Yes!
Basic techniques for molding purple clay pots
The molding methods of purple clay pots can generally be summarized into two categories: beating barrel and inlaid barrel. These two molding methods have long been used in the production of daily pottery in the Yixing area, but in the purple sand molding process, this has been developed to the most vivid degree.
The tools used to shape the purple clay teapot mainly include clay stools, wooden racks, turntables, wooden rackets, bamboo rackets, turtle knives, sharp knives, bright needles, etc. These are general tools for making various purple sand blanks. In addition, many special gadgets need to be prepared according to different styles and craftsmanship requirements of teapots.
1. Body-beating cylinder
Round pots generally use the shape of a body-beating cylinder. First, pound the mud into evenly thick pieces. The thickness of the clay sheet depends on the size of the teapot, usually about three to four millimeters. Then according to the designed diameter of the teapot, plus the shrinkage coefficient during firing, multiply the pi ratio, and add the margin of the joints at both ends and the height of the barrel, cut the clay into rectangular strips. Wrap the mud strips on the turntable to form a cylinder, overlap the two ends, and use a squid knife to cut the overlapping parts diagonally at one time to form an interface that can be well connected. "Good adhesion. Mud is a thick slurry made from the same mud mixed with water, and works somewhat like the mortar used by masons to build brick walls. After adhesion, mark the adhesion area and remember this position for later installation of the handle. This can cover up traces that may appear on the interface after firing.
Then, use the fingers of your left hand to extend into the circular clay cylinder, gently support the inner wall (as an inner lining so that the force of the external clapping body can be recoiled), and hold the wooden racket in your right hand to tap the outer wall of the clay cylinder. In the upper section, if you turn while patting (the left hand slowly uses the radius of the inner wall of the pot and the mud pat on the outside to create a pinching movement), the mouth of the barrel will miraculously gradually retract. When it shrinks to the required size, seal the top of the prepared round mud piece with mud (here refers to the thick mud repeatedly mixed with water); then turn the mud tube upside down and pat the mud Shrink the other end of the tube and seal it. At this time, a hollow prototype of the pot body came out. Then rotate the turntable, and according to the requirements of the shape, use the paddle to roll the body, or lift or press it, so that the shoulders and abdomen of the pot are expanded, so that the shoulders, belly, feet and other sections of the pot body are clear and regular, and the linear combination is beautiful and the transition is Tingyun.
After the body tube is basically formed, the neck and feet are added. The method of preparing the neck and feet is to attach circular mud pieces with different thicknesses (the diameter of the mud piece is the outer diameter of the pot neck and base) to the upper and lower ends of the body barrel. After the outer edge of the spout and the outer edge of the bottom leg are straightened, use a gauge car to rotate and cut the middle part of the mud piece out, leaving the mud material for the neck and foot rings. In addition, the mouth, handle, and pot lid must be prepared, and various "thread stems" (special small tools made of ox horn or bamboo wood, which function somewhat like the "thread planers" used by carpenters to make window frames and mirror frames) must be used to The linear turning points of the parts are repeatedly pressed and teased to make the ridges clear and smooth. Under the lid of the sand pot, there is a circle of straight and wide "sub-mouth". The outer diameter of the sub-mouth must closely match the inner diameter of the pot mouth and must be able to rotate. When installing the handle and spout, first find the seam of the mud piece when making the body. Generally, the pot handle is installed on one side of the joint first, and then a water screen hole is dug in advance on the opposite side of the joint, and then the spout is glued. Make sure that the vertical center surfaces of the mouth, handle and body tube are superimposed on the same section. At this time, the teapot blank is basically completed. The remaining work is to use an open needle to calender the whole body to meet the requirement of "the light can shine on the surface when the blank is removed". Finally, stamp the author's name on the bottom and lid of the pot, dry them, and wait for firing in the kiln.
2. Body cylinder
The forming method of square (including square, hexagonal, octagonal, etc.) pots is mainly to use the method of inlaying the body cylinder. The clay pieces are also made first, and a template is prepared according to the design intention. The clay pieces are cut according to the template, and the clay pieces are inlaid and glued together with moistening mud to make a small clay box, which is the prototype of the teapot. Then use tools to pat, tighten, and press to prepare the mouth, handle, cover, etc., and the finishing is completed.
This mud-making process actually uses external force to compact the mud particles tightly and arrange the mud doors neatly. In this way, the product is much stronger and stronger than the injection molded product.
Good raw ore purple clay has extremely good plasticity and is not easily deformed when fired. Using this special molding process, it can ensure that the size meets the specifications and the style has rich changes. Generally speaking, as long as the design is reasonable, various styles of sand pots can be made by hand. A certain style of sand pot is manufactured over and over again, and their specifications, shapes and sizes can be highly unified. In fact, in the process of making clay pots, for the convenience of connecting various processes, four or six pieces of the same style are always made at the same time, which is called "one thing" in jargon.
Tools for making purple clay teapots
In Jingdezhen, I saw that workers making porcelain all use manual drawing; drawing is a traditional ceramic production technique. The famous artist Mr. Han Meilin is based on the concept of "pottery". The ancient Chinese writing method of "" is a symbol designed for Yixing ceramic art. The right side seems to be a person pulling the blank on the left side. This symbol is both concise and connotative, expressing the pictographic meaning of "tao" at once. Most of Jingdezhen's porcelain is round, and a piece of work is completed separately by shaping and decoration. However, Yixing purple sand has various shapes. Unless the carving and molding are carved on the body, it is often completed by one molding worker.
There are dozens of ways to shape purple clay pots, and there are dozens of tools for making purple clay pots. We will not introduce them one by one here, but only select a few representative ones for explanation:
1. Wooden tie: Used for making mud strips and slices. 2. Sharp knife: used for cutting mouths, buttons, turning feet, and small leather surfaces. 3. Rectangular car: Also known as the gauge car, it is like a compass, used to draw circles and open holes; 4. Grate: mainly made of bamboo, with different curvatures according to different pot bodies, used to organize the shape of the blank. 5. Copper pipe: drill holes of various sizes. 6. Top pillar: a special wooden tool stamped with a base stamp after the molding process is completed. 7. Wooden racket: used for beating the body, taking pictures, and shooting mouth. 8. Bamboo racket: There are big, medium and small. It is mainly used to beat the body barrel, push the body barrel joint, skim fat mud, push the wall and scrape the bottom to make the spout, etc. 9. Fish knife: can be used for cutting, peeling, smoothing and picking. , clamping, digging, scraping, etc., are commonly used tools; 10. Ming needle: made of horn, elastic, with square head, pointed head, elbow, etc., mainly used for scraping the blank to make it smooth and smooth, and In the ceramic industry, needles are only used in purple sand production. 11. Single: Used to round the mouth and round eyes. There are two types: flat and pointed. They are made of high-quality horn, ivory, boxwood, and rosewood. 12. Turntable: It is used for body-beating. It can rotate. Nowadays, it is mostly made of iron.
And an excellent purple clay artist has very high requirements for tools and must be handy. Why handmade purple clay teapots are valuable is because the purple clay teapots leave countless fingerprints of the artist. After many times of light, rubbing, scraping, and plundering... the artist's emotions are poured into the purple clay teapot, which is absolutely not like some mechanical ones. Or semi-mechanically operated mud blanks are so quick.