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THE conversion of clay into
articles of domestic use is one of the most ancient of arts, and the
potter's wheel is the first mechanical contrivance mentioned in history. The
Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the Etruscans carried the art to a wonderful
degree of perfection. The Etruscans produced many graceful forms; and though
for a long time the dull red of the clay, and a black pigment, were the only
colours employed by the potter, some of the designs on vases, &c., were
brought out with admirable skill. The figures were subsequently scratched in
outline on the surface, and then painted— those of men in a sort of
flesh-colour, and those of women in cream- colour. From this stage the art
was carried to its highest point of excellence in form by the Greeks. The
finest Grecian vessels were made of a red-coloured clay which was glazed
black, the figures of the design being left clear in the natural colour of
the clay. Large numbers of those ancient vases have been found, and
specimens may be seen in every collection of any pretensions. The Romans
appear to have endeavoured to give strength and durability rather than
graceful forms to their earthenware. They improved the quality and processes
of manufacture, and made the art universal. When they had established
themselves in Britain, they set up many potteries, traces of which exist in
various parts of the country. In Maitland's "History of Edinburgh" mention
is made of the remains of a Roman pottery having been found at Cramond about
the middle of last century. At Peterborough and on the banks of the Medway
debris of Roman earthenware and kilns extends over many miles. These are not
the earliest indications of the existence of the art in this country,
however, for in the "barrows" or dwellings of the ancient Britons urns and
fragments of earthenware, evidently of native manufacture, have been found.
When the Roman Empire fell art went to decay. The Arabs and Moors had,
however, acquired some knowledge of pottery, and preserved it from
extinction during several centuries; and it was from them that the Italians
learned how to make the majolica ware for which they became famous. Towards
the middle of the sixteenth century majolica reached its highest point of
perfection, and then gradually declined until the art of making it was lost.
When the Portuguese merchantmen penetrated into the far Eastern seas, and
returned laden with the riches of China and Japan, they brought specimens of
porcelain which, by their beauty, attracted much attention in Europe, and
purchasers and imitators were not wanting. The potters of Italy, Germany,
and France tried to find out how the Chinese porcelain was made. New
interest was awakened in the art, and some most encouraging results were
attained. In France, Bernard Palissy, in the course of his experiments,
which were conducted with extraordinary perseverance, discovered a new kind
of porcelain; and subsequently Biittcher, of Magdeburg, succeeded in
producing wares similar to those of China. The royal porcelain manufactories
of Sevres and Dresden were established about that time, and a great impetus
was given to the manufacture of all kind of earthenware.
In Britain the only
earthenware articles made up till the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries—when the potteries of Tambeth, Burslem, and Liverpool devoted some
attention to the production of ornamental wares—were of a coarse kind. But
it may be said that not until Josiah Wedgwood came upon the scene, about a
hundred years ago, did the British potters produce any noteworthy examples
of ceramic art. Wedgwood's success arose from no accidental causes. He was a
chemist and a mechanician, and he added to his great practical knowledge of
his trade indomitable perseverance. The delicacy, beauty, and taste
displayed in the works which Wedgwood produced in conjunction with Flaxman,
the famous sculptor, attained for them a world-wide celebrity, and they are
still eagerly sought after by art collectors. Up till Wedgwood's time the
people of this country derived their chief supply of ordinary domestic ware
from Holland, and of the superior kinds from Germany and France. That order
of things has been reversed, and home-made earthenware and porcelain are now
used almost exclusively, while the people of all parts of the world draw a
large proportion of their supply from the British potteries. A French
traveller thus refers to the widespread use of English ware:—"Its excellent
workmanship, its solidity, the advantage which it possesses of sustaining
the action of fire, its fine glaze—impenetrable to acids—the beauty and
convenience of its form, and the cheapness of its price, have given rise to
a commerce so active and so universal that, in travelling from Paris to
Petersburg, from Amsterdam to the furthest part of Sweden, and from Dunkirk
to the extremity of the south of France, one is served at every inn upon
English ware. Spain, Portugal, and Italy are supplied with it and vessels
are loaded with it for the East Indies, the West Indies, and the continent
of America."
The value of earthenware and
porcelain exported is steadily in-creasing:—In 1834 it amounted, from all
the British ports, to L.493,382; in 1864 to L.1,422,014; and in 1867 to
L.1,635,216. From Scotch ports about L.117,547 worth was sent out in 1867;
but as a considerable quantity is carried into England by land, and thence
exported, the above sum does not cover the actual value of the goods of
Scotch make which annually find their way into the foreign markets.
