Friday, 15 July 2011

Tiles

I've been making tiles for a couple of orders all week, pressed out in an old tile mold that I got from Wenford Bridge.

This new toy arrived today - here's Matt checking it out. He's making floor tiles from the clay in the field for some work he's doing in his house.

So Matt, Marky Mark and I have been digging clay from the riverbank. I've been processing it by hand - digging out the worst of the stones and twigs, which are surprisingly few and far between, then lots of kneading.

It looks like this when it's dug out

And this is what it looks like when it's sliced................
.....and then kneaded.

This weekend Matt's going to help get the blunger up and running. I have many tonnes of clay in a big pile in the field and the equipment that just needs installing. The blunger weighs over a tonne, so it's not all that straightforward, but Matt has a forklift which he's going to get running tomorrow, so if all goes to plan, I should be self sufficient in beautiful, plastic, musty, native clay, by the end of the summer. That will be amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!

Happy weekend all
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10 comments:

  1. Dennis Allen16 July 2011 at 00:06

    That will be amazing Doug.I recently did up a bunch of native terra cotta and made garden pots. Great fun.I know you like traditional methods. Maybe just a big tub and several small children could stomp the clay into submission.Have fun.

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  2. Hollis Engley16 July 2011 at 00:50

    I'd still like to find that kind of source around here on the Cape. Looks wonderful.

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  3. cookingwithgas16 July 2011 at 01:09

    deal me in on the tile making- you are going to love the ease but there is a tad of a learning curve.

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  4. Linda Starr16 July 2011 at 03:58

    What a pleasure it will be walking on your floor tiles, can't wait to see how that clay fires up.

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  5. Jude16 July 2011 at 07:58

    Luck you..hard work but amazing, as you already said!!
    Take care
    Jude

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  6. gz16 July 2011 at 08:10

    looks like good clay.
    It will be a joy to walk on tiles made locally from that.

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  7. jim16 July 2011 at 18:26

    hi doug,
    it's so cool to be able to get your clay that way... not that it's not a lot of work. they say kentucky is mostly clay but not sure where i could go digging in the city.

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  8. Hannah16 July 2011 at 19:22

    I'll be the bunch of kids stomping clay in a big bucket with pleasure!

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  9. ang design17 July 2011 at 00:10

    you really are in the right spot fitchy.....and new toys love em :))

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  10. doug Fitch17 July 2011 at 01:59

    I'm a lucky boy for sure, I can't wait to be using this clay for all my pots - it's so much more responsive than the stuff I have to buy in. I favor Dennis' processing technique and plan to employ Hannah to do the job

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