《矮汉瓦》"Ai Han Wa ~ Short Han Wa", 116.8ml, rare Zhu Sha 朱砂 (highest granularity form of ZhuNi), by Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi 范小智。
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.
The Han Wa 汉瓦。
Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi has moved on finally to the Ai Han Wa in his favourite clay where he is extremely familiar and deft with: the Zhu Sha! Ecstatic now that the sleek and Gong-Fu purposed volume Han Wa is now combined with Zhu Sha!!! Specially arranged for all of you friends, whilst stocks last (if the firing kiln is kind _/|\_ ).
Zhu Sha is the highest granularity form of Zhu Ni known to us in the ZiSha fraternity. And it is exactly famous for its high granularity! This is proper Yuan Kuang Zhu Sha, and is rare and more costly. Zhu Sha works have the same success rate during firing as Zi Ni and most Duan Ni. However, Zhu Sha is "notorious" for its highly granularity, and Artists and Craftsmen find it difficult to craft because it is 很疏松, very, very "loose" (not pasty) and Artists and Craftsmen during forming the pot, have to acquire AND GET USED to special skill sets to handle and work on it! Firing is not an issue, success rate is high, but crafting is extremely tricky and tiresome. However, the result is to be savoured. It brews excellently, Aged Sheng Pu Er, and Shu Pu Er. Some of our Tea Masters local and abroad, swear by it for these applications! Many favour Zhu Sha 朱砂, Xiao Hong Ni 小红泥, Da Hong Ni 大红泥 (Yuan Kuang Da Hong Pao 原矿大红袍) and Hong Jiang Po Ni 红降坡泥 for this application.
Zhu Sha 朱砂:
Get ready for steeping Aged Sheng and Shu Pu Er in perfect Gung Fu style!
Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi is very happy to be crafting superb classics for all of us! Together in a team here in YiXing, he thanks you dearest friends for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art. Enjoy his diligence, excellent handwork with this Ai Han Wa and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
Past months of practice, trial and error, getting used to this Zhu Sha and sending specimens to firing for the ideal colour~texture~surface feel, all of us are finally happy with its appearance and success!
Do cherish this ZhuSha used, rarer clay, delectably vermillion-reddish, granular and highly tactile!!
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Zhu Sha brings a great smile to our faces as this rare and highest granularity form of Zhu Ni anchors itself as one of the classic clays on our tea table! Lovingly made by our trusted and committed collaborative Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi. Thank you! for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsladies and Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
Sympathetic Fact: Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi succeeds usually with only one out of every five made. We salute his huge efforts to bring this to us. Reasons are exposed as we unravel and understand the intricacy of this design.
THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL AND TREASURED HAN WA.
We refresh ourselves with the previous explanation on all our Han Wa 's :
In YiXing, there is a saying that, "Do not brag how good your skills are in crafting Fully-Handmade ZiSha pots, FIRST SHOW ME your Han Wa."
This saying has its strong foundations.
1. Han Wa needs to have a gently-curved side wall and if not done evenly, is very obvious to the eye. This is also "necessary" in our Chinese Arts, because we believe "there should be a curve to every line, and there is line to every curve".
2a. Han Wa 汉瓦, and ESPECIALLY AI HAN WA 矮汉瓦 矮 (meaning short) has a largish lid spanning the large circumference. In relativity to the pot's width, the Han Wa obviously has the largest lid-width to body-width ratio!
2b. This largish lid also has its front edge VERY close to where the front spout takes shape.
These present a very challenging task to the Craftsman, because:
IF not done well and tight, and hot convection currents within the kiln suddenly become irregular, the lid will not shrink uniformly in X-Y-Z axes, and there will be leaking at the front lid edge when the user tilts the teapot to serve tea, e.g the lid is "warped" even slightly. We have to be very sympathetic to Fully-Handmaking ZiSha Craftsmen and Artists.
The whole big circular lid has to be perfectly made and the pot must endure and survive the harsh firing, all three times, in order to have a uniform shape AND a secure fit.
This is the reason why we Craftsmen and Artists, say, there is never a perfect pot, not even Grand Master Shao's Award Winning pots at the 2020 and 2021 Panama Expositions: the Top Handle is tiled, there are Bao Zi 爆子, there are Tiao Sha 跳砂, there are Efflorescence 封釉 and irregularities in colour and shades.
Reciting our Craftsmen and Artists, who 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."
3. Ai Han Wa's《矮汉瓦》lid, being wide and flat (not domed), WHILE supporting a rather relatively heavy lid knob with significant mass, still needs to maintain its slightly gently-curved and convex top surface. Ai Han Wa, compared to the standard Han Wa, is much wider and that means the lid is even much more prone to collapsing downwards during firing. This always presents a challenge, because this knob can cause the flat lid (which becomes soft during firing) to "sink" down in the middle. An otherwise dome-shaped lid would naturally present a better vertical axial strength to support a heavy lid knob, but not the Han Wa and any pot design with a flat-shaped lid.
With all the above challenges Craftsman Fan succeeded with this! He needs to grasp properly the clay processing, and the moisture needed, the pot needs to go through all THREE firings perfectly. It took a lot of trial and errors. Craftsman Fan is determined of course and he succeeded eventually! Much oomph when he sees his Han Wa come off the kiln after the three firings, eventually SUCCESSFULLY!
Craftsman Fan delights us this time, crafting this superb Han Wa, with:
The rare and highly tactile, ZHU SHA 朱砂。
Han Wa, is VERY practical!
4. It provides: extreme ease of introducing tea leaves into the pot,
extreme ease of removing and flushing out tea leaves during cleaning,
extremely fast speed of drying after rinsing and standing the pot.
5. THIS IS THE LATEST IMPROVED HAN WA WITH 1+2+3+2+1 = SEVEN exit filter holes!despite its relatively small size. Han Wa also facilitates: during tilting and pouring tea out: allows and draws in more tea and presents a higher hydrostatic pressure that results in a strong jet of tea during serving!!! Coupled with the wide aperture spout>>> the jet is strong and fast!
~~~~~~~~~~Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi is very happy to be crafting superb classics for all of us! Together in a team here in YiXing, he thanks you dearest friends for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art. Enjoy his diligence, excellent handwork with this Xi Shi and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
Past months of practice, trial and error, getting used to this Zhu Sha and sending specimens to firing for the ideal colour~texture~surface feel, all of us are finally happy with its appearance and success!
Do cherish this ZhuSha used, rarer clay, delectably vermillion-reddish, granular and highly tactile!!
*****************
Zhu Sha brings a great smile to our faces as this rare and highest granularity form of Zhu Ni anchors itself as one of the classic clays on our tea table! Lovingly made by our trusted and committed collaborative Craftsman Fan Xiao Zhi. Thank you! for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsladies and Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
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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 exuded from a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth, and, Craftsman Zhao Huai Xu's skills, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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Hold one, hold up one, swing his work around. Carefully examine his Fully-Handmade work. Look at it from afar, from near, and it will grow on you. The whole piece grow on you because 1) he takes reference from what the Senior Masters chose for him, 2) and he amazingly crafts them up EXACTLY as to what the Senior Masters want from him: extreme 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.
Do own one. They make amazing tea, with very slight muting effect on any bitterness in the tea leaves during steeping, and heightening their "refreshed"-ness and slight sweetness!
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A GOOD Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work combines great detailing and cohesiveness.
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