Facts about Brick Tinting or Coloured Bricks
This is a technique for adding colour to brickwork and has been around for about 40 years. It involves the application of colour fast oxide-based pigments in a potassium silicate medium to permanently colour the brick surface without detriment to performance or durability of the masonry.
It can be used to rectify a mis-match in different batches of the same brick or to enhance the colour in contrasting brick banding or string courses. Otherwise it can be used to blend in new bricks into an old wall, for example where a repair has been carried out or to add a decorative pattern into otherwise plain monochrome brickwork.
Another increasingly popular application is the involvement of painters and sculptors to add original artworks onto new buildings.
Needless to say this is a specialist field and should only be undertaken by skilled craftsmen or artist. Sculptor Richard Kindersley uses a combination of sand blasting and tinting to create large scale coloured reliefs and inscriptions.
In his work, inscriptions take many forms. His example makes the point that lettering can be more significant and expressive than the same message printed on paper – it is permanent as opposed to transitory and adds great impact to the meaning of the words and intrinsic beauty in the lettering itself.
In his own words ‘A successful inscription is a marriage between material, lettering layout, craft and the celebration of the author’s words.’
On this basis alone the wider use of brick tinting is likely to become more popular as an applied decorative technique rather than simply a method of making good a bricklayer’s failure to mix bricks within a batch.
This is a technique for adding colour to brickwork and has been around for about 40 years. It involves the application of colour fast oxide-based pigments in a potassium silicate medium to permanently colour the brick surface without detriment to performance or durability of the masonry.
It can be used to rectify a mis-match in different batches of the same brick or to enhance the colour in contrasting brick banding or string courses. Otherwise it can be used to blend in new bricks into an old wall, for example where a repair has been carried out or to add a decorative pattern into otherwise plain monochrome brickwork.
Another increasingly popular application is the involvement of painters and sculptors to add original artworks onto new buildings.
Needless to say this is a specialist field and should only be undertaken by skilled craftsmen or artist. Sculptor Richard Kindersley uses a combination of sand blasting and tinting to create large scale coloured reliefs and inscriptions.
In his work, inscriptions take many forms. His example makes the point that lettering can be more significant and expressive than the same message printed on paper – it is permanent as opposed to transitory and adds great impact to the meaning of the words and intrinsic beauty in the lettering itself.
In his own words ‘A successful inscription is a marriage between material, lettering layout, craft and the celebration of the author’s words.’
On this basis alone the wider use of brick tinting is likely to become more popular as an applied decorative technique rather than simply a method of making good a bricklayer’s failure to mix bricks within a batch.
Where to buy coloured bricks
- Coleford Brick & Tile - The Royal Forest of Dean Brickworks, Cinderford, Gloucestershire, GL14 3JJ, 01594 822160
- Lagan Brick Ltd - 11B Sheepwalk Road, Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 3RD, +353 (0)59 86 35513
- Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC - Hillview Road, Michelmersh, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 0NN, 01794 368506