mud and leaves

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mudandleaves
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Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:30 am

New Batch of Wood Fired Yixing Teapots in stock:
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https://www.mudandleaves.com/store/c9/Y ... apots.html
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pedant
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Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:12 am

have not seen something quite like that before. looks nice. definitely first time i've seen wood fired dicaoqing clay.
a pear shape (li xing, 梨形 ?) one would look pretty cool i think.
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mudandleaves
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Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:39 am

pedant wrote:
Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:12 am
have not seen something quite like that before. looks nice. definitely first time i've seen wood fired dicaoqing clay.
a pear shape (li xing, 梨形 ?) one would look pretty cool i think.
Thanks. Dicaoqing and zini in general is more stable so its their clay of choice for wood firing. The temperature of the wood kiln is too high and not stable enough to fire Zhuni safely for example.

The studio is only able to fire a few at a time and only during certain seasons. They sometimes fire a few in the spring but fall is the season for wood firing Yixing teapots.
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Bok
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Wed Sep 26, 2018 9:34 pm

Interesting to see wood-fired Yixing. Seen those pop up on Taobao here and then.

How is the loss rate? In Taiwan, usually only about 60-70 percent make it through the fire perfectly, which is why the price is a lot higher than normal fired ware (that and that it takes a lot of hours where wood has to be added every 10 min without pause through several days or weeks).
Those Yixing ones look like they are fired in a more controlled and maybe protected way with less interference from ash and the fire itself.
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mudandleaves
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Thu Sep 27, 2018 4:33 pm

They're first fired in an electric kiln at the studio for a day, then fired for 4 nights and 3 days in the wood kiln. Firing them first in an electric kiln at a more controlled temperature reduces the chance of breaking in the wood kiln. They lose a few, but not that many.

The wood kiln is separate from the studio and serves studios and potters from the area, so space is limited. The kiln is slowly brought up to the right temperature and then constantly monitored and fed with pine wood during firing.

It's difficult to control how much ash glaze each teapot receives. Some come out with only a light dusting of ash glaze, others have a thicker, shiny glaze of black, yellow, red or blue-green.
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Bok
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Thu Sep 27, 2018 7:58 pm

Interesting way to do it! As i understood, in the fully wood fired process, most damage is due to the extreme heat and warping and dripping of the stacked pots. Quite a few are lost because the lid is stuck to the body and can not be removed without breaking it.

Ash deposit depends a lot on the position in the kiln and how experienced the potters are in this way of firing. But in the end the unpredictable results are what makes their charm!
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mudandleaves
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Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:07 pm

Bok wrote:
Thu Sep 27, 2018 7:58 pm
Interesting way to do it! As i understood, in the fully wood fired process, most damage is due to the extreme heat and warping and dripping of the stacked pots. Quite a few are lost because the lid is stuck to the body and can not be removed without breaking it.

Ash deposit depends a lot on the position in the kiln and how experienced the potters are in this way of firing. But in the end the unpredictable results are what makes their charm!
True. The position in the kiln, the time of year, humidity, all have an impact on the end result. Some control is possible, but the end result is still a bit of a surprise. It's also a matter of taste; some prefer a lighter touch from the ash, while others prefer the greater contrast of colors and texture from a heavier glaze. After seasoning the wood fired Yixing teapots are very striking, almost like jade.
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mudandleaves
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Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:14 am

An Interview with Lee Shanming of Shan Kilns, the artist behind our series of Ruyao ware:
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https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-master
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https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-studio
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Some of Mr. Lee's work:
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mudandleaves
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Wed Oct 24, 2018 10:50 am

New Yixing Teapots in the works at Wuyou Hall studio, including this benshan luni shipiao:

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pedant
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Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:31 am

mudandleaves wrote:
Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:14 am
An Interview with Lee Shanming of Shan Kilns, the artist behind our series of Ruyao ware:
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https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-master
.
https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-studio
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Some of Mr. Lee's work:
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beautiful stuff. i enjoyed reading the interview and factory tour. thanks
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mudandleaves
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:06 am

pedant wrote:
Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:31 am
mudandleaves wrote:
Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:14 am
An Interview with Lee Shanming of Shan Kilns, the artist behind our series of Ruyao ware:
.
https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-master
.
https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/part- ... yao-studio
.
Some of Mr. Lee's work:
.
beautiful stuff. i enjoyed reading the interview and factory tour. thanks
Thanks for reading :D
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pedant
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:12 pm

can you please tell us a little about the Shan Kiln Ruyao Studio 'Limited Edition' pieces?

is the glaze different than Shan's normal productions?

Image
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debunix
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Fri Oct 26, 2018 8:57 pm

I found this particularly interesting in suggesting why the ruyao type of glaze has been so hard to duplicate today....

"Ruyao was one of the hardest ones to revive, because there are so few surviving examples left, and back then they added agate to the glaze. If we were still to add agate it would be tremendously expensive and not possible to produce in a large enough amount. "

So coming up with a way to get that depth and liveliness of the glaze without the same key ingredient does sound daunting indeed. There are some gorgeous pieces featured in the blog posts and on your site.

He also mentioned using true agate in a few small test batches, for his own learning and pleasure: do you have any photos of those, to show the differences in the glazes?
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mudandleaves
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Sat Oct 27, 2018 11:08 am

pedant wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:12 pm
can you please tell us a little about the Shan Kiln Ruyao Studio 'Limited Edition' pieces?

is the glaze different than Shan's normal productions?

Image
The salmon colour around the edge was discovered by accident. It is a combination of glaze recipe as well as the positioning and temperature in the kiln that gives the limited edition glaze its special quality and colour.

Lee Shanming worked for a long time to recreate the effect and to make it as stable as possible without losing the qualities that make it ruyao (glaze texture, shine, jade-like depth).

However, it remains a very difficult glaze to fire successfully. They have a very high scrap rate compared to the regular ruyao. He makes a very limited number of these each year.
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mudandleaves
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Sat Oct 27, 2018 11:30 am

debunix wrote:
Fri Oct 26, 2018 8:57 pm
I found this particularly interesting in suggesting why the ruyao type of glaze has been so hard to duplicate today....

"Ruyao was one of the hardest ones to revive, because there are so few surviving examples left, and back then they added agate to the glaze. If we were still to add agate it would be tremendously expensive and not possible to produce in a large enough amount. "

So coming up with a way to get that depth and liveliness of the glaze without the same key ingredient does sound daunting indeed. There are some gorgeous pieces featured in the blog posts and on your site.

He also mentioned using true agate in a few small test batches, for his own learning and pleasure: do you have any photos of those, to show the differences in the glazes?
I only have a few photos of one of these, it was sold a few years ago. It is hard to tell from the photos, but if you were to hold it in your hand you would find there is a very great depth to the agate glaze. Shanming's ruyao is already the best example of ruyao in the market today; his agate glaze is even finer, but extremely expensive and difficult to make. This is why he has only ever made a few of these. The cup below was over $1000.
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Edited: Rotated photos
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