Official/Different Yixing Show Off Topic!

[gingkoseto]

I love the heart one! It's so cool. Where is his shop? May I suggest him to make a brain and maybe a lumber vertebra

[Robert Fornell]

I agree, Richards work is awesome with some very contemporary, mince no words, themes being explored. Another superb contemporary ceramic artist working in the Yixing tradition here in Seattle is friend Geo Lastomirsky who,together with Richard, has made multiple trips to China. I'll ask Geo for a few files to post.......

Best,
R

[IPT]

I purchased this pot from a very well known tea and teapot collector from Taiwan. Really a nice piece of history. Love the feel and the clay is remarkable. The low fired clay takes the edge of some of the harsher notes of wet stored sheng. Has truly become my little buddy.

That's a great pot and looks well loved. I wish I knew your source.

[tingjunkie]

Nice pot hop_goblin. I bet it makes a fantastic pot of tea.

The American made pots are quite unique. Is it real Yixing clay? Must be hard for them to get high quality stuff, no?

Do you own these pots Ronin? Although they are really cool to look at, this thread is mainly for attempting to understand how to pair different pots/clay with different teas. If they are yours, please tell us what teas you use them for and how they perform. I'm very curious.

[tingjunkie]

Here is a lesson in how not to fix a Yixing pot.

I purchased this pot recently from a friend and collector. I knew she wasn't at all pretty right from the beginning- chipped spout, loose lid fit, ugly rough slip cast clay on the bottom, slip cast clay in the lid hole creating a slow pour, white water marks all around the lid and top, BUT the pot is from the late 60's - early 70's, and the price was a little more than a song, so what the hell.

I got her home, took some fine steel wool to the water marks, and within minutes the pot was starting to look a lot better. Gaining a little confidence, I decided to take out my trusty pin vise and tiny drill bit, and attack the slip-cast clogged lid hole. Unbelievably, I managed to slowly drill the lid hole out and the pour became a whole lot faster and better, with fewer drips. Now I'm riding high, and a little full of myself... this is turning out to be a great return on my small investment. I should have stopped while I was ahead, but... who really ever does that? I decided to try and smooth the newly expanded hole with a very tiny round file, and ... CRACK! Busted the darn lid knob in two.


Not sure If you can tell from this pic, but the pot is actually made from purple clay, and only slip-cast in zhuni.



Boy did I feel like an idiot. As you can see in the pics, I managed to epoxy the knob and reattach it to the pot with some JB Weld- it's non-toxic, rated to over 600 deg F, and is 100% waterproof. I'm sure it will hold for a very long time, but still, this poor pot exists for four decades before I got it, and within 3 hours of me owning it, it's broken.

Style: Shui Pin
Clay: Zi ni inside, zhuni outside. Med fired.
Size: 150 ml
Hole: Single
Age/Year: Late 60's
Walls: Med-Thick
Pour: +/- 7 sec. Some drips. Loose lid fit.
Tea Pairing: Young Sheng Puer
Effect on Tea: The good news is that despite all its flaws, this pot handles young sheng very well. It really cuts way back on astringency, while not muting the underlying flavors too much to make the tea boring. It also rounds the mouthfeel quite a bit. She's bruised and battle-worn, but I think I'll keep her around!

[Maitre_Tea]

at least it cracked on the lid knob, and not somewhere else like the lid, spout, handle, etc. Consider it a "battle scar" that serves as a testament of its years of service. or just deny that it's broken, which is what I do with the chips on my pots

IIRC, these kind of sprayed pots are called "nei zi wai hong, which is basically zisha on the inside, hong ni on the outside...though it's zhuni, not hong ni.

[gingkoseto]

Here is a lesson in how not to fix a Yixing pot.

Pat, pat. It's not you. It's the destiny

[Abracadaver!]

I got to see Tingjunkie's "battle damaged" pot in person over the weekend, and looking at it on the tea table, I couldn't even tell that it had been broken without squinting at it up close. Most importantly, it brewed like a champ.

[Maitre_Tea]

Clay type: Medium Fired Zi Ni
- 120-125 ml
- 80s
- Medium-Thick walls
- Tea Gallery
- juvenile (6-9 year) sheng
- the secondary seal (the horizontal, longer-length one) suggests this pot be used with sheng, so maybe because of that I think it does well with young sheng. Regardless, I like the results from this pot. Since these photos have been taken, the pot has been taking up a nice shine...evidence that this pot was destined to be used with young sheng.

[tingjunkie]

Thanks for the support guys.

Maitre_tea, that's a really nice one! I must have missed it when I was at the TG. Nice to be able to shop in person, eh?

[Luthier]

Tingjunk, I broke a spout in half

Water didn't pour out at a correct angle. It was like going to an angle far off center. In the attempt of correcting the internals of the spout. It cracked and soon came off. I managed to improvise a little.



looks more like a marriage between a shipiao and a shuipin



I like the pour now. A lot better compared to the original state.

[IPT]

Maitre Tea, that's a great looking teapot!

[tingjunkie]

Wow Luthier. How did you manage to grind or file the spout down like that?

I once took a power sander to the chipped spout of a cheap porcelain pot. It actually worked out well and I saved the pot.

[IPT]

Clay type: Medium Fired Zi Ni
- 120-125 ml
- 80s
- Medium-Thick walls
- Tea Gallery
- juvenile (6-9 year) sheng
- the secondary seal (the horizontal, longer-length one) suggests this pot be used with sheng, so maybe because of that I think it does well with young sheng. Regardless, I like the results from this pot. Since these photos have been taken, the pot has been taking up a nice shine...evidence that this pot was destined to be used with young sheng.

The seal on the bottom of the pot says that the pot is a treasure and is made from old Zini. the bottom four characters say that the pot is intended only for Puer. It does not say Shenpu though, just Puer.

[Luthier]

Wow Luthier. How did you manage to grind or file the spout down like that?

I once took a power sander to the chipped spout of a cheap porcelain pot. It actually worked out well and I saved the pot.

Well yep, I filed and grind the spout to that angle and level. It pours like a shuipin pot