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Tead Off wrote: When I asked you what was your best clay you said di cao qing. Better than zhuni?

But zhuni will cost more if a greater percentage of pots are lost during firing! Perhaps!

But, she said the zhuni were handmade implying the others were at least partially mold made. My desire for sellers to clearly state how a piece is made (handmade vs. mold made) and to describe the clay they use, pure vs either mixed clay or additives to change color, texture, whatever, is very important. I find most sellers do not give you the full story and you have to dig to get the answers.

Tead Off wrote:But, she said the zhuni were handmade implying the others were at least partially mold made. My desire for sellers to clearly state how a piece is made (handmade vs. mold made) and to describe the clay they use, pure vs either mixed clay or additives to change color, texture, whatever, is very important. I find most sellers do not give you the full story and you have to dig to get the answers.

+1 Well said
This bothers me very much too. I can understand when it is a retailer who doesn't know very much about pots, but when I was in Yixing I often ran across this problem even when talking face to face with the actual person who made the pot.

They always say pots are handmade. Then somehow it slips out that the pot came out of a mold, and you get the explanation that all pots are handmade because even slip cast pots are finished by hand. They usually scrape the bottom and the walls, etc to make sure thickness is uniform.

One example of mixing clay types I experienced in Yixing was a man told me about a pot which was BenShanLuNi. I went back to his shop the next day and asked him about the same pot again, and it turns out to be only 30% BenshanLuNi.

Of course I don't mind buying a pot with mixed clay. And many molded pots are perfectly good. I just hate feeling as though I am being lied to.

xuancheng wrote:

Tead Off wrote:But, she said the zhuni were handmade implying the others were at least partially mold made. My desire for sellers to clearly state how a piece is made (handmade vs. mold made) and to describe the clay they use, pure vs either mixed clay or additives to change color, texture, whatever, is very important. I find most sellers do not give you the full story and you have to dig to get the answers.

+1 Well said
This bothers me very much too.
..... .....

Mmmmmmn!

Is it the Zhuni that is hand made or the pots of different size to those shown on the web site?

Xuan / Tead is it just the information that worries you, would not the clay in a semi hand made pot be just as beneficial to the tea, and more affordable to the likes of us ?

Herb_Master wrote:

xuancheng wrote:

Tead Off wrote:But, she said the zhuni were handmade implying the others were at least partially mold made. My desire for sellers to clearly state how a piece is made (handmade vs. mold made) and to describe the clay they use, pure vs either mixed clay or additives to change color, texture, whatever, is very important. I find most sellers do not give you the full story and you have to dig to get the answers.

+1 Well said
This bothers me very much too.
..... .....

Mmmmmmn!

Is it the Zhuni that is hand made or the pots of different size to those shown on the web site?

Xuan / Tead is it just the information that worries you, would not the clay in a semi hand made pot be just as beneficial to the tea, and more affordable to the likes of us ?

Ahh, now we come to the question of the clay the most important element if you are a tea drinker, IMO. If you just read Xuancheng's post, you discovered something that is very common when you are talking to a pot seller. Xuancheng just told us that sellers often don't tell you the whole story, all the facts. Those facts concern what the clay is, how it is mixed or processed, and, how the pots are actually made.

If the clay is pure, it won't matter if the pot is mold made or handmade. But, after everything you've read on this site and all the other info on yixing/zhuni, etc., do you think you are going to get a completely handmade zhuni pot for the prices that they sell their pots for? I'm even wondering how they can sell a pot for $25 that is handmade and supposedly by a master. I am not one of the believers, sorry. But, I do think their pots are good looking and maybe that's all that matter to you.

i need to explain the detail of our teapot.

the pot all show on the website is half hand made, is use mold.but the lid, handle is total handmade. they have different price because made by different artist and different workmanship.

but we can special order for you, use total hand made. because it is total hand made not use mold, so we can do any size pots for you. and we can use any clay.

if you need the same style but different size, we only can total handmade.

if you need the same style and same size show on the site only different clay, we can do it half hand made or total hand made according your requirement.

the clay we assure that it is very pure clay, you can ask the teachat member babalian, tim, darwin,ck2998 etc, they buy teapot from us. i promise you can hard to find better clay than us in these days.

the teapot made by my father(total hand made or half hand made) is use the good clay which is 90's and huanglong mt clay.

why zhu ni pot's price is high because it is low success, about 3pots only 1-2 is suceess.

more info about total hand made you can see our Columns “special order”.

we will make the Fine workmanship use the best clay to protect the reputation of my grand grand father who is the frist person got the prize in the world.

Even though people talking about it in this thread all know about the terms, for viewers' sake, I believe it's important to clarify slip cast, mold made (half-hand-made) and hand made. The latter two are both much better than the first one.

I assume the "mode made" we talk here means half hand made and most products in the $20-$200 range are mold made. I believe it's a good, careful way to make teapots, not a short cut way or less sincere way. Here is a link about mode made pots and the pictures show well the process of mold made process:
http://teabbs.zjol.com.cn/viewthread.ph ... ra=&page=1

Fully hand made pots are more expensive than mold made (half hand made) ones. But I believe well made mold made teapots are not a bit less artistic than fully hand made ones. But it's just what I believe, and I have to admit that I know very little about yixing and can't always tell if a pot is fully hand made or half hand made.

For people who use yixing instead of collect art works, mode made pots are as good as fully hand made ones. It seems that most collectors value fully hand made pots much more, but I haven't seen good explanation on why. Are fully hand made pots more valued just because they use less of tools? But even fully hand made pots use tools, and even professional sculptors use some hand tools. So I am still looking for explanations why fully hand made pots are superior to others - out of curiosity, not that I can afford any

gingko - Well said! I was thinking the same thing - "why is a mold made pot considered inferior to a completely hand made pot?". Of course the completely hand made pot will take more time and therefore cost more but is it "better" in some respect?

I just received my first teapot order from Chen. However the teapot was supposed to be 100ml but is 190ml instead. I already have a teapot of a very similar shape and size. On the positive side, Chen's teapot is very high quality as is the clay used. I have contacted them about this problem and will let you know how it is resolved.

This is the teapot:
http://www.zishateapot.co.uk/chinese-yi ... -p-35.html

Handmade things are one of a kind. No two are alike. In a sense, one is a copy, the other, an original. There are many copies of Picassos, Van Goghs, etc. Some can even fool an expert's eye. But, the value of such things can never equal the original.
That is why I said in an earlier post, that the clay is the most important element for a tea drinker. Good clay, good tea. After that, everything else is subjective and is dictated by many factors in the makeup of a human being. Maybe, good clay, good tea is also a subjective point of view, eh?

finddream2020 wrote: ziqie ni


guayu teapot

150ml

I love this one; I like the gourd like lines.

Any more comments from those who have ordered the pots? What teas are you brewing. What is the pour rate? Has anyone ordered a fully hand-made pot?

please post more pics and things in production
i would like to see the mans hands doing his magic.

before father's day, we will send alot of gift certificate, only register a memeber in our web site, we will send you a gift certificate value $9.9.

I am intrigued by the "Inside Painting" additions that have recently appeared. I particularly like the exquisite painting depicted inside the glass teapot.

A few questions come to mind.

Which studio member does the painting, and perhaps you could enlighten us with a brief profile of the 3 potters?

In your studio is this style of painting ever done on the outside of clay teapots?

Why would you choose crystal for a tea caddy? surely one would not want light to reach the leaves while they are being stored. Many TeaChat members have expressed an interest in aging their tea in Yixing, does your studio ever make Yixing storage jars or caddies - with or without decoration?