For a first Yixing, they are perfect. I have three from the 12 range selection and they work just fine. I do have some nicer ones on the way, but I'll definitely keep these around for backups.
Here's a pick of one of em in action. It would probably look a whole lot nicer if I'd polish it from time to time.
Here's a pick of one of em in action. It would probably look a whole lot nicer if I'd polish it from time to time.
Sep 18th, '08, 23:47
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I have several pots from the Chinese Teapot Gallery. However I bought them in person rather than from their eBay store, spending a lot of time looking at hundreds of pots, many not listed on eBay. My impression of the vendor is generally very positive in that he steered me away from the cheapest pots and toward those in the $12 - 25 range with better clay. And I made it clear that I was only interested in ones with better clay.
For the original poster - your link is to their "Gung Fu Pots" rather than to the full list of pots. My suggestion would be to look through the larger list, sorting by price, for traditional style pots $12 and up. I found one similar to one of mine, but can't post links here yet. You shoukd be able to find it pretty quickly. I have two in the $12 - $15 range and one has a slick, shiny surface and is so dense that I think it will never take a seasoning, while the other has responded to the initial seasoning and hand-rub burnishing with a slight darkening, improved luster and pleasant brewing. The first is certainly slip cast and the second may be too.
All that said, you are not likely to find anything in the $12 - 25 range that is made of great older clay, though I do have a much larger one that he said was made from clay that is no longer available and it is clearly the best clay of any of mine and brews the best tea. No way to tell the age, but it had been used for brewing Oolong.
They are currently swamped with moving their warehouse and are not going to have a B&M storefront soon. Glad I have been able to spend some time sorting through a zillion pots and having him give me a good intial introduction to Yixing pots. My understanding is that they will have an infusion of new pots available in a few months.
Bottom line for me is that this is a vendor where you get what you pay for. My advice simply would be don't go for anything less than $12, and I have generally been more pleased with their $25 pots. When they again have any in stock in the $50 - $100 range, I'll be interested in taking a look.
For the original poster - your link is to their "Gung Fu Pots" rather than to the full list of pots. My suggestion would be to look through the larger list, sorting by price, for traditional style pots $12 and up. I found one similar to one of mine, but can't post links here yet. You shoukd be able to find it pretty quickly. I have two in the $12 - $15 range and one has a slick, shiny surface and is so dense that I think it will never take a seasoning, while the other has responded to the initial seasoning and hand-rub burnishing with a slight darkening, improved luster and pleasant brewing. The first is certainly slip cast and the second may be too.
All that said, you are not likely to find anything in the $12 - 25 range that is made of great older clay, though I do have a much larger one that he said was made from clay that is no longer available and it is clearly the best clay of any of mine and brews the best tea. No way to tell the age, but it had been used for brewing Oolong.
They are currently swamped with moving their warehouse and are not going to have a B&M storefront soon. Glad I have been able to spend some time sorting through a zillion pots and having him give me a good intial introduction to Yixing pots. My understanding is that they will have an infusion of new pots available in a few months.
Bottom line for me is that this is a vendor where you get what you pay for. My advice simply would be don't go for anything less than $12, and I have generally been more pleased with their $25 pots. When they again have any in stock in the $50 - $100 range, I'll be interested in taking a look.
Sep 18th, '08, 23:55
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Sep 19th, '08, 01:22
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I'd like to see a picture of what you actually got!Salsero wrote:The photo looks like the same clay as the one I got. This is the vendor photo of mine:Bubba_tea wrote: I was intrigued by this pot from yunnan colorful.
It only took a minute of observation to see that it was lousy quality and bore little resemblance to the photo. And at these prices, it's crazy. The guy is selling pots for more than Teapot Gallery that are much worse (unacceptable) quality and charging you postage from China to boot! BTW, of the six items I ordered, two arrived broken.
The Yunnancolorful pots keep catching my attention, but after your comment I have lost interest in ordering one but I'm still curious just how the real thing stacks up to the Ebay picture.
Sep 19th, '08, 12:52
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Sep 20th, '08, 00:36
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OK, I took some photos of the actual pot that I received. There are irregular sections of the outside that have a shiny gray appearance, sort of steel or lead looking. You see them in real life by moving the pot around in the light till they show up. The metallic looking spots are actually shinier than they look in these photos and are not as immediately obvious. I tested the pot for lead and it came out negative.
The color in the vendor's photo is more true to the pot, since I had to tweak color balance and contrast quite a bit to make the problem areas evident in the photos. Here is the best I good do with the lid:
The exterior:
One side and the floor of the interior are markedly lighter in color than the rest. This may have the same cause as the color differences in the exterior, but sometimes it looks almost like the interior was painted and one side got less or no paint. Arrows point out the dividing line between light and dark.
