Recently, friends have been asking me: Can a damaged Yixing clay Teapot or a broken Yixing Tea Cup be ground into powder and reused as clay to make new items? This question has puzzled many teapot enthusiasts! To give an analogy: If rice is cooked into porridge, can you dry it, grind it into powder, and cook it back into porridge?

Defective Yixing clay teapot that has been discarded

Stone can be ground into sand but needs cement to bind it for use. When a damaged teapot is ground, what comes out is neither clay nor sand with adhesive properties. What can be used to bind it? The molecular structure changes after firing, and during the firing process, there are oxidation-reduction reactions and physical and chemical changes, resulting in a fundamental transformation of the clay.

A Yixing clay teapot that has been fired and taken out of the kiln

Below is the full process of making Yixing clay, which will help clarify things.

Selecting the clay and cleaning the clay blocks

Removing impurities from the clay blocks

Grinding the weathered fine clay blocks and sieving them

Soaking the clay in water

The ground clay is soaked in water for over half a year

Mixing the clay regularly

Scooping out the clay

Hammering the clay with a wooden mallet

Covering and aging the prepared clay for future use

Please contact us if there is any infringement, and we will remove it.