Master artisan Gu Jingzhou's comprehensive pottery techniques, taught from January 1981 to January 1982. Eight lessons covering tools, forming, design, and quality control.
This foundational lesson focuses on the main tools for making Yixing pottery and their proper use. It emphasizes the importance of tools including bevel chisels, carving knives, and steel saws, covering their fabrication, maintenance, and usage requirements. Detailed technical specifications and usage precautions are provided for production tools such as mallets, turntables, paddles, gauge tools, and loach knives.
This lesson covers basic operational standards for Yixing pottery forming, including clay moisture control, slab beating speed, coil preparation, coil cutting methods, and cylinder beating techniques. It emphasizes standardized operations to correct free-form practices and introduces how technical methods vary according to different vessel shapes.
This lesson explains the traditional handcrafting process for the Double-line Bamboo Drum teapot, including key steps such as base preparation, false bottom application, main body construction, and rim attachment. Emphasis is placed on mastering clay consistency, timely cleaning, using specialized tools, and developing efficient workflow habits.
This lesson covers four key steps in replicating Yixing pottery: observing and analyzing the style and characteristics of the original work, considering crafting processes and tools, executing the work efficiently, and learning through practice. The lesson uses Wang Yinchun's Elegant Shoulder Line teapot as a case study.
This lesson covers tool innovation in Yixing teapot production, technical structure treatment for different varieties, types and processing methods of lids, and forming steps for pear-shaped teapots. It emphasizes that craft processing must be reasonable, not mechanically applied, and that skill must be applied at critical points.
This lesson covers various types of teapot bases (flat base, recessed base, bare base, double-layer base) and their technical construction methods, including the function and treatment of false bottoms. It also provides detailed explanations of three major lid categories (pressing lid, inset lid, cut lid) with their characteristics and operational precautions, plus tool requirements and technical details for line refinement.
This lesson explains quality standards for Yixing pottery, emphasizing that internal quality is more important than external appearance. It details common product defects, correct operational methods, detailed processing techniques, and quality inspection points.
Master Gu Jingzhou recounts his early experiences replicating famous artisans' works, emphasizing the importance of a solid foundation. He presents four key points for replication work: solid foundation, thorough consideration, asking when uncertain, and leaving room for adjustment, while detailing the correct methods for treating linear decorations on Yixing teapots.