How to build homemade miniature bricks with DAS clay (Construction #2)

Let’s get into the thick of the work by making the bricks, an element that will accompany us throughout the project, albeit with variations in materials and fabrication techniques. The photos on these pages refer to different “bakes,” but they form an ideal sequence. The tools used are very simple. In addition to DAS clay as the raw material I use a square, a cutter, a spatula, a piece of parquet floor with two thin side rails, a wooden rolling pin (made from the pole of an old umbrella), a spray bottle full of water, sandpaper and a metal file.

After applying “slices” of clay about 1cm thick to the board, I spread them out with my fingers until all the space between the rails is filled. At this point, I run the rolling pin over them, moistened appropriately to prevent the DAS from sticking.

The next operation is the cutting of the bricks, which I do with the help of a spatula, making horizontal cuts 5 millimeters apart. The movement of the spatula is exclusively from top to bottom to reduce the risk of deformation during cutting. After having made the horizontal lines, I continue with the vertical ones, keeping a distance of 8/10 mm. 

Before drying, I press lightly on the surface to limit the roundness left by the edge of the spatula. 

After a few hours, the material has hardened and I can easily sand the surface. I go over the grooves between the bricks with the spatula, as they’re still partially bonded together, and then I continue to separate them. 

At this stage I try to separate them into strips of at least 4 pieces each, as shown in Figure 2.12. This is because they still need to be finished with the file before they’re ready, and since there are more than 1,300 of them on a board like this, being able to work them in groups of 4 instead of individually makes some difference in terms of time.

The resulting bricks are not all the same, some are shorter, others thicker... but DAS is an easy material to work with, even when dry, and if necessary the pieces can be modified before use: filed, cut in half, 45º, etc. This feature will be very useful when building walls and vaults, where not all the bricks have to be the same shape and must be adjusted according to their placement. This is not very different from what is done when composing a mosaic.

Now that I have my first bricks, I can’t wait to start using them. But first there’s one more thing I have to do...

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