Shadow Weaver

Chapter 139 Let’s Start Making a Pot
"The first step in making a purple clay teapot is to cut the clay into appropriate pieces."

After arranging the venue, Gong Zhou tapped the table and cleared his throat, then took the aged clay and said, "Come, Comrade Xiao Xu, take a closer look - this is the aged clay. Doesn't it feel different from the raw clay we just made?"

"Hmm... this mud is not sticky, and it doesn't seem to fall off so easily." Bai Miaomiao, who has always been meticulous, spoke first - she just saw it carefully, and saw that the mud was almost squeezed into a big flat lump in Teacher Gong Zhou's hands, and there were not many irregular cracks on the edges.

"Yes, this is one of the important functions of aging," Gong Zhou nodded in approval, "—it can make the properties of purple clay more stable, making it more suitable for making pots."

"Then let's make a simpler and more basic Xishi pot today. This pot is round, small, and beautiful... A piece of clay this big should be enough for the pot body."

"After the mud is cut into pieces, the next step is to use tools to beat the mud into pieces - we call this step 'beating mud strips'."

"This tool for making clay strips is a familiar one that I just saw when I was refining clay. It's a big wooden mallet. We usually call it a wooden sledgehammer. However, in order to save effort, I usually ask someone to make this mallet for making clay strips a little smaller than the one used for refining clay, so that children with less strength can also wield it."

As Gong Zhou spoke, he took out a small half-square wooden hammer and with a few claps, he easily turned a ball of purple clay into a long piece.

"The force used in making clay strips is similar to that used in refining clay. It is also important not to use only the wrist to exert force. When making clay strips, the clay pieces should be smooth and evenly thick... There should not be any bumps or holes. Thin and thick patches are the biggest taboos when making clay strips."

"It can be said that beating the clay strips is a combination of technique and physical strength - this is a great test of the potter's experience and the control of the strength of his hands when beating the clay strips."

"——The force should be applied evenly, and the action should be decisive and steady. If you hesitate, the mallet may not be evenly applied, or the flattened clay strip may be slightly deformed."

"Of course, not all styles of purple clay teapots need to be beaten into suitable clay strips with a wooden hammer." Gong Zhou, who had just finished beating the clay pieces, paused for a moment while holding the hammer. "Some styles of purple clay teapots pursue the irregular natural patterns that the teapot maker pinches out on the clay pieces with his hands."

"——The clay pieces for this kind of pot don't need to be beaten too much. Just use your fingers and palms to pinch and press the clay pieces into pieces of the right size, then place the clay pieces on the table and simply flatten them, and use tools to cut them into the shape we need."

"The clay pieces just made have no regular shape, so we need to use a special square car and ruler to cut them into suitable shapes. The cut clay pieces should be longer than the circumference of the pot tube we need, because we can cut off the excess material later, but we can't make up for the lack of material, so we can only make a new one."

"Pay attention, the height of the clay piece is very important - the height of the entire pot behind us is closely related to the height of the clay piece."

"Well, we have already marked the clay pieces for the pot body. Some pot makers will stamp an inner wall seal on the inner wall after this step to prevent counterfeiting. Today's Xishi pot will have many places to be patted, so we won't stamp this." "The next step is to make the bottom piece and the mouth piece," Gong Zhou said as he skillfully and smoothly beat out four suitable clay pieces, and then used a square car to mark out four circles of different sizes. "This step is nothing special. It is the same as the steps for making the barrel body before, except that the shapes of the clay pieces are different."

"This compass looks like a compass." Xu Yichi scratched his head and muttered. Gong Zhou smiled and nodded in response: "Yes, the compass is a special compass used to make purple clay pottery."

"Now that we have the body piece, bottom piece and mouth piece, the next step is to make the body tube."

"When we make the body, the mouth piece, and the spout and handle of the pot, we need to use a special adhesive, which we call 'zini' in jargon, and it can also be called 'fat clay'." Gong Zhou said in a brisk tone, and casually took out a small plastic bag from the small drawer under the table beside him. There was some dried purple clay in the bag.

"I deliberately didn't ask them to take out the prepared mud today. I wanted to demonstrate to you three kids how mud is made."

"This piece of dried purple clay is the same material as the clay we just used to make the pot body." Gong Zhou said as he held up the dried clay and motioned Xu Yichi and others to start kneading it.

Seeing this, Bai Miaomiao bravely reached out her hand first. The mud she got was dry and hard, with a subtle brick texture. It was really the dryest it could be.

"To nourish the clay is to break the dried purple clay into pieces and then add water to allow it to naturally rehydrate into a dry paste-like purple clay. We call this process of adding water 're-nourishing the clay.'" Gong Zhou saw that several people had pinched the clay pieces and threw them onto a small plate. After breaking them into pieces, he added some water to the plate.

"The ratio of water to clay is not fixed. The specific amount depends on the experience and feel of the potter. If too much water is added, the clay will be too wet and will not stick firmly, and the handle may flow and tilt. If too little water is added, the clay will be too dry and will not stick firmly, and there is a chance of cracking after firing."

"Hey, come closer and take a look - our mud only needs to be rehydrated to this extent. This kind of mud is very easy to use."

After mixing the mud, Gong Zhou waved to the people in the field to make sure that everyone could see the state of the mud on the small plate clearly. Then he turned around, picked up the long strips of mud on the table again, and carefully piled them on the wooden turntable.

"Make a body tube - our Xishi teapot looks round, so the body tube should be larger than the base and mouth... probably this big will be enough." Gong Zhou used his hands to make a body tube - a master craftsman like him has been making purple clay teapots for many years, and he is familiar with the shapes and sizes of various teapots, so he no longer needs to use a ruler to carefully measure every step.

"Cut off the excess mud flakes and connect the two ends together. This knife looks thinner than the one you girls use to shave your eyebrows. It's called a 鳑 (pronounced "pang") 鲏 (pronounced "pi") knife. We use it to cut mud flakes. The name is not very common. If you can't remember it, forget it. If you can remember it, go back and look it up yourself. I won't tell you how to write it."

"Now that we have the body wrapped, let's start photographing the body. When photographing, we photograph the belly first and then the bottom. After photographing the bottom, we can start loading the film."