As always, making new shapes of pots takes much longer than expected and this shape and clay has taken longer than most.
The shape is based on a Qing Dynasty pot, but the angles and symmetry took time to get right. We also were searching for a new batch of hongni clay for this pot and finally settled on this Da Hongni original ore.
Da Hongni's original ore is red in colour (as opposed to the yellow ore before firing of Xiao Hongni). This ore comes from Yixing's NanShan mining area. This has been stone ground, hand-sorted and left to rest to improve plasticity.
The pot itself is half-handmade - pressing the clay by hand into a form to construct the shape of the body, handle and spout, which are then joined together by hand.