The first pottery in Scotland
was established at the Broomielaw, Glasgow, in 1748; but for a long time
only the lowest qualities of goods were made. There are now fourteen
potteries in Scotland, which give employment to upwards of 5000 persons. The
most extensive is the Glasgow Pottery, belonging to Messrs J. & M. P. Bell &
Co. This establishment covers upwards of three acres of ground, and gives
employment to 800 persons, whose wages amount to upwards of L.20,000 a-year.
The head of the firm has devoted much attention to the higher departments of
the art, and has produced some excellent work. Technical difficulties of the
most formidable kind have been overcome; and in the show-room of the
establishment there is a display of ceramic art of which the makers may well
be proud. Both in articles of use and of ornament, Messrs Bell have produced
elegance of form and beauty of colouring that might be put in competition
with the best work of English makers in the same class. In porcelain table,
tea, and toilet ware, and in some ornamental branches of their art, such as
the making of Etruscan vases, they have been very successful, and among
their chief triumphs are admirably executed copies of the Portland vase.
The Glasgow Pottery is
peculiarly interesting, as in it almost every variety of work may be seen
going on. The raw materials, which are three in number, are deposited in a
series of enclosures, separated by low walls, and occupying a great part of
an extensive courtyard. In one enclosure is a pile of light-coloured stone
of a coarse crystallised grain—that is "China-stone," a species of soft
granite obtained in Cornwall, and composed of quartz and felspar, with
little or no mica. The stone, when fused, forms a pearl-white transparent
mass. An adjoining compartment contains " China clay," which is composed of
the felspar of the granite in a disintegrated state in combination with a
small proportion of other substances. Another compartment contains flints.
In order to reduce these materials to working condition, they have to be
treated in different ways. The clay is diluted with water until it assumes
the consistence of cream, when it is passed through a series of sieves,
which remove all except the finest particles. The liquid thus produced is
stored in cisterns. Were the clay used alone, it would be impossible to
produce a vessel that would stand firing. In order to prevent cracking and
distortion, it is necessary to incorporate with the clay some substance
having the power to counteract its tendency to shrink. Silex, or ground
flint, is the most effective agent, and is prepared by subjecting common
flints to the action of fire in a kiln, which makes them purely white, and
renders them quite friable. The nodules of flint are broken by hand with a
hammer or in a stamping-mill, and the fragments are then placed in a large
circular iron tub, where they are ground with a large admixture of water.
When the flint is ground sufficiently, it is of the consistence of cream,
and; after being washed, is stored in cisterns to wait further operations.
The China-stone is prepared by grinding in the same way. The liquids thus
got ready are mixed in certain proportions, and produce what is technically
termed " slip." In that form it is too fluid to be operated upon, and a
large proportion of the water must be got rid of. That used to be done by
means of the "slip-kiln," in which the stuff was evaporated until it became
like putty; but in the Glasgow Pottery the superfluous water is drawn off by
means of Needham & Kite's filtering-machines, which effect a great saving of
time and fuel. When the clay comes from the filtering-machines it is passed
through a pug-mill, which works it into a homogeneous mass. Before being
used the clay is "slapped" or beaten, until on being cut in any direction it
exhibits a perfectly smooth and uniformly close appearance. The clay
prepared as described is that from which the finer kind of common ware is
made. If it be desired to produce porcelain, there must be added a certain
proportion of phosphate of lime, which is obtained from burnt bones ground
in the same way as the flints.
The clay is brought into
shape either by "throwing" or by "pressing." The first of these processes is
performed on the potter's wheel, which is simply a vertical lathe, the upper
part of which consists of — a wooden disc Each thrower has two female
assistants, one Of whom divides the clay into suitable pieces, while the
other assists generally. Potters' wheels are usually driven by hand, but
here they are impelled by steam. Taking up a lump of clay, the thrower
dashes it upon the wheel, and by pressing the clay with his fingers as it
spins round gives to it the desired shape. Nothing could be simpler than the
thrower's operations appear to be, and yet a considerable degree of skill is
required in order to produce exact work. As the vessels are formed, they are
detached from the wheel by drawing a wire along the surface of the latter.
