Crafting teapots is a point of pride in Yixing. Creating a single pot requires at least a dozen tools, with some craftsmen employing more than 100. The process and technique varies from pot to pot, making each a unique work of art.There are numerous steps to transforming purple clay into a high-quality teapot. The time needed to create each pot depends on the craftsman's habits and what kind of pot is being made.

Most pots can be made in three to seven days, but master potters can either make simple pots much faster or will pour many more hours into their creations. Watch as this potter uses a few simple, but precise steps to create a round teapot: First, the craftsman pounds the purple clay into strips. The clay must be kept at a specific moisture level while it is being shaped. It is pressed into a rectangle and the thickness must be uniform at about three millimeters. Bigger teapots can be thicker, and smaller teapots should be thinner.