faj wrote: ↑Sun Nov 03, 2019 12:34 pm
I noticed MudandLeaves posted about a very small batch of clay they just processed. Link below.
https://www.mudandleaves.com/teatime-bl ... -skin-clay
Their claim is this is Lipini, a type of lüni which is found in small amounts in Tian Qing Ni clay deposits. In my very limited readings, I have found no claims that Tian Qing Ni was still being mined, or that there was an even more elusive clay being mined with it. I would be curious to know what more knowledgeable and experienced people make of this claim.
Aside from how little of this clay they have extracted from the several hundreds of kg of Tian Qing Ni they have on hand (in itself quite a claim to me it seems), they do not seem to be making any claim on its effect on tea, or even recommended tea pairings for that matter.
Youzi, in your blog, you had information about Tian Qing Ni. Maybe you could comment on this?
Insted of gut feelings and opinions, I'd prefer to share the facts I know about Li Pi Ni instead.
There are two things refferred to as Li Pi Ni:
I. The actual raw ore
- Li Pi Ni (梨皮泥) is a sub-type of Lüni.
- Lüni is an ore mainly found in the Huang Long Shan mining area. That ore is also referred to as "Benshan Lüni".
- Li Pi Ni is Lüni from Da Shui Tan (大水潭) the ancient mine used during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It mainly produced Zini (zini, Qinghuini, Tianqingni) Lüni(In this case Li Pi Ni) and Tuanni. Currently it is a small pond, because a 100+ years ago it got flooded with ground water.
- Tian Qing Ni and Li Pi Ni is always fused together.
- Da Shui Tan is at the south east side of Huang Long Shan, on the other side of the road. (You can see it on the map in my article). Because DST is a lake and it has buildings around it except for the side where HLS is, so Mining is "not possible".
- However there are two ways to access DST material nowdays:
1. Because nature isn't defined by Human structures probably there is DST material on the HLS side, which is shown in Zhu Zewei's book. Also, because HLS resumed mining since 2010 there are official ways to aquire HLS material from the Goverment owned Mining company, who has a monopoly over the mine.
2. The houses around DST. There were news of buildings collapsing because Illegal mining activity at the houses near DST (people dug out the foundation). So the clay obtained this way are sold in personal circles.
II. a kind of texture and look on the teapot, when it is finished
- basically a teapot with a coarse surface can be called Li Pi (Zini, Zhuni, Hongni, Tuanni etc.)
- which can be obtained easily by making the ore dust 30-50 Mu (目) or adding larger chunks of Nenni/Duanni
@steanze
@OCTO