Dear Friends,
This is the Han Tang Shi Piao 汉堂石瓢, created by National Grand Master of The Arts: 徐汉堂 Xu Han Tang. This is one of his proudest moment, and proudest creation. It has gained respect from our YiXing ZiSha fraternity, championing and combining four strong adjectives altogether in its reverence: Austere, Gentlemanly, Oriental and Stately. Combining curves, stylishness and yet exuding old Oriental charm in spades. Ever since its debut into the ZiSha fraternity, it has swiftly established itself as one of the mainstay Giants of the Shi Piao variations! Only a very well-trained, experienced and skilful Craftsman will be able to understand the curves and proportions perfectly, and here beautifully captured and crafted by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming!
This latest Han Tang Shi Piao newly presented to you now by our Collaborative Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming who have brought your delightful Xi Shi's in the past two months! Gu Xiao Ming has now settled in excellently with us after having been "roped in" by our Craftsman Chen Fa Chu in early 2024, all to be in a happy team dedicated to providing, serving and interacting with all of you through their craft, and enabling your full Chinese Tea experience! Tea + Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
Here in this Han Tang Shi Piao, 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.
Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明 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 Han Tang Shi Piao and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
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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 vital to their livelihood and the existence of this craft for all of the tea fraternity.
Thank you Friends!
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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 Gu Xiao Ming's skills, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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