First i am very sorry that it has been sooo very long, Whatever may have been the reasons or excuses, i apologize but i should be back to a regular schedule now.
enough of that. YIXING!!!!! was absolutely fantastic, it was soooo good I will only attempt to describe it. We left 10 days ago, which was wednesday despite what ended up being a 10 hour bus ride that was pretty cramped we all arrived in one piece, it was good, we got there, checked into bed and eventually went to bed.
Thursday: We got going and we had to wait for this man to meet us who was going to show us around the town for morning/afternoon. While waiting we went into a man's teapot shop/gallery, it really is both for these artists. He had some absolutely gorgeous teapot, one stuck out and i asked to see it, he showed it to me and what i found, to me anyway, was one of the most completely complete pieces of art/pottery/ceramics/or object that i have ever seen. Everything was looked at, it was a product of total design, it was absolutely beautiful but of course it had won an award and wanted a piece that was nowhere near a price that anyone i know could afford. That one piece has already started to influence me. That morning the man arrived and showed us one of his boss's personal warehouse's, which was huge, then we saw this ceramic expo, and then went to this ancient dragon kiln which was extremely large, guessing 200 feet long and more than 600 years old and still firing (they were loading it while we were there). RIDICULOUS!! Afterwards we had lunch at maybe the nicest restaurant i have ever been to. Then we went to this Yixing museum which was super great seen soo many wonderful teapots i don't even want to tell you. That afternoon we visited this gallery/shop area where a bunch of people all have shops making and selling teapots. This was the start of the 10's and maybe 100's of thousands of teapots i seen over the course of the next few days. It was a really good day.
Friday: We went another area where there were all of these teapot maker, and their apprentices, making teapot, workshops and galleries, seen a ton more fantastic teapots it was great. We got to see some people making teapots which was really cool. I believe what this place was called is the Number 1 factory but i could be mistaken. The whole area was a total dedication to the tea and the teapot, you could be tea, teapots, tea trays, teapot making tools, anything.That afternoon we went to another market area, with all kinds of shops and what not, this is where my teapot buying frenzy started. That night a bunch of people got Pizza Hut, I went and got some delicious chinese food, and afterwards we found this crazy coffee shop.
Saturday: We got to check out more teapots, it was still really cool, enjoyed every minute of it, and i am still to this day not sick of teapots. What i did notice besides learning to speak to language and try and bargain, because that is what you do, besides learning so much about a good teapot, was that i had seen all of these teapots and i could walk into a room with 1000 teapots and find a dozen or less that i liked, all of this usually within 5 minutes or less. That i found was really interesting to see.
Sunday: Home, we went to pick up some Yixing clay, to be able to make some teapots, and headed home. It was a great trip, trying to decipher what i learned will take time but i am excited about the possibilities.
Things i learned: Watching James Bond movies for the 18 or so hours we were on the bus "MAY" be excessive. Patient is a virtue that i soon hope to be able to add to my work. And Tea will be coming with me to Richmond MN, Grand Forks ND, and wherever else i may end up in the future.
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