Siyutao's excellent authentic pure Yixing purple sand (zisha) clay & Gu Fa Lian Ni(古法炼泥) most ancient way to make the clay by hand

Siyutao (click to know more) has always emphasized the quality of raw Yixing clay minerals.

In 1885,We began to continuously collect unique Yixing raw mineral ore ,

and established our own Yixing clay workshop and raw Yixing clay minerals warehouse.

To this day, we have 23 large ore warehouses and 76 clay cellars.

Through studying the rich color variations produced from different proportions of Yixing clay from different ore mines.

We only use the purest and best raw ore of authentic Yixing purple sand (zisha), and only add water in the process of making clay, without adding any chemicals.

In this era of rapid industrialization, we still choose to keep the ancient craft of making clay by hand (Gu Fa Lian Ni 古法炼泥) for excellent quality.

Machine-made Yixing clay does not have a more breathable clay mass, and its surface grain structure is not as beautiful as hand-made clay. It is an accepted fact of the industry that handmade clay (GuFaLianNi 古法炼泥) is expensive and does not appear on the open market. The complexity of the clay-handmaking process and the high demand for the quality of clay ore and superb manual skills in Yixing have led most artists to opt for machine clay rather than handmade clay.

Below are some simple images of Siyutao’s hands-on process for making Yixing clay. The actual process is more complicated.

Natural light basks Yixing zisha raw ore

In three to four years,

water is often sprayed on the raw ore of Yixing purple sand (zisha).

For three months, smashing the ore by hand with hammers.

The ore gets smaller and smaller.

The small ore is pulverized by a hand mill.

Yixing purple sand ore is ground into powder by stone grinding.

add pure water only

Stir by hand

roll the clay into balls

The authentic Yixing clay is repeatedly hammered,

a process that lasts about three days.

We cut the authentic Yixing clay into large squares and put them in underground cellars for preservation.

This is the beginning of everything.

Siyutao's Yixing authentic purple sand (zisha) clay spends at least 15 years in underground cellars, where time improves the clay, a process known as  chenfu（陈腐）

Craftsmen need many complicated processes to make purple sand clay from purple sand ore. The most difficult process to make clay super good is chenfu（陈腐）.

The principle is similar to wine aging. The longer it is in the cellar, the better the clay becomes.

Siyutao is proud that from the 1880s days of the Qing dynasty, we had built ore warehouses, clay workshops and clay cellars. So far there are 23 large ore warehouses and 76 cellars.

Siyutao has even preserved a wealth of excellent-quality ore and precious Yixing clay that has been chenfu（陈腐） for 60 or 70 years.