it is the only way to preserve our Chinese culture.
We salute their sacrifice for the cause, and for us.
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WE PROUDLY PRESENT THIS!from our Cao Family's stock: a RARIFIED type of Bao Shan Duan Ni which we hold. Not just rare, we high fire it 1220degC to present its most sumptuously rich: colour and texture! As described in Zhu Ze Wei's book,
This Bao Shan Duan Ni type is "含矿量较少 ~~~ 烧成后呈黄褐微泛红色调，粗梨皮状的胎质中黄色和暗红色颗粒密布，表面砂质颗粒凸起，外观质感若鲨鱼皮，色泽效果细腻而丰富。"
"The amount that is mined is of low quantity, after firing it presents Yellowish-Brownish with a hint of Red tone, and also presents a rough pear skin-like distribution of Yellow and Dim-Grayish-Red granular particles, very DENSE and RICH. After firing, one also feels its surface with sandy particles protruding, colour effect being both detailed and rich!
Closing up~
☆☆ Appreciate Craftsman Chen Yu's DILIGENCE. This Xi Shi of his, incorporates the more difficult-to-craft Qian Gai 嵌盖 lid-to-body interface construction. This Qian Gai interface here of this Xi Shi, is DIFFERENT from the Jie Gai 截盖.☆
The Qian Gai interface is the most difficult to craft interface construction, but Craftsman Chen did it because: IF DONE RIGHT + survive the firing successfully without deformation: this Qian Gai WILL give the most watertight interface (as the water has to move through TWO 90 degrees right angles before getting to leak out), and the most secure and SATISFYING, smile-inducing closure :-D
3. Generously thickened, raised and skilfully sculpted: circular foot,
TRIPLE-LAYER BASE CONSTRUCTION:
~ The base is superbly constructed with TRIPLE-LAYER CONSTRUCTION, sculpted intensely and raised, so that tea stains don't form easily due to the static pot in touch with the tea liquids on the tea table.
~ Courtesy of Chen's diligent working at this base, it results in a heavy and VERY WELL-WEIGHTED BASE. Excellent form. Experience only gained through painstaking efforts through the years.
2. Craftsman Chen Yu also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes (2+3+4+3+2) for a solid and SUPERB FAST POUR of tea out and with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom fast while allowing tea to flow out from the upper holes.
Shrinkage of Fully-Handmade ZiSha,
Enjoy his diligence, superb, classic handwork with this Mini Xi Shi!!!and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
Craftsmen and Artists, say: "a ZiSha pot will behave like a jelly, wobbly like a jelly, once inside the kiln. What comes out of it, we shall see, and we shall only pray."
We cherish every single successful one, regardless of the price. Each is the result of much hard work and experience of the Craftsman, and definitely a certain degree of good luck during firing ~for the convection currents in the kiln is never totally uniform. We also depend on the (窑)气氛 within the kiln. Each completed batch of three, can all totally fail. We cherish every surviving one.
Craftsman Chen Yu thanks you dearest friends for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsmen left to fend this Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
We hope to bring all of you more and more classics, for you to hold a broad view and savour the delightful landscape of ZiSha works that our YiXing fraternity has!!!
A treasure chest and our team will continue to work very hard to prepare and bring forth every single piece to you. Thank you, dearest Friends for your understanding.
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BRING ONE HOME, USE IT and you will know all about Fully-Handmade ZiSha, the feel of real and quality YiXing ZiSha, the nurturing of Patina, how the true Patina feels and looks like, the aura and feel manifested by a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth. Savour Craftsman Chen Yu's skills. You will know everything then :-D
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Not resorting to moulds and half-handmaking. These dedicated Fully-Handmaking Craftsmen sacrifice their whole lives to commit to this Art and Craft. They will tell you, they will never negotiate. Fully-Handmaking ZiSha works is worth their sacrifice of their entire lifetime, they want to preserve our Chinese traditional art and craft. They want to preserve and enhance the unique character of Yixing ZiSha: the double-sized pores uniquely gifting ZiSha its character.
