UK - Coalville - Handmaking bricks

Working in a dark corner of Desford Brickworks, the factory owned by Hanson Brick in Leicestershire, a labourer pats his clay aggregate into a clod (also known as a clot or warp) a lump of kneaded clay formed into a rough brick shape by hand in preparation for being thrown into the mould (or mold) and shaped once again with a stock. He will then skim off the surplus with the bow - a wire stretched between the ends of a curved wooden rod used for removing excess clay from the mould, which hangs on the wall by a nail. The stage afterwards is the firing in the kiln. Obviously the mechanisation of brick making endangers the careers of skilled craftsmen like this man.
Bricks may be made from clay, shale, soft slate, calcium silicate, concrete, or shaped from quarried stone but Clay is the most common material.

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Filename: brick_maker-04-11-1998_1.jpg
Copyright: Richard Baker
Image Size: 4096x2676 / 1.2MB; making brick bricks mould workshop sand clay male man traditional tradition maker make Desford Brickworks skilled skill technique Coalville construction shaping shape pressing hand crafted craftsman craft wood brickwork mold molder moulder molding moulding method old bygone era fashioned material build industry building by warp clot Clod kneading knead formed rough preparation bow Leicestershire handmade production hand-making process
Contained in galleries: Richard Baker - All pics

Working in a dark corner of Desford Brickworks, the factory owned by Hanson Brick in Leicestershire, a labourer pats his clay aggregate into a clod (also known as a clot or warp) a lump of kneaded clay formed into a rough brick shape by hand in preparation for being thrown into the mould (or mold) and shaped once again with a stock. He will then skim off the surplus with the bow - a wire stretched between the ends of a curved wooden rod used for removing excess clay from the mould, which hangs on the wall by a nail. The stage afterwards is the firing in the kiln. Obviously the mechanisation of brick making endangers the careers of skilled craftsmen like this man. <br />
Bricks may be made from clay, shale, soft slate, calcium silicate, concrete, or shaped from quarried stone but Clay is the most common material.