Diving into the clay

so how DO they make those Yixing teapots?

Thanks for the kind words from fellow Tumblr belacqui, who also sent a great lead to videos of Yixing teapot makers and even one on their specific tools.

DSpace at Cambridge University has a barebones portal to six Yixing videos, among them:

• Zhao Jianghua adding a floor, lid and spout to a teapot,
• Zhao Jianghua discussing tools,
• Village production including finishing surfaces, kiln loading and firing…and a slipcast mold!,
• and an intriguing glimpse of a dragon kiln which exploits heat’s nature in order to rise to create even heat distribution in an enormous kiln. All it takes is a good hill and a village full of potters to fill the thing.

And I’m happy to say Diving into the Clay scrounged up another good video on the same theme three years ago, one of Zhou Gui Zhen creating a low-slung round teapot out of slabs.