Chapter 277, Zisha Craft, Looking Forward to Tomorrow
The ceramic studio of the Academy of Art is divided into several workshops, with dedicated places and equipment for production, drying and firing.

In addition to the electric kiln, the kiln workshop also has two rows of shelves that hold ceramics waiting to be fired and those that have already been fired.

Teacher Zhou instructed the students to place their works on the racks waiting to be fired and label them. The rest of the work was entrusted to Master Zou.

Because there are a lot of porcelains to be fired and we need to queue up, it is impossible to see the finished products today.

The ceramics displayed here are mostly works created by teachers of the college for entertainment or creation.

Teacher Zhou used many ready-made objects to explain to students the advantages and disadvantages of these ceramic works, so that they could intuitively understand the ceramic production process.

Master Zou placed utensils in the electric kiln and set up instruments.

Jiang Zhe watched carefully.

Teacher Zhou explained: "This electric kiln can reach a high temperature of 1300 degrees. Our school also has an electric kiln that can only reach 800 degrees, which can be used to burn pottery. In the future, if you want to create ceramic works, you can come here. However, you need to pay and queue up."

The teacher finished the lesson and announced the end of get out of class. The monitor hurriedly informed everyone about the Mandarin test.

Seeing that Teacher Zhou was not in a hurry to leave the studio, Jiang Zhe walked over and asked, "Teacher, if I still want to learn how to make purple clay teapots, can you recommend some places?"

"Oh, you are interested in playing now." Teacher Zhou said with a smile: "Okay, I will recommend a store to you."

Several students from well-off families heard the conversation between the two and immediately said, "Teacher Zhou, we want to join, too."

"Okay, since you guys all want to participate, I'll take you there."

Because it was already Friday afternoon, the students were dismissed. Teacher Zhou took the students who wanted to learn purple clay crafts to a commercial street not far from the school and found a shop selling purple clay pots and tea.

Jiang Zhe noticed that on the glass window of this store, there were big words such as tea, purple clay teapots, pottery bar, and pottery making courses.

As soon as they walked outside the store, a dark, thin, middle-aged man with side-parted hair came out to greet them, "Teacher Zhou, welcome, welcome, dear students."

Teacher Zhou introduced that the man was the owner of the store, Mr. Qiao.

Boss Qiao enthusiastically led the students to visit and introduced the store.

The first floor of the shop is where tea and purple clay teapots are sold, the second floor is his warehouse and reception room, and there is a yard at the back with two large bungalows, which are pottery workshops where people who are interested can make pottery and purple clay crafts.

He led the teachers and students to the purple sand workshop. "Students, look here, the tools and materials are very complete. If you want, you can come here to make pottery. The next one is the pottery workshop. Many friends, including your teacher Zhou, often come here to make pottery and exchange ideas. Some teachers also come here to take classes. Some teachers' works are sold from me. I can also help you make your works here."

He pointed to a four-tier display stand. "The purple clay teapots on that stand are all my works. I am personally good at making Han clay teapots, stone scoops are also OK, and sometimes I also make flower pots.

The other pots and cups were brought from my hometown of Yixing. Every time I go back, I bring back some of my friends’ works and clay materials.”

Jiang Zhe asked, "Boss Qiao, can I take a look at your clay materials and buy some tools from you?"

"Come, let me show you the materials."

He found the materials and tools and laid them out on the workbench.
Large pieces of purple clay material are wrapped in plastic cloth, and there are some special production tools.

From the tools, we can see that Boss Qiao often makes purple clay teapots.

“The most commonly used material here is purple clay, which is pure water clay without any blending.

In the past, the masters liked to mix the purple clay materials by themselves, and they controlled the proportion of the materials themselves. This is the purple clay that can be used directly. "He opened several kinds of purple clay materials and introduced them to the students.

"I also have Zhuni here, which is fired successfully and has very good colors. The last one is Duanni, which is old Duanni. When making flower pots, you need to use different colors of clay.

I also have purple clay cups here. Some well-made purple clay cups are more expensive than pots." Boss Qiao also showed the tools and production methods.

After observation, Jiang Zhe judged that these clay materials were very common, but fortunately they were not fake. Among them, purple clay was the best.

He said to the boss, "I want to buy a set of tools and some purple clay from you. Is that okay with you?" "Sure."

Jiang Zhe calculated the amount of clay needed to make five pots, and spent nearly 800 yuan on the clay and a set of tools. Ordinary clay was not expensive at that time.

Boss Qiao suggested to other students that if they only wanted to make a small amount of purple clay, they could do it here and he would not charge for the use of the tools.

Several other students bought a small amount of clay, and Teacher Zhou said he would guide them in making it.

Jiang Zhe bought what he wanted and said goodbye to several classmates.

Boss Qiao invited Teacher Zhou to have dinner.

At the dinner table, we talked about today's students.

"I guess your students are just buying materials to have fun with. They may not be able to produce any works." Boss Qiao said.

"Hey, don't say that. These students are quite good. For example, the student named Jiang Zhe made great things." Teacher Zhou said.

"Why do I feel that this name is a little familiar?" said Boss Qiao.

"He is the best seller of paintings among the students in our school. Many teachers can't compare to him."

Teacher Zhou talked about several things about Jiang Zhe.

It is an honor to talk about the achievements of your students in front of outsiders.

"Oh, it's him. I remember now. Why didn't you remind me earlier? I should have taken a photo with him." Boss Qiao regretted.

"This is his first time here, and you're using him for publicity?"

"Please invite him a few more times. We'll get to know each other better. Does he really like purple clay, or is he just playing around?" asked Boss Qiao.

"I don't know. But I saw the ceramics he made today. They were great, no worse than those made by veteran artists," said Teacher Zhou.

……

Jiang Zhe returned to his studio and had dinner. He couldn't wait to set out the tools and try to make a purple clay teapot according to the process.

Even though it was the first time to make one, with the skills and knowledge in my mind, I gradually became familiar with the technique and successfully made a Jingzhou Shipiao pot.

He stamped his seal on the lake and left his fingerprints.

While I was enjoying the work, I heard my cell phone ringing.

When he saw it was Wang Zhen’s number, he pressed the answer button.

"Manager Wang, how is today's auction going?"

Wang Zhen said, "Why didn't you call me? Your work will be auctioned tomorrow, and you don't care?"

Jiang Zhe said: "It's no use for me to care."

Wang Zhen said: "Today's auction was very successful, with several special sessions exceeding 10 million. The modern oil painting special session was very popular, and the works of several famous artists such as Guan Zhong were sold for far more than the estimated price. I estimate that tomorrow's auction will not be too bad."

"I hope there will be a good result." Jiang Zhe said.

Tomorrow, his work will be auctioned. Although he did not use the system's reward, he can still face the result calmly.

(End of this chapter)