So, I wanted to try my hand at making bricks. Yeah, you heard that right, bricks.
First things first, I had to get the materials.
Went out and gathered a bunch of clay. That’s the main thing you need for bricks. I dug it up myself, felt like a real pioneer. Then, I had to prep the clay.
This involved cleaning out all the rocks and junk.
It wasn’t glamorous, but it’s gotta be done. After that, I mixed the clay with water until it was like a thick paste. You gotta get the consistency just right, not too watery, not too stiff.
Then came the molding part.
I used some old wooden frames I had lying around as molds. I packed the clay into these frames, making sure to press it down real good to get rid of any air pockets. Then, I leveled off the top with a stick.
After that, it was time to dry the bricks.
I laid them out in the sun. This is important, you gotta let them dry slowly, or they’ll crack. It took a few days, turning them over every now and then so they’d dry evenly. This part took some patience, I tell ya.
Once they were dry, it was time for the firing.
Now, I didn’t have a fancy kiln, so I built a makeshift one. I dug a pit, lined it with some old firebricks I scrounged up, and made a little chimney out of more bricks. Then, I stacked the dried bricks inside, leaving some space between them for the heat to circulate.
Firing the bricks was a whole process in itself.
- I started a fire in the pit using wood.
- You gotta build up the heat slowly.
- I kept feeding the fire for hours, making sure the temperature got high enough.
- It was smoky and hot, but I felt like a real blacksmith.
Firing
After several days, I cut off the fuel from the fire and let the whole thing cool down naturally. This took another couple of days. When I finally opened it up, I was pretty stoked to see my bricks, all fired up and solid.
They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. A bit rough around the edges, but hey, they were my bricks. I even used some of them to build a little wall in my backyard. It’s not perfect, but it’s sturdy, and I made it with my own two hands. That’s a pretty good feeling.
So yeah, that’s how I made bricks. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. I learned a lot, and I got some cool bricks out of it. Maybe I’ll build something else with them later, who knows?