In this state the vessels will not bear much handling, and they are placed
in gently heated stoves until they become firm. They are then placed in a
turning-lathe, and have their external surface smoothed down, and the whole
body reduced to a standard thinness. Shallow vessels— such as plates and
saucers—are made by laying a thin piece of clay on a moulded block attached
to the wheel, and rubbing it down evenly, first by hand and then by a
profile mould. This applies only to moulds of a circular shape. All others
are made on suitable moulds, without the use of the wheel. Handles, spouts,
and other appendages are attached, when the clay is soft, by means of
"slip," with which the parts designed to come together are moistened.
Handles of the simpler kind are made by pressing the clay through a die,
which gives it the required form. The moulded clay is made in lengths of
several feet, which are afterwards cut up into pieces of suitable size, and
bent to the desired shape. Spouts, ornamental handles, &c., are made by
pressing the clay into moulds.
After the articles are
completed, so far as the modelling is concerned, they are set aside until
they become sufficiently dry to withstand the firing process. They are then
said to be in the " green state." The kilns or ovens in which the wares are
baked are of a cylindrical form, and have to be strongly built of the best
materials. Before being put into the ovens, the vessels are placed in strong
fire- clay boxes called "seggars," the pieces being carefully arranged. The
seggars are built in lofty piles, between which space is left for the heat
to have free passage. The fire of the oven is gradually raised until the
seggars become of a white heat. The furnaceman has to be very watchful to
keep up an equal temperature, and, in order to ascertain how the baking is
proceeding, he uses certain tests. From forty-eight to fifty hours is the
usual time required to bake the ware. When the furnaceman is satisfied that
the operation has been satisfactorily completed, he stops firing, and the
kiln is allowed to cool gradually. When the vessels are withdrawn from the
oven, they are called "biscuit-ware;" and as they are then quite porous and
brittle, they would be unfit for use.
Articles that are to be
decorated with printed designs are now passed to the printing-room. The
designs are engraved on copper plates, from which they are printed upon
tissue-paper. While the ink is still wet the printed side of the paper is
applied to the dishes, and rubbed firmly until the colour is sent into the
pores of the ware. The vessels are then rinsed in water, which removes the
paper, but leaves the colouring matter. It is necessary that the oil used in
the colour should be got rid of, which is done by subjecting the articles to
a gentle heat in a "muffle" or small oven. The chief colour used in
pottery-printing up till about twenty years ago was a blue produced from the
oxide of cobalt; but now a variety of colours are employed. The printing is
followed by the glazing process. For porcelain and the fine class of
earthenware, the glaze used is composed of a compound of borax, ground
flint, Paris white, and lead. The materials, having been finely pulverised,
are mixed with water until the liquid resembles cream. The pieces of ware
are dipped singly into the glaze liquid, then they are placed into the
seggars on sharply pointed tripods of "biscuit" clay, and subjected to the
heat of the kiln until the glazing substances becoming fused cover the
surface of the articles with a film of glass, which at once strengthens and
beautifies them, and renders them. impervious to the action of acids.
Sometimes the printed design is enriched by enamel, laid on above the glaze
and made permanent by being burned in. The highest department of the pottery
is that in which the porcelain goods are painted and gilded.
There is a wide field for the
exercise of artistic taste in the decoration of porcelain, and Messrs Bell &
Co. have in their employment artists who seem to have a thoroughly
appreciative knowledge of their business. Both in form and colouring, some
of the dinner, dessert, and tea services are exquisitely beautiful. The
enamel colours used by the porcelain-painters consist of metallic oxides
incorporated with a fusible flux, such as borax and flint. The enamels are
worked in essential oils and turpentine, and in some cases bear no
resemblance to the colours they are intended to produce. Owing to this
circumstance the painter is a toiler in the dark, so to speak, and is unable
to judge of the quality of his work until it has under-gone a process which
makes rectification of faults impossible. The enamel that produces crimson,
for instance, is when applied of a dirty violet or drab hue. During the
firing it varies from a brown to a dull reddish hue, and from that
progressively to its proper tint"; --consequently a good deal depends upon
the fireman, for should he fail to raise the proper degree of heat, or, on
the other hand, exceed it, he ruins the intention of the painter. By
over-heating, what was intended for crimson comes out a dull purple. Then
there is great risk of the article being broken by the too sudden raising or
lowering of the fire in the kilns Vicissitudes such as these make enamel
painting in its higher branches an occupation requiring great patience and
perseverance on the part of those engaged in it. Gold is now extensively
used for decorating purposes. It is prepared by being mixed with quicksilver
and flux, the result being a fine black dust, which is mixed with turpentine
and oils like the enamel colours. Firing restores the gold to its proper
tint, and fixes it; but when the articles come from the kiln the gilded
parts are dull, and require to be well rubbed with a bloodstone burnisher
before their full effect becomes apparent.
