I decided to get something a little personal from  strawberryneko As I felt I didn't have enough personal pieces.

This is Zia cleaning a special kind of clay teapot called an "Yixing" teapot that absorbs tea oils very well. it's part of the gongfu cha "ceremony" I've been practicing for years now.

Zia is in a teal tangzhuang that might be worn by a tea master in a more formal setting.

This idea was inspired by a thought I had, that these clay teapots re a lot like my own life experiences. We both take in and change with life experiences, largely inflicted by others. They absorb the good, clean, fresh water, the hard minerally water . . good leaf, okay leaf . . excellent leaf. Experiencing my failures and successes as a tea enthusiast. And it's a bit like the human experience to me . . how it turns out depends on someone elses failures and successes . . it could turn a bright, shiny patina , stay muddled brown, make the tea taste great or just OK based on my own past experiences and "Inflictions" upon it. I thought it was nice to muse about. We both have changed since 2012 when I got it. It's become shinier, darker, like I want it to be, but not perfect, And neither am I, so we've both got a goal tea reach still yet.

Anyway, hope you like. Art is again by  strawberryneko