Dearest Friends, in the flourishing of Zhu Ni ZiSha works in the Qing Dynasty, the ZiSha Artists then witnessed the spread of Zhu Ni works, far and wide beyond the shores of China. The three main Zhu Ni Artists that stood out were 惠逸公 Hui Yi Gong, 陆思亭 Lu Si Ting and 惠孟臣 Hui Meng Chen, whose works which you friends of RealZiSha would have been engaged in their works before in the past few years.
Hui Yi Gong has created wonderful Zhu Ni models, and one of them that remained beautiful we in YiXing fraternity often craft up to make tea for us and adorn our tea tables, is this Yi Gong model. Many models were unnamed by the Artists themselves, and we at RealZiSha follow the practice and also respect for these legendary Artists, by writing the model down as "Yi Gong Hu".
Here, our Cao Family and Craftsmen Yi Xiao Ran, chose for Craftsman Shi Yun, this very pretty model that we love for many years, and set it at ~135-140ml, for you dearest friends steeping for one or two people at a sitting.
Craftsman Shi Yun succeeded excellently! The sharpish spout with its curve exhibiting the force and visual vector of flow of the tea water, making a delightful watch in action. The Jie Gai 截盖 interface is wonderfully crafted in, creating an unobtrusive and comfortable silhouette unknowingly to the eye. The body has a visually slightly bulbous shape, just ever so slightly, thanks to the careful mastery of the curve to be introduced during patting. This Yi Gong model has a very sturdy wide base, providing a great stance on the tea table. Handsome, sturdy and svelte to delight your guests and you the tea master. Remember the Ai De Zhong model which Craftsman Shi Yun crafted before for you friends? This Yi Gong model is reminiscent to the De Zhong, only that the curves and sweeping curves take the place of the heavily sculpted horizontal linear aesthetic of the De Zhong. We are very happy that Shi Yun delight us equally with her Ai De Zhong, and now with this Yi Gong model!
~~~~~~~~
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 in early 2024 with the joint dedication 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!
~~~~~~~~~~~
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 crafts this Yi Gong Hu for all of us for this purpose,
1) A 135ml right-sized pot for one to two pax,
2) This Yi Gong model with a wide girthed opening for that much more convenience in introducing tea leaves in, and rinsing off after.
3) Yi Gong and her previous De Zhong are unlike the Jing Zhou Shi Piao form, for the Jing Zhou Shi Piao gives the maximum volume for its PERCEIVED size. Yi Gong and De Zhong instead give the lowest volume per perceived size. What it means is that, a small volume Yi Gong model here and her previous Ai De Zhong of 100-135ml like this, occupy bigger real estate space on your tea table, than its actual tea volume suggests. This is because this Yi Gong model and the De Zhong, like Jun De 君德, has an acutely narrowed neck above its shoulder line, and a dome that extends upwards.
What this means is that we have a pot, though satisfying the Gong Fu style steeping sessions with the smallish 100-135ml, but which does NOT appear small and petite, but rather: occupying more visual estate in our eyes. Handsome and Stately on our tea table.
Also notice how 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. Here presented proudly by Senior Craftsman Shi Yun to all of you dearest friends!
~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~
TRULY FULLY-HANDMADE AND DELICATELY MADE ZHU NI WORK:
Note on our TRUE Fully-Handmade Zhu Ni pots from RealZiSha: 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.
Of course, rest assured here, and avoid the ubiquitous fake jigger-machined fake "Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni", "Zhao Zhuang Zhu Ni", "Zhu Ni Da Hong Pao", etc pots all around sold in a multitude of places, sites, apps and platforms.
~~~
