The first brick should be laid at one end and tapped slightly to ‘bed in’. The next brick should be ‘buttered up’ with mortar spread onto each end before being placed to abut the first brick. The trowel should cut away excess mortar that is squeezed out from underneath or between the bricks. Running bond (easy) Also called subway tile or offset, the running bond pattern is one of the simplest and most common brick patterns. Bricks are laid end to end in a straight line and rows are staggered. There are six most common brick patterns from easiest to hardest in execution Running bond (easy) Stack bond (easy) Basketweave (easy) Diagonal basket weave (medium) Herringbone (medium) Spanish bond (hard) The standard ratio for average mortar mix is 3:1 or 4:1 for bricklaying. If you are using a pointing mix, then you should have a ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 mortar to sand. As for concrete, it depends on the strength you need it to be at. Usually, it is good practice to mix concrete at 1:2 mix to materials.