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Dearest Friends, we are savouring this top Ceramic material for tea, ZiSha, and these are all the Craftsmen’s and Artists’ hard worked, Fully-Handmade pieces, with lots of preparations, intense crafting, heart aches at the kiln, all fully respecting this totally natural, and high shrinkage unpredictable clay, sensitive to even a 0.5degree in ambient temperature, and even weather (temperature, moisture, the four seasons) outside of the kiln. The 铁熔点 ~ natural black iron melted spots that irregularly and spontaneously appear anywhere and everywhere ~ we call Tie Rong Dian :-D, the “跳砂” Tiao Sha denote the observed “popped-off-spots” effect when the cute surface granulate popped off from the surface during the high shrinkage of more pasty clay around it, the “爆子” “Bao Zi” also dot the surface as those that did not pop off, hover out just enough to cling onto the surface, and the simple surface irregularities, are all due to this ceramic clay, although having the highest shrinkage, are still mercilessly and necessarily fired at 1150degC to 1250degC. These are all part of the natural ZiSha artefacts and what many modern day or Western pottery lovers affectionately call “wabi-sabi”. Our Chinese Craftsmen and Artists do not aim for wabi-sabi for the sake of wabi-sabi. Do forgive them for these natural irregularities. These Tie Rong Dian, Tiao Sha and Bao Zi, are the natural phenomena that dot the surface of our beloved top tea ceramic! YiXing ZiSha, the best ZiSha source in the whole world, and with the double-sized pores innately inherent and imbuing the best taste for any type of tea. Savour Fully-Handmade ZiSha teapot Craft and Art!
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Here with us in our happy family of true ZiSha connoisseurs and friends, you witness 90-120 photos taken of EACH Fully-Handmade ZiSha work here.
Compare this to elsewhere: factory bosses of jigger-machined non-zisha pots contribute downstream to their retailers: 5-10 stock photos for each non-zisha pot model, used to sell a stock of 10, 20, 30 jigger-machined non-zisha pots per model. I.e. 5-10 photos to sell hundreds of one model.
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We at RealZiSha, take 90-120 photos, fresh, of EACH, ONE, Fully-Handmade ZiSha work. Together with our sacrificial and hardworking Craftsmen and Artists committed to honest true Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft, we at RealZiSha go the aeons' distance.
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Again, another tremendous labor of love by our trusted and committed collaborative Craftsman Chen Yu. It is a team effort and we thank you dearest Friends for your grandest support to the honest and the dedicated Craftsmen here left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
The lines and detailing speak of Craftsman Chen Yu's EXTREME CARE AND TIME taken to craft each part, each pot. Hold one, hold up one, swing the work around. Carefully examine his Fully-Handmade work. Look at it from afar, from near, and it will grow on you, with fine detailing with MUCH THOUGHT on each part, with MUCH TIME spent on every part, section. Because this is what Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art should be, and HOW FULLY-HANDMADE ZISHA ART is so different from and light years ahead of the ubiquitous jigger-machined pots and half-handmade pots masquerading under the sales tagline of "fully-handmade zisha" pots. These latter JM/HHM pots are made in what we call 流水线 a.k.a. 'Factory-Line operation' whereby the main pot body after being jigger-machined or coming off from the mould, is passed to the next worker who fits on the spout, and subsequently this second worker will pass the pot on to another worker who will in turn fit on the handle. Continuing so, the pressed lid is likewise passed to another worker who fit on the lid knob. EACH WORKER has NO IDEA what the other one is doing, and they are always working on fixed time lines stated by the boss. For example, the worker being "passed the baton" a pot with the spout just fixed onto the body by his colleague, will only focus on fixing on the handle, with nil to little regard to WHETHER THE HANDLE fixed on will be cohesive with the spout. Each worker has NO idea of HOW THE FINAL POT WILL LOOK LIKE. Beyond poor craftsmanship and clay, the result of such processes are ugly pots with poor cohesiveness which experienced Artists, Craftsmen and collectors will tell from a metre away. Experienced people in us, do not need to pick up a pot to check whether it is fully-handmade or made of zisha, we can tell from a metre away just by looking at the pot.
