Shadow Weaver

Chapter 143: Can't Eat.jpg
What is Du...What is Duguo?
This sounds weirdly delicious.

For some reason, I thought of Xu Da's creation of "Qiaoguo" and smacked my lips unconsciously.

Gong Zhou, who was standing beside them, seemed to be frightened that they would think the fruit was edible. He pulled out a small wooden pillar with pointed ends like a magic trick and shook it in front of Xu Yichi and the others.

"This is called 'Duguo'." Gong Zhou smiled, "It's a small tool we use to make the holes in the pot regular. It's not edible. You can't eat it."

"This thing called Duguo is described as the 'leg of a hairpin' in the Yixing Porcelain Pot Records. Comrade Xu, do you think it looks like the leg of a hairpin that you girls usually use to pin your hair?"

"It's pointy, it does look like one." Not only was he named, but his foodie thoughts were also exposed by Xu Dazhuo, so he grinned, "But this one is single-stranded, and it's shorter than a hairpin."

"After all, it just looks like... it's not a real hairpin!" Gong Zhou's expression remained unchanged. He slowly trimmed the rows of water outlets, then filled some water into the almost dried mud and stirred it.

"Install the spout, or apply the mud on the cut surface - then assemble the handle."

"Eh? Just attach the handle directly." Bai Miaomiao scratched her head in confusion, "Teacher Gong Zhou, are we not going to care about the mud that hasn't been scraped flat at the spout?"

"We have to take care of it, but not now." Gong Zhou narrowed his eyes, his temper was as kind and charitable as usual, "We have to install the handle of the pot first before the clay dries up - this way, if it gets a little crooked or tilted, we can adjust it in time."

"We need to use a ruler when installing the handle - we need to make sure the center of the spout, the handle, and the center of the mouth of the pot are in the same line... The handle must be installed vertically, without any tilt."

"Now that the spout and handle are installed, we can start trimming the clay. This is a very patience-consuming project. We have to do it step by step, carefully, and not rush or rush."

"Trim it slowly...add some mud to the places where there are no lines or lack of flesh...make sure to smooth it out so that it looks seamless, appropriate, and pleasing to the eye no matter how you look at it."

"Okay, that's it." After fixing the spout, Gong Zhou put down the hammer in his hand and said, "Come and take a look. After you've finished, I'll fix the handle."

Everyone moved at the sound, and Xu Yichi saw that several apprentices had even taken out paper and pens.

It seems that there are not many opportunities to have Senior Gong Zhou personally make a purple clay teapot from start to finish... Thinking about it this way, they are really honored.

"The method for nourishing the mud at the joint of the handle is the same as that for the spout. I will not elaborate here. Just pay attention to the movements." Gong Zhou was calm, and when he came to the place where he did not need to move his mouth, his hands moved very quickly.

The joints between the spout and the handle of the teapot he made are smooth and delicate, and the level of fineness is so high that they do not need excessive grinding and polishing.

Xu Yichi didn't know if this could be considered their innate skill as spirits. In short, when she had been looking through various video recordings before, she had never seen anyone who could achieve this level.

Maybe, the world of humans and demons are different after all.jpg
The little girl sighed in her heart. Gong Zhou on the other side repaired the spout and handle of the teapot, and polished the mouth of the teapot. Then he started to pinch the teapot knob next to it.

"Before connecting the kettle knob and the lid, we have to drill an air hole in the kettle knob first." Gong Zhou's eyes were calm, "It is a hole that can allow the water vapor in the kettle to overflow, ensure air circulation inside and outside the kettle, and balance the air pressure." "When I was making the kettle lid just now, careful people should have noticed that there are small holes in the center of both the lid plate and the lid surface."

"The method of digging the air hole is similar to that of digging the spout of a pot, except that the size of the air hole is not as large as that of the spout of a pot."

"Without air holes, the lid won't be able to be opened after hot water is put into the purple clay teapot. The effect is similar to that thing you learned in high school? Several horses pulled a vacuum ball in the middle, and it took a lot of effort to open it..."

"Is it called the Magdeburg Hemisphere Experiment?"

"Yes, that's called the Magdeburg hemisphere experiment." An Qing looked up in surprise, "Teacher Gong Zhou, you actually know this!"

"We who make purple clay teapots are not primitive people living in the mountains and forests!" Gong Zhou joked, "Artists may not be bad at science... The process of making teapots involves a lot of physical and chemical changes!"

"Hey... After all that talk, I've finished drilling the air holes - there's nothing special about the process of installing the pot knob. I just need to pay attention to aligning the upper and lower holes, and then deal with the overflowing mud a little bit... OK, we are finally only a few steps away from finishing the pot and sending it to the kiln!"

"The third to last step - opening the false bottom." Gong Zhou raised his eyebrows and casually turned the pot upside down on the turntable - it looked like he was a master craftsman who had been making pots for decades. He could put the pot right in the center of the turntable no matter what he did.

"The false bottom is the second layer of mud that we put under the negative film. The method of opening the bottom is exactly the same as that of opening the cover, but the negative film here does not need to be cut again. After we open the false bottom, we directly cover the cut with a layer of mud for finishing purposes."

"The second to last step is to refine the entire pot." Gong Zhou said as he grabbed a few inch-wide curved slices and took out a piece of soft leather that had been specially treated.

"I said this when I started making pots. In the process of making pots, we might accidentally leave some marks on the surface of the pot due to force or fingernails."

"The more obvious marks are easy to spot, but some subtle marks are inconspicuous on a pot embryo that has only been combed."

"At this time, we need to use a Ming needle to perform an overall fine-tuning on the body of the pot after the whole pot is made. The surface of the purple clay pot refined by the Ming needle will become smoother and more delicate, while those sunken and missing parts will still retain their previous roughness, which will become very obvious."

"When pinching the needle, you must apply force evenly. If you find any gaps, fill them with mud and smooth them out immediately. Don't hesitate."

"For places that cannot be repaired with a needle, we use a fur cloth to continue repairing... After the surface of the pot is repaired, we also need to repair and clean the inside of the pot... Then we finally reach our last step."

"Knock on the bottom seal." Gong Zhou said as he took out the seal, hammer, and the signature seal engraved with his name.

"There's nothing special about this. Turn the pot upside down, prop it up, and place the seal right in the center of the bottom of the pot. Be careful not to use too much or too little force when you drop the hammer, and hit it up and down steadily - one strike."

"Okay, now our purple clay teapot is officially finished and can be sent to the teapot kiln for firing."