Chapter 35 Chapter 35 Two days passed, and soon it was...
Two days passed, and soon it was the opening day on the 25th day of the first lunar month.
After two days of preparation, the Jiang's shop was spotlessly clean inside and out. The shabby little shop, which had been covered in dust and cobwebs just a few days ago, now looked brand new, with neatly arranged shelves filled with a wide variety of celadon.
From the original blank porcelain bowls, to the porcelain bowls with the word "Fu" and flower wine bowls, and later celadon wine jugs, plates, jars, flower pots... the styles are complete, covering almost all the celadon wares currently on the market.
A three-foot square display window was set up at the main entrance. On the wooden board at the bottom of the window was a blank celadon wine pot and a three-color glaze of purple, green and blue mixed according to the memories of the previous life.
At the opening ceremony, Jiang Wan planned to showcase three-color celadon. Purple, green, and blue are the basic colors of colored porcelain, and glazing with these three colors is the foundation of colored porcelain. While other colors can be glazed, the firing temperature requires more precise control. She had just acquired a furnace and needed more practice.
After trying for a few days, she has mastered the basic colors quite well, so it should be safer to use them without making mistakes.
As the first rays of morning sun fell on the main street, more and more people were gathering in front of the Jiang's shop. This was partly due to Jiang Wan's good reputation, and partly due to their early publicity, which attracted a lot of interest from passersby.
The shop sign was covered with red cloth, the door handle was tied with red silk, and various flowers were placed on both sides, the vibrant colors making it look particularly festive. Wang Da and Wang Er looked at each other and rubbed their hands together in excitement and anticipation.
As Chen Xi struck the gong, Wang Da and Wang Er removed the red silk hanging from the door and opened it. Jiang Wan walked out of the shop. She had specially changed into a pale yellow skirt and a white jade hairpin in her hair.
"Dear customers, today is our store's grand opening," Jiang Wan said with a smile. "To thank you all for your continued support and trust in us, all our merchandise is half-off today. For one day only."
Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. After a moment, Jiang Wan smiled and raised his right hand, motioning for silence. Then he continued:
"Many of our customers are not familiar with our porcelain. Also, we have a number of new products arriving in our store today, so please wait a moment while I introduce these to you."
While leading passers-by in the front row into the store for a tour, she introduced the displays on the merchandise cabinets in detail. Her voice was sweet and pleasant. She introduced the production process, aesthetic characteristics, scope of application, quality, price... of each porcelain one by one, and occasionally inserted a few popular science sentences about porcelain culture. She spoke in a leisurely manner. Although she was very detailed, she did not give people a feeling of boredom.
As more and more people came into the shop, the noise gradually died down. All the customers were captivated by Jiang Wan's explanation and listened intently.
After Jiang Wan finished introducing the porcelain in the merchandise cabinet, he walked to the window.
"Please look, this is our shop window. We showcase the porcelain production process here, making it transparent. This reassures customers and welcomes feedback from colleagues." She stroked the celadon wine jug with one hand and smiled. "Today, I'm demonstrating the glazing techniques for porcelain. Our improved blue glaze has been very popular with customers, so we've stepped up our research and developed methods for applying purple and green glazes. Please take a look."
As soon as these words were spoken, the previously quiet room suddenly became noisy. Not only were passersby curious about the purple and green glazes they had never seen before, but many porcelain connoisseurs, craftsmen, and vendors in the crowd were also very excited.
Conventional wisdom suggests that artisans who possess useful skills and innovative methods consider them their own secrets, unique skills that can only be used to generate revenue. However, only a few contemporary masters, renowned throughout the country, dare to share their methods with the public, even displaying them in their shops, like Jiang Wan.
They were willing to pass on their unique skills because they no longer cared about money. What they wanted was either to promote the development of the entire porcelain industry or to gain a greater reputation.
While Jiang Wan's move was certainly welcomed by customers, many of his colleagues had mixed feelings. On the one hand, they looked forward to more opportunities to learn new technologies, but on the other hand, they didn't want Jiang Wan's window display to attract more customers and affect their own business.
The spectators all had their own ideas, but Jiang Wan didn't think too much about it. He simply picked up the celadon wine pot and placed it on the glaze blowing turntable.
Many fellow craftsmen murmured, "What is this turntable for?"
"I don't know. Could it be that the glaze is placed in the turntable?"
"How is that possible? Don't you see the glaze on that table?"
Jiang Wan listened but didn't respond. Instead, he carefully picked up a hollow wooden tube and poured the blue glaze into it. When it was one-third full, he placed the tube close to the wine jug, slowly turning the dial with one hand while holding the tube with the other, blowing gently from the top.
The blue glaze flows out from the bottom of the wooden tube, is controlled by the tube mouth into a uniform thin line, and falls on the wine pot.
"What is she doing with a wooden pipe?" some spectators whispered.
This is a method Jiang Wan later refined, using the mouth to blow directly. This requires extremely high control of the airflow and glaze flow rate. The blue glaze character "Fu" is a basic pattern that can be blown directly, but more complex patterns are not possible. With this wooden tube, the glaze can be better controlled, allowing for easy switching between different glaze colors.
As the turntable slowly turned, Jiang Wan twisted his wrist, which was holding the wooden instrument, flexibly, and soon drew a few small blue flowers.
"Good!" A burst of cheers rang in Jiang Wan's ears.
After three rotations, Jiang Wan stopped the turntable, picked up the wooden tube, and handed it to Wang Da, signaling him to clean it. Then, she replaced it with a thinner wooden tube and injected purple glaze into it.