In the artistic department of
the Glasgow Pottery, Parian statuary and copies of ancient vases are the
chief objects produced. The most successful attempts to multiply in a cheap
form the productions of high art have been made with Parian, which is simply
a variety of porcelain. It is cast in moulds formed of plaster of Paris,
and, for facility of manipulation, each figure or group is cast in a number
of pieces, which are united while the clay is in a soft state. When the
figures are put together and touched up so as to remove all traces of
joinings, they are set aside until they become sufficiently dry to stand the
heat of the kilns. A troublesome quality of the clay is the great extent to
which it shrinks. A figure, which measures two feet in height when the clay
is first poured into the mould, will measure only eighteen inches after
being baked. Great experience and skill are required to produce works of
this kind successfully; indeed, the difficulties which surround the
manufacture prevent Parian of an artistic form from being sold at a low
price.
In the pottery trade both the
masters and the workmen have unions for the protection of their respective
interests; but no difficulty worth recording has ever occurred in Scotland,
all questions relating to work and wages being arranged by conference
between the employers and employed. During the past twenty years the wages
of the workpeople have, in most departments, been greatly increased, while
their condition has been much improved. Piece work is the almost universal
rule of the trade, and the men employed in the higher branches make from
24s. to 30s. a-week and upwards. The wages of the women are about the
average of those received by factory hands. Three or four years ago the
trade was put under the Factory laws; and as the reduction of juvenile
labour increased the cost of production, the manufacturers were placed at a
disadvantage for a time; but now machinery is being introduced, which
compensates for the change.
The art of kneading common
clay into rectangular blocks for building purposes seems to have been known
from about the time of the Flood, though it does not appear to have been
practised by the Western nations until a comparatively recent period. Pipes
of clay were used by the Romans to carry off the sewage of their cities; and
vases, lamps, statues, and architectural ornaments were formed of the same
material. Like other arts which flourished among the ancients, working in
clay became extinct for a time; but its value has been long fully
appreciated, and the conversion of clay into bricks, tiles, pipes, and more
artistic objects, constitutes an important branch of industry in most
countries where the material exists. In England the scarcity of good
building stone is compensated for by the existence of vast beds of clay,
from which many millions of bricks are made annually Scotland is rich in
building stone of the best qualities; but, nevertheless, many bricks are
made and used, and we have also an extensive manufacture of articles of
fire-clay and terra cotta. In Britain bricks did not come into use until the
fifteenth century, and what are supposed to have been the first buildings of
importance in which bricks were employed are still in existence. These are
the Lollards' Tower of Lambeth Palace, built in 1454; and a portion of
Hampton Court, built in 1514.
In 1784 an Excise duty of 2s.
6d. a-thousand was imposed upon bricks of all kinds. A subsequent Act of the
same reign raised the duty and varied its amount according to certain
specified varieties of bricks. The duty on common bricks was in 1835 raised
from 5s. to 5s. 10d. a-thousand. Four years afterwards the distinction of
size and quality in charging the duty was done away with, and a uniform rate
of 5s. 10d. was levied. The tax was at all times regarded as obnoxious and
as an obstruction to the improvement of the dwellings of the poorer classes;
but notwithstanding repeated representations from the building trades, and
the almost unanimous voice of the press against the duty, it was not
abolished until 1850. Tiles were also subject to duty from 1784 till 1833.
The number of bricks made in Britain in the year 1802 was 714 millions; in
1840, it was 1725 millions; and in 1850, the year in which the duty was
abolished, it was 15631 millions. The number of bricks made in Scotland
annually was 151 millions in 1802; and 471 millions in 1840. If the great
increase in railway and other works, the rapid enlargement of towns, and
other recent causes leading to amore extensive use of bricks be considered,
the number now made in Scotland cannot be less than 200 millions a-year.
There are in Scotland 122
manufactories of brick, tiles, and articles of a similar nature; and in
connection with these from 4000 to 5000 persons are employed. The
manufactories are widely scattered over the country, the farthest north
being at Banff and the farthest south at Dalbeattie; but the greater number
are in Lanarkshire and Fifeshire, in which counties valuable beds of fire-
clay exist. The most extensive is that of the Garnkirk Fire-Clay Company,
situated on the Caledonian Railway line about six miles east from Glasgow.