One of the strainer holes had a blob of clay plugging it. I was able to remove the blob with a toothpick and a wire, but I have not seen this sloppiness in any of my 16 other pots, many of which were in the same price range.
Finally, there was a rough edge with some extra clay that should have been removed at some point before it got to me. Like the plugged hole, I was able to fix this. I shaved it off pretty well with an Xacto knife, but it is just another sign of sloppy work.
I paid $16.90 for this pot plus shipping from China, so it is not like it was expensive. If it had been a $4 or $5 pot from Chinese Teapot Gallery, I would have expected this, but the C T G products that I have seen are much higher quality! This makes me think the Yunnan Colorful vendor is selling pots that may have a real value of 50¢ or so at an enormous mark up.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, two pieces that I ordered arrived broken due to thoughtless packing.
I have nothing against inexpensive pots. All I am saying is Chinese Teapot Gallery and several other tried and true places seem to be much better sources than Yunnan Colorful, based on my experience.
After testing for lead and boiling it and finding that the color does not come off on a white cloth, I think I may go ahead and use this pot, since I do like the shape and appearance of it, but it will get only occasional use. I am too distrustful of it after seeing so many little defects.
The color in the vendor's photo is more true to the pot, since I had to tweak color balance and contrast quite a bit to make the problem areas evident in the photos. Here is the best I good do with the lid:
The exterior:
One side and the floor of the interior are markedly lighter in color than the rest. This may have the same cause as the color differences in the exterior, but sometimes it looks almost like the interior was painted and one side got less or no paint. Arrows point out the dividing line between light and dark.
One of the strainer holes had a blob of clay plugging it. I was able to remove the blob with a toothpick and a wire, but I have not seen this sloppiness in any of my 16 other pots, many of which were in the same price range.
Finally, there was a rough edge with some extra clay that should have been removed at some point before it got to me. Like the plugged hole, I was able to fix this. I shaved it off pretty well with an Xacto knife, but it is just another sign of sloppy work.
I paid $16.90 for this pot plus shipping from China, so it is not like it was expensive. If it had been a $4 or $5 pot from Chinese Teapot Gallery, I would have expected this, but the C T G products that I have seen are much higher quality! This makes me think the Yunnan Colorful vendor is selling pots that may have a real value of 50¢ or so at an enormous mark up.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, two pieces that I ordered arrived broken due to thoughtless packing.
I have nothing against inexpensive pots. All I am saying is Chinese Teapot Gallery and several other tried and true places seem to be much better sources than Yunnan Colorful, based on my experience.
After testing for lead and boiling it and finding that the color does not come off on a white cloth, I think I may go ahead and use this pot, since I do like the shape and appearance of it, but it will get only occasional use. I am too distrustful of it after seeing so many little defects.
Sep 20th, '08, 00:42
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scruffmcgruff
Wow Sal, that's awful quality! Sorry you got ripped off like that. I actually like the pot in the vendor's image, but clearly it is not typical!
Tea Nerd - www.teanerd.com
Sep 20th, '08, 00:51
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Actually, I think if I just did a straight photo of the pot with normal color balance, etc. it would look just like the vendor's photo. You have to handle the pot or adjust the photos to see the problems.scruffmcgruff wrote: Wow Sal, that's awful quality! Sorry you got ripped off like that. I actually like the pot in the vendor's image, but clearly it is not typical!
I don't really feel ripped off. I got a pretty good story and a life lesson for my money. And I do the like the little statues I got (after gluing a couple back together!)
Salsero wrote:OK, I took some photos of the actual pot that I received. There are irregular sections of the outside that have a shiny gray appearance, sort of steel or lead looking. You see them in real life by moving the pot around in the light till they show up. The metallic looking spots are actually shinier than they look in these photos and are not as immediately obvious. I tested the pot for lead and it came out negative.
After testing for lead and boiling it and finding that the color does not come off on a white cloth, I think I may go ahead and use this pot, since I do like the shape and appearance of it, but it will get only occasional use. I am too distrustful of it after seeing so many little defects.
I was thinking that it might be the rough surface finishing + inappropriate craftmanship that create these partial colouring phenomena. It doesn't necessarily caused by lead and to be honest, I don't think it is.
My wild speculation imagines that the yixing clay pot in the kiln is cooled slowly and taken out during the firing process to be painted with the same clay paste at a lower temperature for final inner surface finishing.
I've seen an exterior of a pot which has this characteristic (not yao bian).
But it's only my speculation.
Sep 20th, '08, 02:57
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I know it's not lead because I tested it. Otherwise, your suggestion makes a lot of sense. It doesn't seem to be paint: a clay applied on the surface makes sense. Speculation is probably all we will ever have to go one here, so thanks for that idea!betta wrote: It doesn't necessarily caused by lead and to be honest, I don't think it is ... cooled slowly and taken out during the firing process to be painted with the same clay paste at a lower temperature for final inner surface finishing.