Dearest Friends, Zhu Sha. It first appeared on Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng's all important work, the Ding Mao piece!
https://www.realzisha.com/collections/monumental-precious-by-assoc-master-yang-quan-sheng-the-ming-yuan-ding-mao-%E9%B8%A3%E8%BF%9C%E4%B8%81%E5%8D%AF
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 take on 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 extremely savoured!!! IT brews excellently Aged Sheng Pu Er, and Shu Pu Er!!! Some of us swear by it for this application.
Generally, we 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.
We discussed amongst all Craftsmen, and being a team effort, Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming volunteered to take up this onerous task. After two full months of practice, trial and error, getting used to it, 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, because a rare clay, premium price, delectably vermillion-reddish, granular and highly tactile.
Zhu Sha is a natural Yuan Kuang (unadulterated) type of ZiSha. It is classified as a ZhuNi type. It is the highest granularity form of Hong Ni picked at site. Less granular than that would be Da Hong NI and Xiao Hong Ni, and less granular than that would be Ben Shan Zhu Ni. The least granular would be the XiaoMeiYao ZhuNi and the ZhaoZhuang ZhuNi.
This is not to be missed, a limited run as well, and a valuable piece in your collection. We are very glad and grateful to Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming, who goes from strength to strength, to embark on this crafting with this rare and delectable Zhu Sha. We value Craftsman Gu's guile and determination to bring this to us.
Here in this Si Ting, Craftsman Gu spares no effort as he 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.
思亭, Si Ting
Si Ting has always been a model of high difficulty. Reasons are many.
The most difficult part pertains to the patting of this SINGULAR pasty clay slab from one into two parts with WIDE disparity in girth. Crafting so is demanding on one's experience and skill, as this pasty clab slab may crack during its patting. The curves must all be cohesive as well and there should not be any turning back. What we take for granted, the extremely graceful and svelte silhouette, is the fruit of the Craftsman's labour, great eye of aesthetic as Gu Xiao Ming crafts, this time with the latest and RARE, pricier Zhu Sha.
This 思亭 Si Ting is an amazingly large, graceful and large Zhu Sha work. We delve into it!
Si Ting, being of a form whereby:
1) the form above AND below the widest girth, narrow inwards,
2) the lid has a highly extended dome above the tea water when filled to the brim.
These mean that Si Ting is a shape that houses less volume that its visual estate would suggest on our tea table. This is in direct contrast to the Jing Zhou Shi Piao and Han Wa, which houses maximum volume for the lowest visual estate.
What this means in turn, is that, to craft a Si Ting to house 190ml of volume, it has to be crafted rather large! And with the pricier and precious Zhu Sha clay that Craftsman Gu is tasked with.
Here, this Si Ting with a largish volume of ~195ml, is really a large Zhu Sha work, a tall order of an Austere work demanding dexterity of fingers, experienced artistic direction and aesthetic grasp.
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 Si Ting 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 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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