25.11.21 - Researching Local Clay

One of the materials I mentioned on my list of interests was clay from the river bank, so I have been looking at where I might find some and how it is processed.

I found some useful information on www.thesprucecrafts.com about how to identify and deal with locally found clay and I'm going to see if I can find some this weekend by the River Erewash. Another local area that is rich in clay is Mapperley and I found some old images of the brickworks and the site where the clay was excavated, which is now full of houses. Mapperley bricks were used to build St Pancras Station, and that process of being dug from the ground in Nottingham and being turned into bricks that ended up in London reminds me of the Newstead Abbey mahogany in the sense that there is a disconnect between where the materials came from and the final product.

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