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The keywords are: Detailing and Cohesiveness.
A GOOD Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work combines great detailing and cohesiveness.
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The amount of effort put behind each of our Fully-Handmade ZiSha work welcoming you, the authentic YiXing ZiSha clay, the many years of dedication and hardship committed to the craft, the proper three rounds of firing, the presentation with dedicated 80-150 photos of each work, the effort spent behind procuring 5rmb notes in running stacks from our local banks, is 100,000x, more than the what is peddled on countless websites: with cheap common ceramic clays behind the unauthentic pots, the fast, less than a minute of jigger-machining, or just the few months’ ability of newly recruited unskilled workers to churn out half-handmade pots, the simple one to two rounds of firing at convenient and lower temperatures at just only one round of firing, cheap ceramic clays that do not shrink much so as to maximise success and profits, the presentation with a set of ten photos taken per model and repeated for more than tens to thousands of stock.
And yet, Craftsmen Chen Fa Chu, Chen Yu, Zhu Shu, Gao Xiang, Zhang Huan, Fang Shi, Yang Pin Ting, Gu Xiao Ming, Wang Xing, Wang Hui, etc, honest hardworking people are put in a really bad position, for they 1) have to compete on price with fake stuff from all around, but still 2) have to offer the honest real thing: Fully-Handmade ZiSha works. These honest Craftsmen have to lower their prices so much with their works, authentic works of extreme sacrifices, labour and experience.
Explained, https://www.realzisha.com/blogs/news/actual-zisha-landscape-at-yixing
, the Craftsman by selling his hard-worked ZiSha craft at $190-$240, $45-$65 goes to the cost of the craft, inclusive of the fees for the firing for the kiln operator (three times per pot), the packaging boxes, and between $32 to $52 for the clay (Zi Ni Di Cao Qing, Duan Ni and upwards) used per pot. Craftsman takes 3 days (fastest 2.5days) to craft a pot.
Depending on the difficulty of craft the design elements command, the difficulty of crafting with certain clay types, the rarity and hence cost of clay, the inclusion of engraving 刻绘 and/or clay sculpting e.g. Ni Hui 泥绘, Dui Hui 堆绘, Diao Su 雕塑 on the piece of work, our Craftsmen face immense cost increase, time spent, and the level of expertise and savoir-faire accumulated by sheer HARD WORK.
If he works 30 days a month without a single day of rest (no family time), he will craft 10-12 pots.
If he crafts for 25 days (five days of rest a month), his output will be 8-10 pots.
The success rate for Zi Ni (e.g. Di Cao Qing, Lao Zi Ni, Da Shui Tan etc) and Duan Ni (e.g. Jiang Po Ni, Qing Hui Duan, etc) is 70% on average. Some times the whole batch of 10 may fail. We have seen our Craftsmen suffer like this very often.
The success rate for Zhu Ni (e.g. Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni) pots is 60%, or 70% with most optimism and at the very, very best. Unfortunately.
All of us at RealZiSha of course, hope for one another, professional colleagues and all, that all the pots will survive firing at the kiln successfully.
[For ZiSha models/designs that are very challenging and more complicated to craft, the time taken to craft will be longer, and the failure rate will be higher as well. Zi Sha by its virtue, have the highest shrinkage rate of all ceramic clay. Zi Ni and Duan Ni thus have that 70% success rate, while Zhu Ni has even higher shrinkage rate and thus even lower success rate (the lowest of all ceramic clay.)]
Our Craftsmen are wholeheartedly committed to the cause of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and their strictness with their craft and dedication earn our respect. We give a big Thank You all of these Craftsmen, for they are saving what is our common precious tea culture: Tea + Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft. Your support is vital to their livelihood and the existence of this craft for all of the tea fraternity.
Thank you Friends!
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