The company was originally formed to work coal, but, finding that extensive
seams of fire-clay existed on their properuy, they took to manufacturing
that material, which now almost exclusively engages their attention. The
principal seam of clay is seven feet in thickness, and lies at an average
depth of twenty- eight fathoms. Its quality is considered equal to that of
the best Stourbridge clay. The manufactory covers upwards of six acres of
ground. Raw material is brought in, and finished goods are sent out by
branch railways. 300 men and boys are employed, and 200 tons of clay and
about an equal weight of coal are used daily. The clay is of a dark colour,
owing to the presence of a small proportion of bituminous matter; but when
that is dispelled by the action of fire, only silica and alumina remain, and
it is the presence of these substances in certain proportions that decides
the value of the clay. As it comes from the pits the clay is entirely devoid
of cohesion or plasticity; and in order to bring it into working condition,
it has to be ground. very fine, and then mixed with water. Several powerful
mills are used for this purpose. They consist of great iron rollers, which
travel round a circular trough, and pass over the clay.
Bricks are the commonest and
simplest articles made. Some ingenious machines have been devised with a
view to superseding hand labour in this branch of manufacture; but as yet
hand labour has the advantage of greater economy. Indeed, the item of
moulding, to which only the machines could be applied, forms a small part of
the labour in brick-making. At Garnkirk all the bricks are hand-moulded,
which is a very simple process, and is executed with wonderful rapidity. An
expert moulder, with the necessary assistants to keep him supplied with
clay, and to remove the moulds as they are filled, will make from 4000 to
5000 bricks a-day. The moulder works at a table, on one end of which is a
supply of clay, the other being left clear for his operations. The bricks
are formed in a deal framework, resembling a small box with the top and
bottom removed. A boy dips the mould in water and lays it on the table. The
moulder, taking up a lump of clay, dashes it into the mould, presses it with
his hands, and then removes the superfluous clay by drawing a piece of wood
over the mould. His assistant, who has meantime laid down an empty mould,
snatches up the full one and deposits the newly formed brick on the floor of
the workshop. Thus the work goes on until the floor is covered. An important
matter in the manufacture is to take care that at least 25 per cent. of the
water contained in the clay is evaporated before the bricks are subjected to
burning. In some places, and in the case of common bricks, it is usual to
expose them in the open air before firing; but that is a precarious practice
in a climate like ours, and the best plan is to dry them under cover by
artificial heat. The Garnkirk brick-sheds, and the drying-rooms in the other
departments, are fitted with pipes through which the waste steam of the
engines is made to pass, and by the heat which these give off the bricks are
brought into firing condition in the course of twenty-four hours. The bricks
are fired or burned in kilns, but another mode of firing is sometimes
employed in which the bricks are built in " clamps," or large square heaps
with layers of fuel between. Kiln baking is the best. The kilns are built in
ranges of three or four together, the smoke from all of which is drawn off
by one chimney. Internally, the kilns are about 12 feet in length, breadth,
and height, and the bricks are arranged in them so as to allow the fire to
act freely on all. About 20,000 bricks are placed in each kiln, and the
baking occupies six days and nights. Flooring tiles are made after much the
same fashion.
The improvement of
agriculture, and the consequent increase of draining, has within the past
twenty or thirty years led to a great and increasing demand for clay
drain-pipes, and many millions of these are produced in Scotland every year
for both home use and exportation. They are made of common red clay—a much
softer and less durable substance than fire-clay. The pipes are formed by
ingeniously constructed machines, which turn them out at a rapid rate.
The Garnkirk Company do not
work in common clay, and make no agricultural drain-pipes; but they have an
extensive trade in the manufacture of glazed fire-clay sewage and
water-pipes. As already-- stated, clay pipes were used by the Romans to
carry off the sewage of their towns and villages. The city of Rome had a
complete system of sewage. There were main sewers built with bricks, and
branch sewers consisting of pipes of wood or clay. With the decline of the
Roman Empire draining as well as many other good things went out of use, and
modern minds were only awakened to the importance of the matter when
thousands of persons were carried off by diseases which could be traced to
no other origin than defective drainage. The importance of providing means
to carry away filth from centres of population is now generally known and
understood, though in some cases action is tardy. For main sewers nothing
better than brick has been devised, and for branches, nothing better than
clay pipes—so that, in the all-important matter of town drainage, we are no
further ahead than were the people who occupied the foremost rank of
civilisation two thousand years ago; and it is not long since equality could
be claimed. The making of sewage-pipes is an important branch of the
manufactures in clay. The pipes are formed by pressing the clay through a
die. They are made in lengths of three feet, and each piece has a "collar"
worked on one end. After being dried in the stoves the pipes are baked in
large circular furnaces. In the course of the baking a quantity of salt is
thrown on the pipes, and that combining with the silica of the clay forms a
glaze which covers the entire surface. The pipes are made from two to
thirty-six inches in diameter. The heaviest articles made are gas-retorts
and blocks for the furnaces of glasshouses. Some of the latter weigh fifteen
cwt.
