Brickmaking

There is an area where (presumably) the soil/clay is good for making bricks, and there are a few dozen brickmaking enterprises in a row. As we came past, around 10am, few had started work yet, but we found one that had.

There are several stages to making bricks (once the raw materials are gathered): the bricks are formed; they are air dried, and then they are stacked into a kiln, and then baked for fifteen days.

Making the raw bricks

The clay is mixed with water to make a fairly wet mix, which is hand-plopped into the mould.

Once the mould is filled, the clay is smoothed, first by hand, then by a final wash of water.

The mould is carefully lifted off, and then rinsed. The cycle repeats.

Air-drying


The raw bricks are sun-dried until firm enough to move, then stacked to further air-dry.

Firing the bricks


The bricks are then stacked in a large shed, between two walls.

The roof is partly to keep the rain off, and partly to retain the heat.

The walls have apertures to allow the fire to be fed during the firing time.

Further up, fuel is interspersed between the stacked bricks. (This was a different brickworks, further up the road, photographed through the car window.)

The bricks sell for R3 each (around 6c), IIRC.