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By Patrick  If you’re looking at a “Heini” 黑泥 (Black Clay) Yixing Teapot, chances are you’re looking at a teapot that has either had chemical pigments mixed into the clay or one that has been fired in a low-oxygen (reduction) environment.
by Patrick  Because of the enormous demand for Longjing from the West Lake Longjing Tea Gardens, much more "West Lake Longjing" is sold each year than is actually grown in the West Lake District of Hangzhou. To combat this fraud, the West Lake District Tea Industry Committee started to issue authentication stickers beginning in 2001.
by Patrick This week’s blog entry is Part 2 of our series on processing Tian Qing Ni. This week we look at the steps taken from clay to finished teapot.  Tian Qing Ni Yixing Teapot. by Patrick Now that the first batch of Tian Qing Ni Yixing Teapots has emerged from the kiln, we decided to write a short follow up to last October’s article, this time discussing the steps in the process for turning raw Tian Qing Ni ore into usable clay for teapots. Tian Qing Ni is a rare subcategory of purple Yixing clay (zini), prized for its beauty, ease of shaping and firing, and for improving the flavour and aroma of tea. Click here for more on the history of this clay. While the steps below show Tian Qing Ni, the same process can be applied to any kind of zini. Photos are from Lin Hanpeng’s studio where the process took place.
by Patrick
This year will be the first time we order a custom mould for our own line of Yixing Teapots. In recognition that many of our customers prefer smaller Yixing Teapots, we have ordered a mould for dicaoqing shuipings in a sub-100ml capacity. The design will recreate the classic shuiping silhouette in the studio's excellent original ore dicaoqing, a versatile zini (purple clay). As we discussed in our previous article on the topic, half-handmade teapots are made with the help of moulds, which the potter uses when shaping the clay slabs by hand into the different pieces that will form the finished teapot. The following photos show the design in progress from Lin Hanpeng, with his explanation. The English translation follows below. |
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