Chapter 137 Then they kept silent
Chapter 137 Then they kept silent
"Like this." An Qing thought for a moment, and then he stared at the actions of Gong Zhou's men without moving.
The mud with water was kneaded into shape by Gong Zhou in a short time. Bai Miaomiao couldn't help but curl her fingertips slightly and said, "The mud is ready, Teacher Gong."
"So, next we can play with mud... no, can we make purple clay teapots or cups?"
"No," Gong Zhou denied without hesitation, "The internal structure of the current purple clay is not uniform enough, and the adhesion is relatively poor. It is still far from the level of being able to be used to make pots and cups. Next we have to refine the clay."
"Refining mud...what are the steps?" Xu Yichi scratched his head in confusion.
"Refining mud means... using this special big wooden hammer to continuously beat the mud." Gong Zhou smiled and said as he took out a wooden hammer from under the table like a magic trick. The hammer was as thick as an adult's arm, more than half a foot long, with one side smooth and the other side round.
"Through hundreds and thousands of beatings, the air trapped in the clay mass is expelled as much as possible, while at the same time making the clay material's internal structure evenly distributed."
"Uh... if you don't pat it, or if you don't pat it enough, what will happen, Mr. Gong Zhou?" An Qing raised his hand and asked a small question, "Will it cause bubbles to appear on the inner wall of the finished pot after firing?"
"Yes, there will be bubbles." Gong Zhou nodded in agreement. If these girls had not already found the careers they had been pursuing all their lives, he would still think that these girls had good talents and could be said to be quick to learn how to make teapots - they were very suitable to be tricked into learning how to make teapots.
"Small bubbles may affect the air permeability of the purple clay teapot, while larger bubbles may directly leak water or cause damage to the teapot during firing."
"Then refining mud is indeed necessary." An Qing agreed deeply.
"Yes, refining clay is also a very physically demanding process. Many studios now use machines to refine clay, but our studio focuses on making pots using the traditional method, which is still done manually." Gong Zhou picked up a wooden mallet and hammered the clay twice mercilessly. "Wow! Don't tell me, this newly mixed clay is quite strong."
"Come on, do any of you want to try it out?"
"Senior Gong Zhou, I'd like to try this." Xu Yichi rolled up her sleeves with rare interest. Bai Miaomiao and others quickly moved aside to make room for her.
The solid wooden hammer felt heavy in his hand. Xu Da simply weighed it and felt that it was as heavy as the small dumbbell that the chef used for fitness.
"If you feel uncomfortable holding it with one hand, you can hold it with both hands. It's okay. It's just for the experience anyway." Gong Zhou's face was kind. "Try to mobilize the strength of your upper body when striking. At least use the strength of your whole arm."
"Like this, with a little bit of a swinging motion." Gong Zhou raised his arm and waved it to give Xu Yichi a simple demonstration, "--It will be easier this way. If you only use your wrist to exert force, your arm will be unable to move in no time!"
"Oh, okay, I'll try my best." The little girl gently lowered her jaw, then tightened the corners of her lips, imitating Gong Zhou's just now, and nervously swung the gavel.
"Bam—"
The wooden hammer hit the mud ball with a dull sound, and Xu Yichi felt that his entire arm was slightly numb from the force.
After being simply struck, the mud will not only stick to the table, but also to the flat striking surface of the mallet. Whenever the little girl pulls out the mallet, the slight suction from the mallet surface always reminds her of the soft mud she stepped on in the country field when she was a child. The feeling of pulling out the mallet is similar to the feeling of pulling your feet out of the mud.
It just doesn't take that much force to pull out the hammer.
but……
"Hiss~ Refining clay is really a strenuous job." Xu Dazuo grimaced as she hammered four or five times in a row. She usually prided herself on having a pretty good physique, but after hammering so many times in a row, her arms really started to ache.
For the sake of her normal work in the next two days, she decided that the experience was enough and she should quit while she was ahead - after all, they came here mainly to take some practical classes and find inspiration and new angles for making games, not really to become apprentices learning how to make purple clay pottery.
——It’s better to leave special tasks to special people.
She won't compete with others for this job.
"Hey, Xiaoyi, are you so weak?" Bai Miaomiao frowned unconsciously upon seeing this, and took the hammer from the little girl - but she swung the hammer only twice before there was no movement.
Hmm...this thing.
This thing is really hard work.
A little sweat quietly seeped out of the top of the head of the girl in Hanfu. She was silent for a moment while holding the hammer, then turned around and stuffed the thing into the hands of Lord An, the only person present who had not experienced what it was like to refine mud.
An Qing:……?
"Well, give it a try, Qingqing. We have both tried it, you should try it too." Master Xu smiled playfully and pretended to encourage An Qing to try. After some hesitation, Master An finally couldn't resist the curiosity in his heart...
Then everyone fell silent.
"Haha, how is it? It's not easy to refine the mud!" Gong Zhou, who noticed that they were acting strangely, laughed and took back the mallet. He knocked the mud a few more times as a demonstration. "In fact, your movements were basically correct. It's just that you kids don't usually love sports... You don't have enough endurance, and you get tired after a few knocks."
"But it's normal to be tired. This thing can't be mastered in just one or two days... I'll knock a few more times to show you, and then we should look at the next steps!"
"Can I...can I start making pots later?" Bai Miaomiao's eyes flashed - she really wanted to play with mud!
"It's a pity, Comrade Xiaobai, it's not possible yet." Gong Zhou shook his head again with pretended regret, "The clay balls we hammered out here can't be used to make pots - this clay is called 'raw clay', the state of the clay is not stable enough, the sand and slurry have not been fully integrated, the material is brittle, and it is not easy to shape the pot."
"If it wants to be used to make pots, it has to go through another step of 'aging' - the 'cooked clay' after 'aging' is the real purple clay that we can use to make pottery."
"'Aging' means spraying the purple clay with water, sealing it in a plastic bag, and placing it in a dark, humid and closed space for a few years to ferment, so that more humic acid can be generated in it - this can make the sand and paste in the purple clay blend more thoroughly, and at the same time it can also reduce the firing temperature in the later stage to a certain extent, reducing the precipitation of iron."
"——After all, we are making pots using the traditional method! The material selection and impurity removal in the early stage will not be as thorough as their machine removal...Okay, kids, follow me to our studio's warehouse for aging clay materials."