《四方合瓢》"Si Fang He Piao", 103.9ml, *Tai Xi Duan Ni ~ Gao Wen (high-fired) 台西段泥~高温烧 with Colour Clay Sculpting Art 泥绘, by Craftsman Gao Xiang 高翔!

《四方合瓢》"Si Fang He Piao"!

Dearest Friends, announcing our new Craftsman, Gao Xiang 高翔!!
Him being a very honest friend whom Zhang Huan, Zhu Shu and Yang Ping Ting respect a lot in their clay sculpting trainings several years ago, all of us managed to convince him to join us!  And yes here he is for all of you friends!   We are all very happy and over the moon!!




Gao Xiang, at age of 31 now, has been particularly fond of small Polygonal class works since fifteen years ago when he picked up and trained hard in Fully-Handmaking works!  He receives of course, the nod of quality by Senior Consummate Master Yuan Hui!  All of the Craftsmen now in the group too are very happy that from now on, they can all complement one another!  Small (100-160ml) Polygonal works are his area of focus and forte, and this is his love which he does best in!  We really hope all of you friends and ZiSha aficionados will agree with our team here that his works are amazing in artistic direction, afforded at the most affordable price in the market, and of delicate savoir-faire and workmanship!   Very happy that he will now be here permanently with all of you!  A lot of hard work from all of us, and we will continue fighting very hard against all odds, for all of you.   We love our Fully-Handmaking ZiSha Art and are very grateful and over the moon whenever each piece goes to your homes.
Presenting here, proudly to all of you, by Craftsman Gao Xiang:
His Si Fang He Piao!  Polygonal, small volume, with the 45-degree 1mm chamfering that Senior Master Yuan Hui approves of and smiles at!  Not content, we pass him our Cao Family’s Tai Xi Duan Ni we mined from Huang Long Shan (Tai Xi Quarry/Mine pit is one of the famous and favourite mine locations at Huang Long Shan), and we high-fire them to manifest this beautiful beige-yellow-light brown colour.  Even further, how can we not let Gao Xiang finish it with his coloured clay sculpting!  We cheer for Craftsman Gao Xiang and thank him for his years of dedication to ZiSha and his love of delicate Polygonal works!
Craftsman Gao Xiang 高翔, presents here, the《四方合瓢》Si Fang He Piao, High-fired Tai Xi Duan Ni 台西段泥~高温烧, with coloured clay sculpting of the Plum Blossoms 梅花~彩色泥绘!
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Savour BOTH of Craftsman's Gao Xiang's Pot Craftsmanship AND COLOURED Clay Sculpting 彩色泥绘!





Clay Sculpting with the applied embellishments, is challenging and raises the likelihood of failure at firing: through cracks at the thin ZiSha clay appliqué, which would be irreparable.  If the clay sculpting comes off, these are irreparable, and the whole pot has to be abandoned.  Zhu Shu needs to craft again.  Generally success rate is one in two.
Color Clay Sculpting is more difficult and requires higher experience, as the colors pre-firing is different from the colors manifested post-firing, hence the Craftsman must be able to envision the final post-fired effect and color, as she applies fresh ZiSha paste during this Clay Sculpting process!
Having the skill of knowing what ZiSha paste to sculpt with is one thing, having the petals and all, having the 3-Dimensional Effect, varying thickness to beautifully bring up the aesthetic appreciation of the Orchids, is another forté which must be mastered together by Craftsman Zhu Shu.
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45-degree 1mm-chamfering:



The carefully, deftly and diligently crafted largest possible 3+3+3 holes hand-pushed in filter for amazing great pour from a small-volume 110ml work!



Our Cao Family's Tai Xi Duan Ni, this time high-fired.




ZiSha Art is the most amazing carrier medium, housing various aspects of Chinese Cultural Arts!
Here in this Si Fang He Piao by Craftsman Gao Xiang,you enjoy the embodiment of
1.  Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft 紫砂美术与工艺,
2.  Painting 绘画,
3.  Clay Sculpting 泥绘.
Hold, Use and Keep relishing the delightful aspects of our Chinese Culture in your daily life, in solitude, in practice, during hospitality to family and friends alike!
Savour the journey, dearest Friends :-D

We wish all our dearest friends in you, to enjoy it, use it, savour it and feel the aura of our Chinese YiXing Art!
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Craftsman Gao Xiang is NOW proudly one of us and he will be featuring consistently, with Zhang Huan, Zhu Shu, Yang Pin Ting, Gu Xiao Ming, Chen Fa Chu, et al.  Craftsman Gao Xiang's works are highly scrutinised and praised too!by our Senior Masters, and deemed to be ready for you, delectable for your use and a long lasting permanent ZiSha work in your collection.

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Cherish it as they do not come easy, with the firing kiln enabling only a 60-70% success rate for this detailed Polygonal + coloured Clay embellishment sculpting Art, i.e. fire 3, and two or less will be successful.  This is SPECIALLY crafted for all of you friends at ~110ml to suit the gungfu solo steeping practice!  Still good for steeping for two people at a sitting!

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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.