Clay kiln construction in the West

Clay kiln construction in the West

Early in the morning, Mr. Muoi Ich (60 years old, living in Van Phuoc hamlet) pushed the wheelbarrow to the pond 500 m away from his house. Holding the aluminum basin, Mr. Muoi waded into the deep pond, then took a breath to dive, a moment later he emerged with a pile of dark gray clay in his hand. The soil for the kiln must be supple clay. After diving to the bottom of the pond, workers who collect soil must use their bare hands to scrape off the mud and impurities on the surface.

“Every day, you have to crochet about 100 kg of raw material, in addition to soaking in cold water, sometimes you get hit by a bottle, sharp thorns pierce your limbs,” said Muoi. Every time the soil is full, he puts it in a bag, and when he has estimated enough, he will put it on a trolley to gather in a corner in the gable. The soil is then left to dry in the sun.

The job of building earthen kilns came to Muoi’s family more than 30 years ago, like a predestined fate. One of his relatives, who had no money, went to the river to pick up clay to build a kiln to use. After many trials, the kiln was finished without burning, but it was durable, so the family members showed each other how to build the kiln. Many people come to play and find it strange to order. From the first household, the construction of earthen kilns expanded to 5 households with several dozen workers. Good news spread far away, Van Phuoc earthen furnace then exported to Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces.

While Mr. Muoi went to the pond to wash up from his diving trip to collect soil, his daughter-in-law, Huynh Thi Dep (37 years old), mixed the soil with ashes from rice husks. Because it is a craft, the ratio of mixing ash and soil does not have a specific formula, only believing in the hand feeling so that it is neither too hard nor too soft. After mixing the ash, the soil is kneaded many times, put out to dry to make it flexible, then put in more rice husk ash, kneaded again until the mixture is very smooth, then processed.

There is no mold, so each finished product is “unique”, depending on the worker’s improvisation. The furnace will go through 3 stages: making the base of the furnace, covering the body, and finally the chimney. The worker, after covering the base about an inch thick, will wait for the soil to dry and then continue to build, covering a layer every 10 minutes. Each furnace takes nearly an hour to process, once completed it is about half a meter high.

To create the aesthetic of the product, the worker uses a small trowel to smooth the surface. The difference of this “unique” kiln-making method is that it is not baked, but only dried in the sun, if the sun is good, it will dry for about three days. The finished furnace is grayish white like cement.

Mr. Muoi’s family often makes wood-burning furnaces and rice husk furnaces, with the price of 100,000-150,000 VND each, half that of a cement kiln, but twice as long, the tighter the better. On average, his family processes about two cars a day, at most four, mainly going to coastal areas in Tien Giang.

In the time when there was no gas and electric stove, earthen ovens sold as expensive as hot cakes. It was common practice to deliver a tricycle every day to Mr. Ich’s house. After 30 years, the raw material soil in the river is now exhausted, the pond soil is of poorer quality, the lifespan of each furnace is halved. After many years of working with the profession, Mr. Muoi told his family to still make clay ovens, until no one ordered them anymore.

Ms. Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that over time, life has become more and more modern, so traditional occupations have become increasingly lost. There are only 12 occupations left in the province. Some traditional villages such as making drums, weaving mats, making printed cakes, making hats, forging… with a total workforce of more than 1,000 people, average income 4.5 million VND per person.

From now to 2025, Long An will be supported by the Central Government to develop craft villages with a budget of more than 27 billion VND. The objective of the program is to preserve and develop crafts and villages with traditional cultural values ​​in combination with improving product quality to meet market demand.

Hoang Nam