Chapter 138 Obsolescence
The warehouse used to pile mud was built underground by Gong Zhou.
When Xu Yichi and others followed Gong Zhou into the door, they happened to catch up with the workers carrying a batch of newly made mud inside, which was either red, green or gray and purple (purple clay mainly has three colors: purple, green and red) In addition to these three colors, there are also yellow, white, black and other colors, and dozens of colors can be burned. Pots with different colors and textures will not be discussed one by one here. If you are interested, check it out.) The raw mud was divided into soft bricks that were more than a foot long, four inches wide, and about two inches high. Put them all into a large plastic box, and cover the top with a thick canvas for moisturizing.
The little girl looked at the mud blocks that almost filled the entire basement and couldn't help but gasped: "Good guy, 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 made raw clay, and said it was a matter of course, "After all, the raw clay cannot be used immediately after it is made, so it should be put here for a while. It’s been a year and a half!”
"Under the rigid premise that the stale time cannot be shortened, of course we have to stock up as much mud as possible in advance on weekdays - otherwise, we would really wait for a large number of orders to hit our heads before we think of it. It’s too late to buy mud everywhere!”
"That's right, people have to wait for the clay, but the orders don't wait for people." Xu Dachuang said thoughtfully, "Then, the longer the staleness of our clay, the better? It's too stale. , will it be broken?”
“In addition, if it is broken, will you I stocked up too much mud before and it’s almost gone. What should I do if it’s almost gone? , Of course it can’t be stale as long as it lasts,” Gong Zhou put the mud bricks away. Calm and calm, "Generally speaking, the specific aging time is comprehensively determined based on the composition of the mud, production requirements and aging methods. If the aging time is too long, it will cause excessive precipitation of humus in the purple clay mud, which will adversely affect the finished purple clay pot. quality.”
"This kind of overly stale purple clay cannot be used directly to make pots - it has to be beaten back into raw clay and re-refined."
"Then there is the question of the stale method... you are like For those of us who refine the raw mud first and then wrap it in plastic cloth to keep it moist, the aging time may be slightly longer, but the mud The time it can be stored will also be longer accordingly, and it will not be 'broken' easily."
Gong Zhou blinked: "Except for this old-fashioned method of wrapping it with plastic sheets. ...They also put the mud in a large pottery jar, fill it directly with water, immerse it, stir it regularly and make it old - this is a pure imitation of traditional It is said that "the craftsmen used the hand-washing mud that settled at the bottom of the vat after the old monks from 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 too much water or too little water will not work. , you have to mix it, and the stale mud must be made in time, otherwise it won’t last too long.”
“As for the little ones. What Comrade Xu was worried about just now, what to do if he has too much mud to use, is easier to say.”
“First of all, our studio is quite famous in the industry. Come to the studio to order on weekdays. There are a lot of people in the pot, and we can always receive three or two larger orders every year.”
"However, if the order is too large, it is impossible to require all the pots to be made by famous artists and take the high-end boutique route - our affordable purple clay pottery has the specifications, standards and specific methods of affordable purple clay pottery - these orders will be consumed every year We will get rid of 70 to 80% of our mud reserves, and the remaining small batches of mud can be put on the shelves for sale at our discretion. Those that cannot be sold will be given to others. Schools of related majors can be used for students to practice, or they can simply be re-refined and made into raw mud bricks."
"So, Xiao Xu, you don't have to worry about the mud being left behind. It's a waste." Gong Zhou looked relaxed, "It can't be wasted."
"That's it." Xu Yichi nodded subconsciously. In fact, her head was a little dizzy from Gong Zhou's long words, but this did not affect her from following him.
“Okay, if there are no other questions, I will take you to see the difference between the mud we have aged for half a year, one year, three years and five years. La!" Gong Zhou waved, and after that, he took the girls and walked deeper into the warehouse.
In the basement where the mud was piled, the air carried a lingering damp smell. Xu Yichi followed Gong Zhou and looked left and right. Even until the end, he couldn't tell the difference between the green mud that had been stale for a year and the stale Apart from the color, what is the difference between the three-year-old red mud?
Fortunately, as the only producer of Youyou, she doesn’t need to understand this - but Bai, the only mother in the whole studio, who likes to do some small crafts on weekdays, Miaomiaopin came out of the pile of mud. All the little differences hidden in the bricks.
After walking around for a while, Xu Dazhuang felt that he was about to fall asleep looking at the mud bricks. On the contrary, An Qing and Bai Miaomiao listened to Gong Zhou introducing them to different colors of mud bricks. Hearing about the differences in purple clay pots made from bricks, I was very interested and delighted.
——I don’t know where they got such patience.
"Okay, the pre-steps for making our purple clay pottery are basically over here." Gong Zhou, who finally took the girls for a full tour of his underground warehouse, clapped his hands. "Next we should officially enter the learning process of making purple clay pots!"
"Considering that you children are all novices and have probably never made pottery, I won't teach you how to make a basic pot today - I will make a simple and elegant purple clay pot for you later. Let me set an example and wait for you to start using it yourself. , just make it from the most ordinary small tea cup.”
“Let’s go to the workshop!”
Gong Zhou told the girls about his follow-up arrangements like a child. , after speaking, he took the lead and strode out of the basement door.
The workroom seemed to have been specially cleaned up in advance. On the spacious and clean countertop, there were one large, three small, and three portions of aged mud.
Gong Zhou put on the special apron sleeves again and sat down, thinking for a moment, then turned around and asked his assistant who was guarding the door to take care of the apprentices and pot makers who had no work at this point in the studio. They all called over to watch.
A big boss like Mr. Gong would usually not take action easily. As soon as everyone in the studio heard that their boss wanted to make the pot by himself, they immediately got into the workroom with a huff and aah, and immediately put the pot in his hands. The table was crowded.
"Come on, come on, Xiao Xu, the three of you, please stay close. Don't stand too far away to see clearly. The others will step back a little. Let's leave some space for the guests. Okay, let's start making pots. Here——"