Okay, so today I wanted to mess around with making bricks. I’ve always been kinda fascinated by how things are built, you know? So, I went down this rabbit hole of looking up how bricks are made. Turns out, people have been doing this for thousands of years! I found out the oldest bricks ever discovered were made of mud and were found in places like Tell Aswad and Anatolia, dating way back to 7500 BC. That’s like, ancient ancient!
First, I did some more digging. It seems like most bricks we use today are made of clay and are fired in a kiln. This makes them super strong and durable. That got me thinking, what if I tried to make some myself?
So I gathered some clay from my backyard. Luckily, we’ve got a lot of clay-rich soil around here. I mixed it with water until it was this thick, gooey paste. Then, I shaped them into these little rectangles. They didn’t look pretty, but hey, it was a start.
- Get some clay.
- Mix it with water.
- Shape it into rectangles.
Next came the hard part – drying them. I didn’t have a fancy kiln or anything, so I just left them out in the sun. It took forever! I’m talking days of waiting. And you know what? Some of them cracked because they dried too fast.
Firing them up!
I knew I needed to somehow “fire” these bricks to make them strong. I thought about using my oven, but I didn’t want to stink up the whole house. Then I had this crazy idea – what about a campfire? I built a small fire pit in my backyard and carefully placed the dried clay bricks around the edges, letting them slowly heat up. I kept the fire going for hours, adding more wood and trying not to burn myself.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I let the fire die down and the bricks cool off. They looked way different now – harder, more solid. They even had this reddish color to them. I tried hitting them together, and they made this satisfying clink sound. Success!
I mean, they weren’t perfect. Some were a bit misshapen, and a few had cracks. But overall, I was pretty stoked! I actually made bricks! It was a lot of work, and definitely a learning experience. It really made me appreciate the effort that goes into making the buildings we see every day. It is really a hard work!
Next time, I think I’ll try to find a better way to fire them, maybe build a makeshift kiln or something. But for now, I’m just happy I gave it a shot and learned something new. Who knows, maybe I’ll build a tiny little brick structure in my backyard, just for fun!