Different colored glazes have different thicknesses on celadon and require different firing temperatures. To ensure the successful simultaneous firing of all three glazes, their thicknesses must be carefully controlled. To find the optimal thickness combination, Jiang Wan conducted numerous experiments, ultimately producing three different wooden tubes specifically designed for each glaze.
After a cup of tea, purple flowers appear on the wall of the bottle, and they complement the blue flowers, which is quite interesting.
Then she followed suit, painting the green stems and leaves, adding a touch of life to the design. Wang Da and Wang Er watched in amazement.
They already knew that the master was amazing, but they didn't expect that such an amazing master was also constantly improving his skills. The glazing technique was even more skillful and detailed than a few days ago.
The master often said that the more outstanding a person is, the harder he works. This sentence is the most appropriate to describe her.
They also need to learn from their master, not only skills, but also some concepts and thinking.
While the Wang brothers were expressing their feelings, the onlookers cheered endlessly. Most of them were seeing porcelain production for the first time, and they saw Jiang Wan's exquisite technique, her novel and magical methods, and her graceful and agile movements, like a fairy stepping out of a painting.
Some fellow craftsmen marveled at the sight, yet also shuddered. Celadon, having appeared only a century after the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, was not yet fully developed, and its appearance and strength were flawed. Yet, even so, celadon was still considered a source of pride in society. In many wealthy families, the number of celadon pieces in their homes was even used as a bargaining chip to compete for wealth.
For example, two years ago, when Concubine De was in great favor, her family home was filled with celadon, even chamber pots were made of celadon, and she was the most wealthy man in Beijing. But when she passed away, her family became deserted, so they had to sell the celadon, and the silver they got in return was said to be hundreds of thousands of taels.
Over time, celadon gradually became a symbol of wealth and social status, and its price soared. Even an average family's annual income might not be enough to buy a decent piece of celadon. But Jiang Wan truly achieved this, making celadon affordable and accessible to ordinary people.
Located on the northwest frontier, Xiaofangpan City was plagued by constant war, further devastating the economy. There were only four shops in the entire city selling celadon. Excluding the now-bankrupt Qian family shop, only three remained, and all of them specialized in ceramics, with celadon as a secondary business. Yet, Jiang Wan was able to sell a large quantity of celadon in this small town in just one month.
Many professionals who attended the opening ceremony had just heard of her fame and were eager to see what had driven her meteoric rise to fame. Before the ceremony, some colleagues were skeptical, wondering how Jiang Wan, a young woman born into slavery, could surpass their decades of experience in a single month setting up a stall. Now, after witnessing her skilled craftsmanship and innovative techniques, they were convinced.
Such a person will sooner or later become a famous craftsman.
The finished colored porcelain that Jiang Wan personally displayed fetched ten taels of silver at auction and was purchased by a porcelain dealer from Lin County. Xiaofangpan City was remote, and if this colored porcelain could be sold in Dunhuang Prefecture, the price would likely be several times higher.
The opening ceremony was even more lively than Jiang Wan had anticipated. They worked until the evening, clearing out all the porcelain in the merchandise cabinets and even the warehouse's stock. A rough calculation showed that they had sold over a thousand pieces today, and including the colored porcelain, their revenue had reached 120 taels of silver.
"Master, our porcelain is already in short supply, why not raise the price?" Wang Da asked.
Jiang Wan raised her hand and tapped his head. "I just taught you a few days ago that you need to take a long-term view. Have you forgotten? Raising prices may increase revenue in the short term, but in the long run it will lead to a loss of the average customer base, which goes against the original intention of making affordable porcelain. We merchants need to be flexible, but our brand strategy must be consistent to create a unique and win reputation."
Wang Da nodded, half understanding. He didn't have the experiences of Jiang Wan's past life, so he couldn't fully grasp what she was saying. But Jiang Wan wasn't in a rush. She didn't expect her young apprentice to suddenly realize things through a few words of sermon. She knew she could hone her skills through practice, slowly guiding and nurturing him. Wang Da was young, but steady, and talented; he would surely understand in time.
But he was right. The Jiang family's porcelain was already in short supply. Since they couldn't raise prices, they should think about how to increase production.
After replacing the furnace, firing efficiency had indeed improved significantly. One furnace could produce 100 small porcelain pieces or 50 medium-sized porcelain pieces, each ready in half an hour. After buying the shop, she hired ten more permanent workers, adding to the seven she had hired previously, for a total of 17 employees, resulting in a daily output of around 800 pieces.
If we calculate based on today's sales, plus the custom porcelain that Zi Yan sent, their production speed won't be able to keep up with sales. Furthermore, with more and more workers being hired, the Jiang family courtyard is becoming increasingly crowded. For the past two days, Jiang's mother has often been awakened from her nap by the sounds of porcelain being made.
After redeeming my mother and brother, I should start building a dedicated porcelain production site. I should also build some houses to provide temporary housing for those long-term workers whose families live far away.
Jiang Wan was tidying up the shop while she thought about it. Chen Xi sat beside her, account book in hand, checking the day's revenue one by one. From time to time, she could hear the soft tinkling sound of Wang Da and Wang Er sorting the porcelain in the warehouse.
Before we knew it, dusk was falling and the setting sun had touched the horizon.
The cold north wind carried a cold female voice: "I'm afraid there are still some issues with the colored porcelain that Miss Jiang is showing today."
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