Dear Tea Friends,

I have just broken my very first Yi Xing tea pot. It (or let us say, she?)
has not lived a long life: after less than a year's faithful service the lid
has been broken. It is almost beyond me, how it could happen, as I always
treated it very carefully. Nevertheless yesterday while wiping the lid with
a piece of tissue paper I happened to drop it on the table. It reached the
table after a very short free fall of only 20 centimeters (about 8 inches).
It was inmediately broken into two halves, with many small, glass-like
splinters besides the half pieces; the fragments did not look like regular
clay at all, but much more like glass. - Suddenly I also remembered that I
managed to chip the brim of the lid on the very first day I used it, again
by dropping it on the table, but from a lesser height.

All this made me wonder whether all yi xing wares are as fragile, rigid and
glass-like like the one I have, needing very cautious care, or I am just the
unhappy owner of a pot of lesser quality? I bought it from one of the more
reputable online vendors. According the original description it is blue
Zisha mixed mildly with yellow clay.

Thanks,
Gyorgy Sajo

Gyorgy Sajo wrote:
> All this made me wonder whether all yi xing wares are as fragile, rigid and
> glass-like like the one I have, needing very cautious care, or I am just the
> unhappy owner of a pot of lesser quality? I bought it from one of the more
> reputable online vendors. According the original description it is blue
> Zisha mixed mildly with yellow clay.

Yixing teapots come in a variety of quality, generally almost all of
the ones I have seen for sale in tea shops and online are not very high
quality... even expensive ones. They are not built like tanks though
and even high quality ones will break from a drop of this height. The
smaller more compact ones that are less ornate can withstand a beating
however and may have survived this fall.

I personally never purchase colored yixing teapots. Plain purple clay
only unless it is for decoration only. Low quality clay or sandy clay
will result in chipping espcially around the spout, lids, or fragile
decorative bits. The splintering you mentioned sounds proper for a
fairly good quality clay and firing... the firing of the teapot is
actually one of the most important parts of a solid teapot and most are
not fired expertly.

The strange part of your post (and what caught my attention) was that
it boke in half. Yixing teapots are normally molded by pouring and
there are no "halves" or seams. That part has me a bit puzzled, was it
a perfectly clean split?

It sounds like you have a lower to mid quality teapot and it suffered a
fall that would have damaged even a top quality teapot. BTW what did it
fall onto?

"Dominic T." > wrote:

> The strange part of your post (and what caught my attention) was that
> it boke in half. Yixing teapots are normally molded by pouring and
> there are no "halves" or seams. That part has me a bit puzzled, was it
> a perfectly clean split?

I am sorry, I think I was not clear enough in my initial post: it is only
the lid that I have dropped and that is broken. The pot itself did not
suffer any damage; but because the pot has become unuseful without the lid,
I took me the freedom in my initial sentence saying that I have broken my
first tea pot... So it is only the lid. And no, it is not a perfectly clean
split.

>
> It sounds like you have a lower to mid quality teapot and it suffered a
> fall that would have damaged even a top quality teapot. BTW what did it
> fall onto?

Onto a hardwood table.

Gyorgy Sajo wrote:
> I am sorry, I think I was not clear enough in my initial post: it is only
> the lid that I have dropped and that is broken. The pot itself did not
> suffer any damage; but because the pot has become unuseful without the lid,
> I took me the freedom in my initial sentence saying that I have broken my
> first tea pot... So it is only the lid. And no, it is not a perfectly clean
> split.

Aha, I knew something was strange... that explains it. I wouldn't give
up hope, if it has been a long used teapot and you are using it for
personal use you could measure the opening and buy a low grade yixing
teapot for like $10 for a new lid. It probably wont match it colorwise,
but the pot would still be usable. just a thought.

While there are colored Zisha clay pots, I still stick to purple clay
only pots, and I also inspect them well before purchasing (so online
would be out for me). it is very tough to learn to buy a very high
quality one, I know I've been fooled a couple times, and one of my most
prized pots came from a temporary mall store that sold me their display
unit for $14.00 because they were closing for the season and didn't
know/care. Then I paid a ton and had two hand delivered from overseas
and they were very poor. it's a crapshoot at best.

> Onto a hardwood table.

It is a bummer, and I feel for you... I have broken the steam vent on
one of my pots' lids but the lid is stil in tact and functions but
that's the worst I've suffered. if you don't mind me asking what
website did you purchase it from? I'd be interested in seeing where
they buy their teapots from and the general quality.

If presentation isn't critical, just throw a tea-towel over the hole.

--Blair