Works in terra cotta are also
among the productions of the Garnkirk Company. Terra cotta is an Italian
term signifying baked clay, but it is commonly employed to designate such
articles formed of clay as are used in architectural embellishment. It is,
if properly made, one of the most durable materials that can be used in
building. It was so employed by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and by
various European nations in the middle ages. Monumental vases in terra cotta
have been recovered in a state of perfect preservation from tombs in which
they had been placed upwards of two thousand years before, and examples are
not wanting to prove the weather-resisting powers of the material. Sutton
House, in Surrey, built about the year 1530, is covered with ornaments in
terra cotta, which yet retain the marks of the artist's modelling tools.
Many buildings erected in
Italy between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries bear terra cotta
decorations in a perfect state. The lodge in Merrion Square, Dublin, was
built in 1786 of granite taken from the Wicklow mountains, and ornaments in
terra cotta were provided for it by an English manufacturer. It is a
remarkable fact that, while the granite mouldings have yielded to the action
of the weather, the terra cottas are as complete as when put up. Among other
honours which belong to the name of Josiah Wedgwood is that of having
revived the manufacture of terra cotta in England. When he founded his great
pottery in Staffordshire, he began to make articles in imitation of the
ancient works in terra cotta, and in that branch he was soon followed by a
lady named Coade. The chief materials employed by them were the Dorset and
Devonshire clays, with fine sand, flint, and potsherds. Most of the coats of
arms and other insignia placed over the shops in London were made of this
material. Though they could not deny its advantages of durability and
cheapness, builders did not regard terra cotta with a favourable eye, and it
made little progress until within the past ten or twelve years. Its
employment in the South Kensington Museum buildings, and in the Royal
Horticultural Society's Gardens, gave the public an opportunity of judging
of its suitability for decorating modern edifices, and the general opinion
has been favourable to ids use. A large quantity of terra cotta has been
employed in the construction of the Albert Hall of Science and Art, and in
many other important buildings throughout England. In Scotland our beautiful
and easily carved freestone does away with the necessity for introducing
terra cotta in an architectural fashion except in the form of chimney-pots,
for which it is well suited; but statues, vases, and fountains made of it
are now much used for the ornamentation of pleasure-grounds and gardens. A
recent discussion in the Royal Institute of British Architects shows that
considerable difference of opinion prevails as to what are the best
materials for making terra cotta. Some eminent men in the architectural
world maintain that, in order to endure the severe climate of Britain, terra
cotta should be made with a hard vitreous body composed of Cornish clay,
ground flint, and Cornish stone, with a glaze added. Others are of opinion
that the composition of the Albert Hall and South Kensington terra cottas
are the best, and the weight of argument appears to lie on their side.
Messrs Alexander Wilson & Son, fire-clay manufacturers, Dunfermline, have
made a great part of the terra cotta required at South Kensington, and are
now engaged with the columns, capitals, cornices, friezes, and other
ornamental parts. They have been providing all the ashlar work required. The
clay used is of a very fine quality.
The articles made of terra
cotta at Garnkirk are chiefly statues, fountains, vases, brackets,
pedestals, and chimney-pots. The clay for these is carefully ground. In the
firing, and subsequently, a number of articles are broken, and the remains
of these are carefully preserved, and, when ground, a certain proportion of
the produce is added to the fresh clay. The object of this is to reduce the
"shrinkage," or tendency to contract, which the pure clay possesses. The
articles are formed either by modelling or casting in moulds of plaster of
Paris. Most of the statues and vases are after classical patterns.
Only a small proportion of
skilled workmen are required in brick and tile works, and the great body of
the men rank as ordinary labourers. They are chiefly Irishmen, and their
earnings may be stated at from 15s. to 17s. a-week. Some of the skilled
workmen earn as high as 30s. a-week. The fire-clay is excavated by men who
have been bred as coal miners. |
