How a Yixing teapot is built
How does a flat strip of clay become a round teapot? Watch where the potter puts each hand. A second pot, built with four flat sides, shows just how differently the same clay can take shape.
On this page
Before there is a curve#
In the round-pot sequence in the 1994 workshop manual, the potter takes clay for the body, lid, knob and other parts from one piece so that the parts begin with clay of the same consistency. Look across the workbench in figures 7 and 8. The long strip will become the wall. The discs beside it are cut separately. The body is still lying flat on the table. 61–64 · figs. 1–8 (PDF 69–72)
One hand inside, one outside#
In figures 9 and 10 a disc rests on a turntable. The potter stands the strip around it, trims off the overlap and presses the upright join together. The result is a cylinder. In figure 11 one hand supports the wall from inside while the other taps the outside with a wooden paddle. As the work turns, the potter can bring each part of the wall under the paddle and gradually narrow the opening. The turntable gives access all the way round. The photograph that explains how the wall began is the earlier one showing the strip. 65–66 · figs. 9–12 (PDF 73–74)
Where the four sides meet#
Turn to the square pot designed and made by Wang Jianzhong. In profile it tapers towards the top. Seen from above, it has four corners. Wang lets a slab firm up a little, cuts the wall panels to a template and applies liquid clay to the joining edges. With the panels standing, he works the corners and compresses the joints from inside before fitting the base. Compare figure 4, where the walls already enclose a space, with figure 7, where he adds the base. 92–96 · figs. 1–8 (PDF 100–104)
Reading a finished pot#
Look down at a pot, then bring your eye level with its shoulder. Can you follow one continuous curve, or does a corner separate one face from the next? Liu Xingguang and Li Zhiguo describe the two workshop methods as 打身筒, paddling a body, and 镶身筒, joining shaped panels. These terms help explain the work in the photographs. With an older pot seen only from the outside, you can describe the curve or the corner with confidence. Identifying the actual construction takes evidence of the making process. 102–103 (PDF 111–112)
Sources
- 王建中、范建军、唐伯年，《紫砂壶制作技法》
- 刘行光、李志国，《紫砂》