Saturday, August 06, 2016

The Brickmakers of San Nicolas

On our way to the weavers, our Laoag friends took us to the heritage town of San Nicolas. The area is known for its highly plastic Bantog clay, which is transformed into Banga clay pots, tiles, well braces, and bricks. A special type of molding, known locally as Damili, is utilized. This woman made one brick at a time, pounding the clay with a wooden paddle and then scraping off excess clay around a clamped metal mold.  

I like the interplay of light, shadow, and pattern made on these drying bricks.

All packaged up and ready to go!

We also watched a woman prepare some of the clay for pottery. Using just her hands, she mixed the raw clay with the sandy mixture, wedging and kneading it together on the small wooden board.


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