Shui Ping 水平, 160.6ml, Di Cao Qing Zi Ni 底槽青紫泥, by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明 ~ Congratulations!to Mr M.R.! 0004hrs 22nd August 2025, Leicester, UK🇬🇧.
Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming goes from strength to strength, and hereby presents the his NEW ZiSha work! ~~~ The Shui Ping!
Svelte, minimalist] and understated. This Shui Ping delights everyone here in Yixing with its classy aura, handling and pour!
~~~ Appreciate Craftsman Gu's DILIGENCE.
Craftsman Gu has done many Qian Gai before for his Xi Shi models and here ALSO incorporates the more difficult-to-craft Qian Gai 嵌盖 lid-to-body interface construction.
The Qian Gai interface is the most difficult to craft interface construction, but Craftsman Gu did it because: IF DONE RIGHT and survived 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 closure.
Qian Gai is very difficult to get past the firing stage!
You may even say a headache given the minimal allowances that shrinkage allowances would give!
Qian Gai interface is very difficult ot get right with the high shrinkage XiaoMeiYao ZhuNi (immensely high shrinkage causing deformation and high failure rates), even for our experienced Craftsman Wang Xing. Thus, for the XiShi of XiaoMeiYao ZhuNi, which many of you friends had already procured from us, you would have noticed that Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao utilised the Jie Gai 截盖 interface for his Xi Shi works.
~For illustration with Craftsman Gu's series of delectable Qian Gai 嵌盖 Xi Shi's:
Now he gets it beautifully right in this Shui Ping!
Kudos to Craftsman Gu!
2. Craftsman Gu also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes for a solid and 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.
3. Going even further, notice the base! Craftsman delights us with this intensely and carefully sculpted base so that tea stains don't form easily despite our sometimes careless leaving the teapot on the wet tea table. Excellent form. Experience ONLY gained through painstaking fully-handmaking efforts through the YEARS.
And, we must appreciate this Fully-Handmade wonder that is the very long and stylish, long and sharp spout with the lovely and amazing sillouette:
Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明 thanks you dearest friends for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsladies and Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
Here with us in our happy family of true ZiSha connoisseurs, you witness 90-120 photos taken of EACH Fully-Handmade ZiSha work here.
Compare this to elsewhere: factory bosses of jigger-machining 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.
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 eons' distance.
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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.
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 critical to their livelihood and the existence of this craft for all of the tea fraternity.
Thank you Friends!
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