If your technique is something less than precise to begin with, don't despair and quit. Instead, take comfort in the thought that many of the walls one sees in ancient buildings abroad (and some new ones, too) were laid with something less than machine-like precision (the ideal of the modern professional craftsman). However, because of their very irregularity they possess a certain charm. This lack of precision fits particularly well with houses of picturesque and traditional styles of the informal sort; and some of the more rough-and-ready modern styles will find it eminently suited to their general design and texture, too. You'll probably get by on your work unless you try to match your wall with one laid by a really precise professional mason. In this case yours may suffer by comparison. On the other hand, perhaps your professional mason was one of those "ninety-day wonders," in which case his work will not be too dissimilar to yours. You may, in fact, find that your work is superior to his if you take your time and use care, doing your utmost to maintain the highest possible standard of workmanship.

The methods of laying most masonry units are similar, whether they be brick, concrete or cinder blocks, hollow tile, or any others of the wide variety of modular masonry units available to you. If you read this preliminary text carefully, studying and absorbing the techniques mentally before you begin to lay any kind of masonry, you'll be able to proceed with confidence and do a better job. You will acquire experience more rapidly, because you have done the headwork and all that remains is to coordinate the mind and muscles, getting the "feel" of the technique into both of them so that your progress will become evident in the speed and precision with which you work. Don't force it-let it come by itself as you relax and get the final ease with tools and the method of using them.