From a Dingshu hand-molding bench
Michael Zhan met the maker in a narrow lane off the main Dingshu street in late 2024. The workshop is a single room with a small kick-wheel, shelves of curing clay, and a kang table where finished pets dry slowly. This frog belongs to a batch of twelve, each shaped by hand — the maker presses a small ball of dark zisha between thumb and forefinger, pinching out the legs and abdomen in one motion, then uses a bamboo spatula to define the eyes and mouth. No mold, no slip-casting. The clay is the same zisha used for Yixing teapots, sourced from a mine near Huanglongshan, but the firing is lower (about 900°C) to leave a slightly porous surface that drinks tea eagerly. Michael chose the darkest specimens for our shop — those that had been intentionally over-fired for a charcoal hue. The frog is a classic cháchǒng subject: ‘wā’ sounds like ‘wealth’ in Chinese, and a frog on the tray invites rain (and fortune). We keep the sourcing transparent: every frog arrives with a small card noting the maker’s stamp and the clay batch. Pair two on opposite corners of the tray — they’ll age together, developing slightly different patinas from the same tea.