The day before Independence Day, we arrived in Colonial Williamsburg.
Wanting to check the progress of the clamp from the firing of bricks last weekend during Under the Redcoat, we journeyed first to the brickyard.
Now we watched the process of making bricks.
GUESTS PLAYING IN MUD
It begins by playing in the mud, more properly described as treading clay.
Behind the kneader (in front) is the kneader, and behind him is the treader.
Behind the treader in the above photo are guests washing their feet, because they got to tread clay in another section (as seen in the header photo.)
What seems like a mundane task is certainly enlivened with these interactions, to keep the interpreters from getting bored out of their gourd.
I can personally testify it feels a great foot massage, so call it a spa mud bath experience!
THE KNEADER OF BRICKS
Once the mud reaches perfection for brick making, some is set aside for the kneader on his work table.
From the treaded smoothed clay, the kneader scoops enough to shape into bricks.
On the other side of the worktable are samples of various colors of bricks, depending on how hot they got during the firing, which is dependent on where they were placed in the kiln.
During the discussion, the kneader shows us how he shapes the dough, reminiscent of shaping loaves of bread.
Once shaped, the kneader puts his clay loaf into a mold.
Then they are popped out and laid to dry in the summer sun.
Once dried, they are stored in the shed until ready for a firing in the clamp, a type of kiln.
CREATING THE CLAMP
Interestingly, the clamp is not a permanent structure, but a layering of bricks to fire bricks, which I find completely amazing.
I confess I’ve visited a few times years ago and called it good, but learning more about how the clamp is built and the firing process has amazed me.
As with the other 18th century trades, I’m impressed with ingenuity and simplicity that results in style and longevity…as opposed to modern methods.
The clamp is a stack of bricks, usually about 10 feet high, maybe about 10-12 feet deep and as big as it has to be across the width to stack up all the bricks. At the bottom of that you leave a series of tunnels where you’re going to put the fire underneath the bricks and you would normally have one fire tunnel for every three thousand or so bricks. –Jason Whitehead, brickmaker, Colonial Williamsburg, Past and Present Podcast, Brick by Brick, October 2011
If you have some bricks that have been previously fired, available, you can use those to build what’s called a casing, which is just sort of an outer shell you stack on the outside to help keep the heat in and then you would apply a layer of mud or clay over that just to kind of seal up the outside. If you don’t have any previously fired bricks available then you simply apply the mud or clay layer just right onto the unfired bricks and seal it up that way. –Jason Whitehead, brickmaker, Colonial Williamsburg, Past and Present Podcast, Brick by Brick, October 2011
See photos here at their FB post.
WE STOMPED THROUGH THE MUD
Four days later after my kids and I saw the latest firing of the bricks for the church bell tower at Jamestowne, the kiln was still cooling…
After the tour, we stomped through the mud ourselves, which on a hot, humid southern Virginia Tidewater afternoon is a great way to cool off.
