Stone & earth craftsmen

 
The Folk Arts Museum of Laduz (Burgundy) honors a retrospective of tools and works, the stone workers and earth. You will discover a unique collection dedicated to the memory and to the expertise of these artisans.

THE QUARRYMAN

He works in a quarry or open galleries career, the stone extraction application to the carrier considerable physical effort. Using the bar to mine, using leverage, it rotates the stone blocks that will be raised with the jack before being transported on logs. The quarryman business is strongly linked to that of stonemason.

THE STONE CARVER OR STONEMASON

The stonemason uses many tools to work the stone, rulers, squares, false squares, compasses for tracing, masses, stubborn, brettelés hammers, chisels, bédianes to rough stone and bush hammer, chisel to refine and improve the work. He uses “the railway”, a kind of plane 6 or 7 serrated blades for use stone and “saw crocodiles” up to two meters long.

THE SLATE

As the stonemason, the slate works in a career. The slate deposits are found mainly in France in four clay ranges: the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, Brittany and the Ardennes. The first operation of the slate is quernage which involves the separation of blocks before cutting the next template. Slate is a naturally waterproof material serving as cover for roofing.

THE MASON

The work of the mason is different. It begins with the excavation and foundations, then comes the assembly of rubble walls, cut stone or brick, grout and plaster walls. Mason is using shovels and buckets to prepare mortar and troughs to transport it. The scaffolds are made of trunks of young trees firmly bound together.

THE POTTER

The potter meet the priority needs of rural families collect, cook and carry liquids and foods. He realizes his works with the previously purified clay through molding techniques, casting, modeling but more often by turning the parts. After natural drying the parts, the craftsman is baked which gives its permanent hardness. The famous neighbor Puisaye for quality pottery provided a large part of western France.

THE ROOFER

Depending on the region of France, is the roofer roofer wood as in Champagne lousy, stone roofer mountain regions, roofer slate or tile, or thatcher, roofer straw. In Burgundy, the important manipulation of small Burgundy tiles requires a large workforce.

THE GLASSMAKER

The glass business succession magic. Glass making is divided into four periods: the charge, melting, tisefroid and work. During this last operation that lasts 10 to 12 hours, the skill of the glassblower with his long cane is essential to shape the bottle, for example, in the mold. If industrial production replaced artisanal creation, there remains art glass.

THE TILEMAKER

The tile maker is essentially a rural craftsman. It uses finer and more compressed than the lands bricklayer. The tiles are of different shapes and thicknesses depending on the region and are calibrated in an iron mold. Each day, a tile maker could achieve 1100-1500 tiles following they were hollow or flat.

THE BRICKLAYER

The use of brick for the construction of an alternative to the stone which in some areas is too gélive. The bricklayer uses sand clay emaciated or otherwise supplemented powdered limestone for brick molding. The brick maker often has worked as a tiler and also manufactures tiles intended for use as flooring.