Ravenshead shale quarry and brick factory

Having decided that coal would be too difficult to process coal into a work materials that could made into a functioning mousetrap, I have selected the quintessential red clay (shale) which red brick is made of.

Was red brick was iconically used to build terrace houses in many of the now de-industrial towns of North West England. Isbstock are a manufacturer of building brick, who have over a dozen of shale quarries and brick kilns with the UK.

Ibstock's Ravennshead quarry and brick factory is just outside Skelmersdale, Lancashire, excurvates shale that is then moulded into a bricks which fire to a colour not too disimilar to kouper red. Alan McMcLaughlin, site manage was kind enough to post to 10 kilos of raw shale.

I have fire some samples to test what colour the clay turns and how much is reduces once it becomes a ceramic. The shale come in a dehydrate grounded form and that can be turned into clay simpley by adding water. The samples fired where made from clay that was either unsived, dry seived onced using a kitchen strainer and twice dry seived , using a glaze seive.

The clay reducing rough 9% from wet to dry and another 2 percent onced fire. The colouring is fairly typical of fired terracotta.

Loughborough Trap; Pantherella 'Fine English socks'

Due to Leicestershire's connection and heritage to hoisery, I have decided to use sock production to fabricate my Loughborough mousetrap, in conjunction the Leicester Longwool yarn I have acquired.

I visited Pantherella of Leicester, whom manufacture premium 'fine English sock'. Their socks are produced with Italian wool or cashmere, using cylinder that circular knit with 200 neddles.

opening, unscrewing and peeling

I will attempt to design a tin opener, cork screw and potatoe peeler, that can be fabricated from the same 25 mm strip of brass, using the machines usually used for cutting key.

First we need to study the actions of each of these products, in order to understand they function and use to the person using them.

Breaky bottom

Sweet chesnut: Flimwell

To produce certain components for Lewes mousetrap, I need to source an available, indegious timber within 40 miles of Lewes. For this purpose, I visited Flimwell near the Kent boarder, where they're manage several acres chesnut and other species of tree, for timble production.

Potential resource: Key cutting

As part of my potential resource scenario, I have been researching which common, but unutilised resoources for production. The aim will be to translate these skills into processes for producing products locally.

Mike, owner of Courtyard in Lewes, was kind enough to show me how both yale and mortis keys are cut.

According to Mike, if I want to him to cut brass templates for me, it needs to be of certain hardness, as not to damaged the specialist machine he uses.

Types of mousetraps

Here is a selection of mousetraps I have found on the internet. Both humane and not so.

Lewes trap: Wine bottling at Nyetimber

In conjunction with the gypsum I have sourced, the mousetrap I am designing for Lewes farmers market is going to be theoretically moulded using the process of wine bottling. The UK's wine industry is increasing in size and is centred around the ideal soil composition of East and West Sussex. Nyetimber vinyard produces particularly excellent sparkling wines. Pictured below is their harvesting and wine production.

It is plaster: Local gypsum into plaster

Following my visit to a gypsum mine in December, I have been testing whether the samples I collected there, can be refined into a usable plaster power, that will cure in the presence of water. So far it would appear it does.

Chorley mousetrap: Hollands 'Proper pies and puds'

In conjunction with the coal I collected from Cutacre open cast mine in Bolton, I using Hollands pie production process to fabricate my mouse trap, for the Chorley farmers market.

Lougborough: Eel and finger traps

The third and final mousetrap to be design as part of my 'Trapped by abundance' series is one for Loughborough and its surrounding area. To produce this trap I am using wool from the Leicester Longwool sheep and the fabrication process to produce socks, as they are characteristic of this reogion.

In order to realise this trap using these regional attributes, I need to consider what trapping mechanisms could be devised to allow for thr conjunction between this material and process.