The Special Brick.....

The Special Brick for a special person, which was born on 9th October has reached the Dryer for it's final drying session. This brick, has been thrown, Sculpted and Scooped out to reduce the clay mass and slow dried for another 3 weeks before being ready for the proper Dryer.
It will spend another 4/5 days drying before being set into the kiln for firing, the kiln will fire it to 1050°C for 4 days before cooling and ready to be sent to the "Special Person", in fact this is so large I may deliver it personally.

Another day in the life of a Special Shaped brick, bet you never thought it would take sooooooo long, well this is the most critical time for the brick, if we dry it too fast it will Crack, and if we dry it too slowly it will Slump into a big blob of clay.
If not enough moisture is removed it will explode in the kiln when it reaches over 100°C as the water turns to steam and forces it's way out of the brick.

Stay tuned for more pictures soon.

BTW The brick is on the bottom left.