"Isn't it tempting? This is the benefit of breaking through Level 4. I hope you can all break through Level 4. This is a watershed and a threshold. In principle, only Level 4 and above can generate benefits for the factory.
"Now let's talk about how we can make the factory profitable as soon as possible. You may not be able to reach the level four craftsmanship level in a short period of time, but if we work together, we should be able to produce level four works!"
"As I said just now, give full play to our respective strengths. What are your specialties? I don't have the patience to mix mud. What about the mud strips? What about the body apron? By the way, we are all professionals, so let's talk about something professional, the body apron.
The tube is actually a vertical connection process, and the pot bottom connection is a horizontal connection process. Is there anyone who is good at the tire butt connection process?"
"I-I'm good at picking up babies!"
"Hmm? Receive a tire? Let's be more comprehensive. This can easily lead to misunderstanding."
"Ha ha......"
The originally serious scene was livened up by Chen Xingchen.
Seeing Chen Xingchen like this, Chen Wenzhe was really impressed by him.
"Okay, there are people who are good at splicing tires. It should be said that the tire splicing process, whether it is horizontal or vertical splicing, seems to be very good at it. This is an important process that can be done best. Is there anyone who is good at one of these processes?
?”
"I'm best at making mud!" At this moment, Chen Qinghu raised his hand a little embarrassedly.
There was no way around it. When he first came to his hometown, Chen Wenzhe was the first to teach him how to knead mud. He practiced step by step from selecting mud, filtering mud, and kneading mud.
When he first started, these were the first things he made. After these were completed, he had the opportunity to learn how to make teapots from Chen Wenzhe.
In the past six months, he has been practicing pot making at home a lot, and the thing he does most is mixing clay.
Because he failed to make teapots, they were all kneaded into balls, kneaded again, and then made into teapots again.
After just tossing and turning like this, his mud kneading, or clay training level, was already considered adequate.
"Haha, there is another important process that is about to be passed. Is there anything else? Making mud strips is difficult? Cutting mud strips is also not easy. In fact, making the bottom and lid of the pot should be considered a relatively difficult process, right?"
"Brother, let me make the bottom of the pot! Cutting strips of clay and making the bottom of the pot are actually similar techniques. I have some experience in cutting."
"I'm going to make the pot handle. This is the simplest form of shaping, and I also have some experience."
"Then I'll make the spout! My carving skills are pretty good."
"And what about the lid? It's just an extra knob, what's the problem?"
"Brother, this is not easy, why don't you do it? It involves tire joining, shaping, cutting, gluing and other processes!"
"Okay, you guys, even if you want to be lazy, do you want me to complete the final trimming and shaping of the pot body?"
"No, Senior Brother Chen, I feel that my tire splicing skills are pretty good. I can help with the final bonding, and the initial shaping is fine. Is it just you or the boss who can do the final trimming?"
"Will you also use my army? Let's do something to test the waters first, and let the boss take a look at our craftsmanship to see if it meets Yi Niantang's sales standards!"
Just do what you say, Chen Xingchen has always been a man of action, especially his ability to execute is very strong.
You know, in Professor Tao's studio, he was responsible for all the logistics and so on.
I started making purple clay pots again, this time it was much more orderly.
From the beginning of clay training, the speed was very fast.
Working in a group is not like working alone.
Even if others don’t have much confidence in clay training, they can still do it.
So with the help of some classmates, Chen Qinghu was able to make clay very quickly.
Purple clay also has good and bad qualities, and even true and false.
The most fundamental factor in the quality of purple sand mud depends on the quality of the mineral source.
Secondly, processing, formula, and refining are also very important factors.
Thinking more carefully, the craftsmanship of the work, construction skills and firing conditions will also affect the final performance of the material.
Regarding the mineral source and the general process of preparation, Chen Wenzhe had taught Chen Qinghu a long time ago, and Chen Qinghu was very confident about this.
Chen Wenzhe is so powerful, he has seen so much.
As for Chen Qinghu's current clay selection and clay training level, he can actually use the simplest and most practical method to analyze and judge - comparison.
As the saying goes, "If you are not afraid of not knowing the goods, you are afraid of comparing goods."
If you want to know the level of quality, you can compare several similar works in terms of the naturalness of color, richness of particles, softness of texture, density of structure, etc.
Compare before and after, the effect is clear at a glance.
Of course, everyone here is considered a professional. You can tell whether the clay is good or not by just kneading it with your hands.
In short, the most fundamental key to distinguishing authenticity and quality lies in the connotation and mechanism of its appreciable range.
These have to be made into pots before they can be seen.
In fact, even if the batch they made previously had not been fired yet, Chen Wenzhe could still feel the quality of the purple clay.
He knew that this was probably not pure purple clay. It could also be said to be fake purple clay. However, purple clay of this quality was already very good.
Because from the perspective of mineralogy structure, purple clay, like many other clays, mainly contains silicon, aluminum, titanium, iron and some salt substances with different particles. There are only some differences in the combination ratio and particle composition.
Therefore, as long as the ratio of clay and mineral particles is appropriate and the plasticity is roughly within the range that can be made, cups, pots, basins, cans and other utensils can be made using traditional purple clay technology.
Therefore, there are many purple sand products on the market, and the soil used is made from local mineral materials outside Huanglong Mountain.
Of course, its quality is difficult to meet the quality indicators of Benshan Mine, but there are also some muds that are relatively close in quality, which may be difficult for people without in-depth professional understanding to identify.
But since the mineral indicators are all similar raw materials, how can there be an absolute standard for authenticity and fakeness?
The counterfeiting of anything is due to excessive market demand and the expansion of the profit-seeking appetite of some businessmen.
At the bottom of Huanglong Mountain in Dingshan Mountain, surveys in the 1970s revealed that the total mud content was about 2 million tons.
And there are many sandwich materials that cannot be used to make teapots.
The trend that started in Taiwan lasted for nearly ten years during the first spring of purple sand (the 1980s), and there was still an abundant supply.
Today, the demand in the mainland market has far exceeded that of the past.
Based on the current demand for mud in the entire purple clay pottery production area, teapots alone consume about thirty tons per day.
The amount of mud used for cups, basins, cans and miscellaneous items is even greater!