Yes!!! The latest Small Volume ~ Low-Slung, Broad Han Wa!
Accomplished by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming!
The previous Broad Han Wa by Craftsman Chen Fa Chu, Chen Hua Jun have all been at 190ml and 280ml!
Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming shoulders the task to create and diligently craft this SMALL VOLUME, broad Han Wa for all of you!
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The Han Wa 汉瓦.
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 curving side wall and if not done evenly, is very obvious to the eye.
2. Han Wa 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! 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, there will be leakage at the front lid edge when the user tilts the teapot to serve tea. The whole big circular lid has to be perfectly evenly made to secure a tight fit.
3. Han Wa's lid, being wide and flat (not domed), still needs to account for a gently curving convex top surface, WHILE supporting the heavy lid knob that can cause the flat lid to "sink" down in the middle. A domed lid otherwise would naturally present a stronger vertical axial strength to support a heavy lid knob, but not the Han Wa.
Admire this Han Wa.
Simple, but a Top Classic.
Han Wa, is also 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 to drying within the pot.
5. For such a low-height pot, Craftsman Gu is able to accomplish the configuration of: 3+4+3 = 10 exit filter HOLES!!! 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 Gu Xiao Ming is challenged to make this BROAD, low-slung and sleek Han Wa. And he succeeded indeed! On top of the previous 5 points,
6. The lid is WIDE AND BROAD: That means the lid is even much more prone to deforming centrally downwards (due to gravitational pull) during firing. But Gu Xiao Ming succeeded with this! He needs to grasp properly the clay processing, and the moisture needed, and the firing temperatures at all 3 firings perfectly. It took a lot of trial and errors. He succeeded eventually! Do not take this excellent Han Wa for granted. It requires tremendous set of skills and years of experience.
Here amazingly, perfectly and astutely made by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming!
7. Craftsman Gu also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes for such a low-in-height pot, a)to facilitate a solid and fast pour of tea out, and b) with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom of this pushed-in, curved-in filter pod 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, superb, classic handwork with this 140-150ml small-volume, broad Han Wa, and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
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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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