Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao delights us again!
1. Jun De, just like Jing Le, Li Xing and Si Ting, has its main body comprising of two parts to be worked on. Starting with the singular rectangular Zi Sha slab, the Craftsman needs to paddle-pat and coax the upper half into a constricted/narrower neck, while working on a separate stage, the lower half into a convexity, the eventual form into a continuous cohesion. The challenge and difficulty in craft lies in the small confines to work with, two body parts with different girths, AND working with Zhu Ni, which gives the most uncertainty during firing due to its high shrinkage!
2. Aspiring to craft the beautiful slim and svelte final shape that is this Jun De, Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao garnered years of practice to accomplish this excellent silhouette.
3. Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes for a solid and fast pour of tea out, working with the largish diameter spout; and with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom fast while allowing tea to flow out from the upper holes.
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Skilful Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao 翟一耀 has officially joined up with Craftsman Wang Xing and us. Both of them specialises and taking care of all the Zhu Ni Works from June 2024 onwards! He started off with his Xi Shi and Li XIng for us, here he presents to you:
The,
Jun De 君德。Jun De 君德, Gentleman's Morality and Integrity.
It is one of the top Zhu Ni Austere models that is delectable yet difficult to craft right and cohesively. Craftsman Wang succeeds with aplomb for us all collectors and users alike!
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Zhai Yi Yao and Wang Xing are former course mates for three years at the ZiSha school. He is now with us, working alongside his long time friend Craftsman Wang Xing, they mingle and often exchange their experiences with Chen Fa Chu, Zhang Huan, Gu Xiao Ming, Chen Hua Jun, Chen Gui Zhi.
Zhai Yi Yao's skills are brilliant.
His mastery of the overall shape is here for us to savour.
The Xing Ti 形体 of Zhai Yi Yao's and Wang Xing's works are superb! From the photographs, we admire and easily appreciate their amazing Craftsmanship.
This is ZiSha Art, working with XiaoMeiYao ZhuNi, one with even higher shrinkage than ZiNi and DuanNi, and thus a lot more deformities that CAN arise easily during firing. Success rates between 50-70%. We bear witness to their skills as both of them PAINSTAKINGLY and PROUDLY present their labor of love for all of you friends.
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TRULY FULLY-HANDMADE AND DELICATELY MADE.
NOT those thick-/irregular-thickness-walled ones which are actually fake "Fully-handmade ZhuNi pots" utilising the cheating new technology: "车一刀 Che Yi Dao": Such ZhuNi pots utilizing Che Yi Dao process, have been sprouting up in the market since early 2022. Che Yi Dao involves a swivelling-rotational cutter that goes around a roughly-finished ZhuNi pot to cut the outer surface into a perfect shape. This cutter obliviates the need of accomplished skill of a true Fully-Handmaking Craftsman. Obviously, Che Yi Dao also absolves the need of a skilled FHM Craftsman to 1)pound the slab into a careful thin-slab, 2)paddle-pat the slab into a uniform shape purely manually.
In the utilisation of Che Yi Dao cutter, the worker will just need to 1) roughly pound the slab into a slightly thicker slab. After that the worker rounds up this slab as part of the main body, and will just 2)need to ROUGHLY paddle-pat it into shape. After which he sets up the Che Yi Dao cutter to revolve and cut the body into a perfect shape.
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We are grateful and honoured to have Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao completely sharing his range of skills with Zhu Ni with you! Let us all help him along and adopt his works as well. Kind and diligent, we all love Craftsman Zhai. He thanks you dearest Friends for your kindest support of his Art!
BRING ONE HOME, USE IT and you will know all about Fully-Handmade ZiSha, the feel of real and quality YiXing ZiSha, the nurturing of Patina, how the true Patina feels and looks like, the Aura exuded from a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth, and, Craftsman Zhai Yi Yao's skills, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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Explained, https://www.realzisha.com/blogs/news/actual-zisha-landscape-at-yixing , the Craftsman by selling his hard-worked ZiSha craft at $190-$240, $45-$65 goes to the cost of the craft, inclusive of the fees for the firing for the kiln operator (three times per pot), the packaging boxes, and between $32 to $52 for the clay (Zi Ni Di Cao Qing, Duan Ni and upwards) used per pot. Craftsman takes 3 days (fastest 2.5days) to craft a pot. Out of 12 pots he makes a month of 30days, 9 pots will survive the kiln firing successfully. Out of 9 pots, a Craftsman on average sells 7 pots per month. For ZiSha models/designs that are very challenging and more complicated to craft, time taken will be longer, and the failure rate will be higher as well. Zhu Ni pots have higher failure rates than Zi Ni and Duan Ni pots too. Our Craftsmen are crazily committed to the cause of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and their strictness with their craft and dedication earn our respect. We give a big Thank You all of these Craftsmen, for they are saving what is our common precious tea culture: Tea + Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft.
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