60,000 bricks @ 1000 deg C

Today I finally got to get the tour of the local brick works!
Tavleen, Balwinder, Prince, Ellen and myself headed off down the road. On the way we saw a small juvenile Northern Goshawk that had been probably hit by a car,

Juvenile Northern Goshawk (i think) 

it seemed perky enough so we left it to check on the way home. The Northern Goshawk is the state bird of Punjab. Was spotted up on the power lines on way home...
So for all those fans of PBT Transport, we were at the home of PBT Bricks.

KP Brick Manufacturers trading as PBT

Now it was pretty obvious that the heavy rain that we had experienced on Friday (torrential rain and amazing thunderstorms) had made its presence felt at the brick works,

Rain sodden brick paddy fields

Spoilt bricks due to heavy rain

Green bricks destroyed by rain

some of the green bricks had been lost but they had managed to cover a fair few.

Plastic covered green bricks

Saved green bricks

So in the area surrounding the main kiln, there were acres of brick making space.

Brick making paddy field

More brick making paddy fields 

They just use the local dirt which has enough clay content to make it all stick together and then fire it all.
So we rocked on up and got to meet the owner who gave us a guided tour of the area.

Ellen, Tavleen and the owner

So at one end of the kiln area they were unpacking after a firing,

Unpacking a fired area (note the height)

then we moved up to the other end where they were firing.
So there are three wickets (doorways) per firing area.

Wicket door after firing

The green bricks are loaded into the area, stacked cleverly

Green bricks stacked for firing

to allow for airflow and even firing

Standing on top of the firing chamber from left Owner, Frederick, Ellen

and then the roof is laid over the top, complete with stoking holes and observation holes.

Observation hole

Stoking holes and containers of coal dust

This is all then fired up to 1000 degrees centigrade. It is fired with coal dust and there is a team that stokes 24/7 for the 36 hours it takes to complete the firing.

Team of stokers with plastic barrels of coal dust

Top of kiln with stoke holes

There are 60,000 bricks per firing and there are 4 firing chambers that rotate, so one loading,

Stacking green bricks

one firing, one unpacking

Unpacking fired bricks

and the last a mix of loading and unpacking.

Unpacking (note hand carts and labour)

Close up of partially open wicket door

It was an interesting experience climbing on top of a firing kiln to watch the stoking.

Ladder up to top of kiln, stoking team watching us with interest

The guys wander around in wooden slippers between the stoke holes with a metal hook and lift the metal lid,

Stoking holes

drop a small scoop of coal

Coal stock pile

down the hole

Coal dust for stoking

and drop the lid back down. It was quite a musical sound with the lids dropping down. What was even more interesting was the lack of heat. Eventually I started to feel the heat through my shoes, but there was little ambient heat while we were on the top.
There are 250 workers on site and most live on site as it is a 24/7 operation.

House on site, close holes for winter, open for summer

The kids were everywhere and were funny to watch.

Where are the kids?

Here we are!

We were treated to chai and biscuits with the owner and I showed him a picture of a PBT truck and trailer unit from NZ and he roared with laughter and his PA grabbed it and WhatsAppd it to his phone. They thought is was wonderful.
It was an amazing experience to see how bricks were made in northern India.

Worker unloading fired bricks

Smoke stack

Would not like to be around in the hot summer months.
I am going to try to get back to see the actual making of the green bricks. We saw the PBT emboss stamps

PBT emboss stamps

PBT green bricks

but not the molds.

So further to that I have been plodding along making and experimenting with slab work at the studio

Slab vase

Teapot without spout (yet)

Interesting vessel

Geometric piece (Stairway to.....)

and creating some pieces for Rachel and her business Real Food Gratitude.
A wall hanging and some small appetizer plates.

Phases of the moon wall hanging

Moon phase appetizer plates and dish

As you could possible guess Rachel loves the phases of the moon.

So pretty much up to date here, our chef has been having fun with the ‘salad’ plates

Cucumber and flower petals

Cucumber and orange slices

Cucumber and tomato

Kiwifruit and apple

Carrot, tomato and cucumber

I am starting to realize that my time here is getting close to being over. I leave here on the morning of Dec 28th to begin part 2 of my journey so not that long to go now.

Dhanyavaad (thank you) for reading this
Safe travels everyone.