Lvni 绿泥

The introduction of Zisha teapots

Zisha (紫砂) is a kind of unique Chinese handmade clay, its production began in the Ming Dynasty Zhengde years, originates in Dingshu town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China. There are four big varieties, all of which differ in color, mineral content and interact differently with teas. Zisha clay is divided into Zini, Lvni, Hongni and Duanni.

Zisha teapot makes tea without fragrance, which can make the tea more mellow and will not affect the original taste of the tea because of the tea set.

Lvni is a silty mudstone, a large category named after the appearance of the mineral material, also known as "Benshan Lvni". "Benshan" actually refers to Huanglong Mountain in Dingshu town, and all the minerals produced in Huanglong Mountain can be called "Benshan" minerals.

The appearance and texture of Lvni minerals are generally pure and uniform, and contain a small amount of white mica fragments. After firing in a normal atmosphere, except for a small amount of particles change, Benshan Lvni basically presents the pure yellow or cyan tone.  Because the output of Lvni minerals is small, and large pieces of Lvni are not easy to be fired, Lvni is mostly used as a decoration on the surface of the teapot body, or used as a blend after combining with Zini and Hongni.

There are many types of Lvni minerals. According to the differences between mining areas and ore layers, lvni has a variety of different types.

I wrote that "The teapot that outside is decorated with lvni", this lvni I mean after firing, it becomes green. It is the mixture of zini, lvni,hongni,  and after firing, it's green.