Life in Zobue: Making Bricks

For the past couple of weeks a main project in Zobue has been brick making.  Apparently it’s brick making season.  The process is quite extensive.  Luckily, all the materials are readily available.  Here’s a quick how to for brick making.  Most of the information in this tutorial was gathered by simple observation, so I apologize if there are some factual errors, but I think I have it about right.

1.       Find a spot of bare dirt that can serve as a good source for bricks.  Most of the time this can be found directly in your backyard. 

2.  Start to dig up the dirt to loosen the soil.  Dig about 4 feet deep.

3.   Add water to make a mud pit. 

4.   Mix the mud until it is a good consistency.

5.    Use a brick mold to form the bricks.

6. Make a lot of bricks.

 7.       Lay the wet bricks out in the sun to dry.

8.       Once dry, make a huge pile of bricks with slots in the bottom to build fires and bake the bricks.

Sometimes, the baking never actually happens and the bricks slowly return back to the earth...

9.       Unload the bricks and carry them to your desired building location.

10.       You’re ready to build your house! You don't even need cement, you can just use more mud as these men are doing.