De Zhong 德钟 (Ai De Zhong 矮德钟), 106.9ml, Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni 小煤窑朱泥, by our Collaborative Senior Craftsman Shi Yun 石芸。

This is a very stately and handsome Ai De Zhong.
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Dearest Friends, all our Craftsmen and Artists, brothers and sisters in olives🙇‍♀️🙇‍♂️🌿saving our common tea culture, are proud to present to you their latest colleagues, Craftsman Wang Hui and Craftsman Shi Yun.  Both are former course mates of our Craftsman Yi Xiao Ran! :-D whom you have seen in her video on our main homepage showing the craft involved in making a Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work. 

Both these ladies Shi Yun and Wang Hui, are past colleagues of Craftsman Yi Xiao Ran, and upon her convincing, have joined us as well to preserve Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art!  Yes!  Both Senior Craftsmen Shi Yun and Wang Hui are here now with RealZiSha to SERVE ALL OF YOU!

Craftsman Shi Yun delights all of us with a very elegant improvisation of the De Zhong!:

矮德钟, Ai De Zhong.

We amazed with Senior Craftslady Shi Yun's first work for all of us!   She brings us this Ai De Zhong and we cannot be more excited!

Classic De Zhong is more upright.
This is an astonishing refinement on the classic De Zhong!

Many of us delight in a small Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni work to steep our Oolong Dancongs, Oolong Da Hong Paos, Wu Yi Yan Chas, Black Teas, with dense rich taste.  A 100degC steep in of hot water, with a fast pour out.  Especially your costliest Oolong, that $4,000 per 100g Oolong harvested around the Mu Shu Da Hong Pao trees meant for the leadership of China.  We want to get the Rich TASTE OUT from the leaves OPTIMALLY, and not burning nor scalding the leaves, with a fast pour out.  A classic fast move.  Elegant and the Oolong that results, especially if that is your costliest Oolong, your costliest Yan Cha in your collection.  Nothing else replaces this prerequisite for the BEST resultant tea taste.  For one or two pax most astounding results.  We want the maximum amount of tea leaves within the pot, that 100degC hot water in that fills up fast and conveniently, decisive pick of the lid knob and covering it, quick and most effective steep, that dense tea water out.  The most treasured steep of 70ml of tea water out for one to two persons per steep.  When every steep matters.  The most unique and transcendental tasting, that teaches us the matter of impermanence, and we treasure every steep, every drop that passes through down our palate.

An upper end Oolong costs $5 per gram, and 100 grams would cost $500.   Each steep with 7-8grams of tea leaves, this 100grams would last 12 sessions.
We do not waste it, and we want to treasure every drop of tea steeped from it.  

Senior Craftsman Shi Yun ASTUTELY improvises and REFINES the De Zhong to a tee!
1)  A 100-120ml right-sized pot for one to two pax,
2)  De Zhong refined shorter but wider, with a wide girthed opening for that much more convenience in introducing tea leaves in, and rinsing off after,
3)  De Zhong is unlike the Jing Zhou Shi Piao which gives the maximum volume PERCEIVED size.  De Zhong gives the lowest volume per perceived size.  What it means is that, a small volume De Zhong of 100-120ml like this, occupies bigger real estate space on your tea table, than its actual tea volume suggests.  This is because De Zhong, like Jun De 君德, has an acutely narrowed neck above its shoulder line.

What this means is that we have a pot that does not appear small and petite, but handsome and stately on our tea table.

4)  Craftsman Shi Yun sculpts in the gentle rising lid dome, all very congenial and pleasing to the eye.  The dome rising and curve lovingly matches the shoulder convex silhouette.
5)  And that lid knob, which Shi Yun, she is very proud of!  Refined, refreshingly new, yet classic, and being a handsome miniaturised essence of the whole pot's aesthetics.  Notice its shape: raised and elevated upwards, sloping upwards, and then outwards again in a flared shape, that allows for AMAZING reassurance in grip!  We do not want our fingers to be scalded when we handle a small lid knob that comes with a small volume pot!  Craftsman Shi Yun is astute!  We toast to her for her efforts to bring this to us!
5)  Lastly, notice how wise she is: she is diligent in work as she crafted the spout's circumferential clay wall as thin as possible.  You want a quick pour out, you want a small volume pot for that gungfu steeping for your costliest Oolong and Yan Cha, you want a wide lumen and opening for the spout: hence the spout's wall cannot be thick, or else the spout would look unbecomingly stubby, unsightly and oversized to match the pot's body.  The only way to achieve this is to have the Craftsman diligently and crafting a thin yet sturdy wall.  Yes, so as to achieve the widest spout lumen and opening for that fast pour out.  If the clay wall is thicker, you can't have a wide spout opening or else the whole spout would appear too thick and unsightly.

We are thrilled to have Senior Craftsman Shi Yun gifts this to all of us.  Though small, it packs astonishing substance in shape, form and execution.

This Ai De Zhong is an amazing work of Art.  Usable Art.

Stately, handsome and poised Ai De Zhong.  Here presented proudly by Senior Craftsman Shi Yun to all of you dearest friends!

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This is Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni, as we all know, with the highest shrinkage together with Zhao Zhuang Zhu Ni compared to all other ZiSha types. Failure rates are high. Unpredictability of the clay edges and joints, due to this high shrinkage is scary to say the least.

This is a precious piece of ZiSha Art, and we give kudos to Senior Craftsmen Shi Yun and Wang Hui, and their diligence and hard work all these years. Although three out of five crafted are successful coming off from the kiln devoid of deformations/cracks, ONLY two of these three are worthy in final form, beauty and cohesion.  As with all Art pieces from RealZiSha here presented to all of you dearest Friends, guardians of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art, they are premium pieces availed at the most astounding lowest prices.  We want you each of you friends to get the best.  You deserve it.