Where to buy Yixing raw material?

[Jspigs]

I want to try to create my own yixing teaware but I can't find the raw clay-like material for sale anywhere online. I have googled everything I can think of but any results selling it must have been drowned out by results for the finished products.

I know there are a lot of craftspeople here, so anyone here know where I might be able to purchase some online?

Also if I am able to find and buy some yixing material, what would be some good firing temperatures?

[wyardley]

The only outfit I know of that does online sales, in the US, at least, is this one: http://www.chineseclayart.com

I can't speak to the quality of the material

[bagua7]

Also if I am able to find and buy some yixing material, what would be some good firing temperatures?

The answer is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 3&start=15

Good luck!

[Jspigs]

Thank you both, those links are very helpful.

I am still open to other vendors as well since I haven't ordered yet.

[JBaymore]

I know "Po" (actually...... ZHOU Guangzhen) who runs this company. I was just drinking a LOT of Nihonshu with him a couple of days ago in a izakaya/sushiya in Tokyo. He's "good folks". Whatver he says you are getting from him is what you are getting.

best,

................john

[teaisme]

interesting stuff

why would the brown be the cheapest color?
@3.60 a pound I really wonder if it would be good for teapots that many here are looking for... is clay generally really cheap like that?

[chicagopotter]

... is clay generally really cheap like that?

That's not cheap.

[teaisme]

so roughly how many 180ml size teapots could I make with one pound if none broke during firing and my technique was good?

[AdamMY]

so roughly how many 180ml size teapots could I make with one pound if none broke during firing and my technique was good?

This might be a good question to Ask the Artisans http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=11798

Its an interesting question, and I honestly do not know the answer. I just know that certain potters trash quite a large percentage of their work because it does not meet their standards. So it could be that even for seasoned potters for each pound of clay there is only 1 to 2 successes.

[JBaymore]

interesting stuff

why would the brown be the cheapest color?
@3.60 a pound I really wonder if it would be good for teapots that many here are looking for... is clay generally really cheap like that?

To give you a basis for comparison, the average price of high fire commercially prepared ceramic clay bodies here in the USA is probably something like $0.35 a pound. Some of the more "special" clay bodies might get up to something like $0.50 or $0.60 a pound. Plus some shipping costs........and wet clay is kinda' heavy.

One pound of wet clay does not go all that far. For example, for a thrown American style large coffee mug, I use about 3/4 of a pound of clay on the wheel, and then a small amount more for adding the handle later. So about 8/10ths of a pound of wet clay typically makes one large coffee mug.

A good chawan, at about 13-14 cm after firing, is something right around one pound ....just under to just over. Wet...... it is usually slightly over one pound.

Making a small kyusu you would be rather "pressed" in keeping it to 1 pound of wet clay, particularly as an less-skilled former. For a yixing-style teapot, which are usually quite small, you might just pull off the 1 pound thing. But it will not be easy as a "new" potter.

Firing them will be a whole additional adventure .

If you are seriously interested in this idea... do yourself a favor and take some formal classes. There is a lot more to it than it maybe seems.

best,

.................john

PS: (Edit) Just to make an important point here.... the cost of wet clay is not a huge factor in the pricing of handcrafted claywork.

It is the astronomical LABOR factor that is involved.... plus the YEARS of time invested that it takes to actually get good at the art. Neither technique nor aesthetic sensibilities come eaily or fast.

Equipment can be a huge investment. A decent potter's wheel is about $1000.00 new. To rebuild my noborigama today with all new materials would cost me about $30,000.00 US. That is not counting the labor to rebuild it at all either.

Certain types of processes that are needed also have labor and work losses that are higher than other types of processes. For an example that I "live with" day-to-day, wood firing is the most expensive way to fire ceramic work.

High aesthetic standards, as accurately mentioned above, result in a lower percentage of fired work that is actually considered "saleable".

[chicagopotter]

Well said, John.

[teaisme]

Thanks a lot guys for helping to paint a clearer picture of what goes on in the teaware pottery world.
Much thanks

If you are seriously interested in this idea... do yourself a favor and take some formal classes. There is a lot more to it that it maybe seems.

No doubt in my mind this is true.
Unfortunately I don't see myself having enough time to pursue my long hidden yearning for making pottery (at least in my near future), but I do have a couple of handy friends who make nice things. This information you provided me will help move along my plans to have them make me different varieties of tea ware.