Chapter 138 Stale
Chapter 138 Stale
Gong Zhou built a warehouse for storing mud underground.
When Xu Yichi and others followed Gong Zhou into the house, they happened to see the workers carrying in a batch of newly refined clay materials, either red, green or gray-purple (there are three main colors of purple clay, purple, green and red. In addition to these three, there are also yellow, white and black. Dozens of pots with different colors and textures can be fired. I will not discuss them one by one here. If you are interested, you can check it out yourself). The raw clay was picked up one by one into soft bricks more than one foot long, four inches wide and about two inches high, and neatly stacked into a large plastic box, and covered with a layer of thick canvas on top to keep it moist.
The girl looked at the mud blocks that almost filled up the entire basement and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Wow, Senior Gong Zhou, you actually have so many refined mud blocks in your studio!"
"Of course." Gong Zhou rolled up his sleeves, picked up a piece of freshly refined mud, and said as a matter of course, "After all, the raw mud cannot be used immediately after it is refined. It has to be left here to rot for at least a year or so!"
"Under the rigid premise that the aging time cannot be shortened, we must of course stock up as much clay as possible in advance on weekdays - otherwise, if we really wait until a large number of orders are thrown at us before we remember to buy clay everywhere, it will be too late!"
"That's right. People have to wait for the clay, but orders don't wait for people." Xu Dazhuo thought thoughtfully, "So, is it better for our clay to be aged as long as possible? Will it go bad if it is aged for too long?"
"Besides, if it goes bad, you have stored too much mud before, and you can't use it all when it goes bad. What will you do?"
"Do we have a corresponding solution here?"
"Oh, of course, the longer the clay is aged, the better it is." Gong Zhou, who put down the mud brick, was calm and composed. "Generally speaking, the specific aging time is determined by the composition of the clay, production requirements and aging methods. If the aging time is too long, too much humus in the purple clay will be precipitated, which will affect the quality of the finished purple clay teapot."
"This overly aged purple clay cannot be used directly to make pots - it has to be sent back and made into raw clay and refined again."
"Then there's the question of the aging method... If you refine the raw mud first like we do, then wrap it in plastic to keep it moist, the aging time may be slightly longer, but the mud can be stored for a longer time, and it won't go bad easily."
Gong Zhou blinked, "In addition to this aging method of wrapping with plastic sheeting... they also have the method of putting the mud in a large pottery jar, directly filling it with water, immersing it, and stirring it regularly to age it. This is purely imitating the legend that 'the craftsman Gongchun used the hand-washing mud that was precipitated at the bottom of the jar after the old monks in the temple washed their hands' to age the mud. It seems that not many people still use this method to age the mud. The main problem is that it doesn't work with too much or too little water, and it has to be stirred all the time. The aged mud must be taken out in time, otherwise it won't last too long."
"As for what Comrade Xiao Xu was worried about just now, what to do if there is too much mud stored and it cannot be used up, that is easier to say."
"First of all, our studio is well-known in the industry. We usually have many people coming to our studio to order pots. We receive three or two large orders every year."
"However, for large orders, we cannot require that every pot be made by a famous artist and go for the high-end boutique route. Our affordable purple clay pottery has its own specifications and specific methods. These orders will consume 70% to 80% of our clay reserves every year. We can sell the remaining small batches of clay as appropriate. If they cannot be sold, we will give them to schools with related majors for students to practice with, or simply send them back for re-refining and make them into raw clay bricks."
"So, Xiao Xu, you don't have to worry about the clay being wasted." Gong Zhou said with a relaxed expression, "It won't be wasted."
"That's it." Xu Yichi nodded subconsciously. In fact, her head was a little dizzy from Gong Zhou's long string of words, but it didn't affect her to follow him and continue walking.
"Okay, if you don't have any other questions, I'll take you to see the difference between the mud that has been aged for half a year, a year, three years, and five years!" Gong Zhou waved his hand, and after he finished speaking, he really took the girls and walked deeper into the warehouse.
In the basement where the clay was piled up, the air was filled with a lingering smell of damp. Xu Yichi followed Gong Zhou, looking left and right, but in the end he still couldn't tell the difference between the green clay that had been aged for a year and the red clay that had been aged for three years, except for the color.
Fortunately, as the only producer of your game, she didn't need to know this - but it was Miaomiao, Bai, the only mother of the entire studio, who liked to do some handicrafts on weekdays, who figured out all the tiny differences hidden in the pile of mud bricks.
After walking around the whole circle, Xu Da felt that he was about to fall asleep looking at the mud bricks. On the contrary, An Qing and Bai Miaomiao were very interested and enjoyed themselves as Gong Zhou introduced to them the differences between the purple clay teapots made from mud bricks of different colors.
——I don’t know where they get so much patience from.
"Okay, the preliminary steps of our purple clay pottery production are basically finished here." Gong Zhou, who finally took the girls on a full tour of his underground warehouse, clapped his hands, "Next, we should officially start the learning process of purple clay pot production!"
"Considering that you are all beginners and probably haven't made pottery before, I won't teach you how to make a pot today. I will make a simple and neat purple clay pot for you to demonstrate. When you get started, just start with the most common small teacup."
"Come on, let's go to the workshop!"
Gong Zhou told the girls about his follow-up arrangements like coaxing a child, and then he took the lead and strode out of the basement door.
The workshop seemed to have been cleaned up in advance. On the spacious and clean table, three portions of aged clay, one large and three small, were neatly placed.
After Gong Zhou put on his special apron sleeves again and sat down, he thought for a moment, then turned around and asked his assistant who was guarding outside the door to call all the apprentices and pot makers who had no work to do in the studio to come and watch.
It seems that a big shot who has reached Mr. Gong's status would not easily take action on weekdays. When everyone in the studio heard that their boss wanted to make the pot himself, they immediately rushed into the workshop and surrounded the table in a moment.
"Come on, Xiao Xu, the three of you should come closer. Don't stand too far away and you won't be able to see clearly. Everyone else should step back a little. Let's make some space for the guests. Okay, let's start making the pot."