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Skull Shaped Fire Bricks - Anyone Know How to Make These?

45K views 48 replies 23 participants last post by  the dogman 
#1 ·
My buddy posted these skulls on FB the other day. I found them on Amazon, cuz, well, you can find everything on Amazon, but they're $65 EACH!! Anyone ever try to make them before?

Fire Heat Flame Bonfire Rock
 
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#5 ·
there used to be two vastly different kinds of fire bricks, the very hard kind and the almost crumbly kind,very easy to carve, pick at, rub and make whatever it might be that you want, from the Crumbly style, the hard as diamond style--- not!
 
#19 ·
99% sure you could just use a plaster of paris skull *provided you're just going for looks and using a propane fire pit, not trying to cook or use it as refractory for actual heating*.

I don't know if any of my plaster skulls don't have foam in them anymore, but if I find one, I'll certainly throw it on the fire pit and see if it explodes or something.
 
#22 ·
Yep – I probably received six separate posts and tags of this from Fezbuk friends. And they're all waiting to see how I pull it off.

But I'm taking a different tack with mine – I'm going to make a cool-embers, last-for years version. I have two burned-out fire pit bowls to use as bases. My plan is to craft a pile of glowing embers in each of the fire bowls, and then top those with a stack of blackened skulls. I've built ember piles in past years with light strings and Great Stuff, so that won't be hard. I'm planning to use plastic skulls and bones for the stack, paint them black, ash them, and probably hide a second layer of lights in the middle of the pile. A little smoke for atmosphere, and I think it'll work.

A large FedEx box of plastic skulls was waiting on my porch when I got home tonight. Heh heh heh!
 
#25 ·
I am betting someone could make something like this using the old Great stuff faux embers technique. Make the fire using skulls rather than sticks and make some holes to release smoke from a fogger or cauldron mister in specific locations around the fire to make the smoke effect. Could also strategically place flicker lights inside the skulls or other places to give it a realistic fire type flicker as well.

Fire Campfire Flame Hearth Bonfire
 
#26 ·
A friend sent me the link, too, but she also sent a thread with a recipe for making somewhat less expensive refractory brick. It's 2 parts fireclay to 1 part each of perlite, clean sand, ash, and portland cement. I have not tried it -- no first hand experience at this point-- but the person who recommended it appears to have some significant experience making forges and such.
My plan is to try a few once it gets nice enough to take the mess outside. I intend to let the skull-bricks dry, and then give them a slow heat-up in the kiln, just to be sure no guests are hit with firebrick shrapnel from a bubble of moisture somewhere. Alternatively, a person could just bury them in a good hot fire and keep their distance.
 
#28 ·
I've done embers in the past (various prop-takes on a hellmouth), and am looking forward to assembling these two. I've had my best results imitating a fire using a combination of flicker lights, steady lights, and a lightning box. I just have to make sure I'm happy with the stack and design before I start gluing it all together.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Well. That was interesting.

So, what are these? Skulls made of a thin plaster shell. Stained with oil based stain, and painted with wildfire paints. Filled with great stuff, and hole drilled in the top to shove them on pikes. Originally cast in 2007-2008. Repainted in 2010. Originally 250 of these, sold many in 2010, about a dozen left after sell and attrition.

Burned for 2 hours, just letting the great stuff burn off. One cracked when the great stuff burned away, was likely cracked prior with the great stuff holding it together. Otherwise, the plaster held together just fine. If I was making some JUST for the fire, I'd do a solid piece instead of a shell anyway.



Solid concrete skull had no problems, as expected. It was just using leftover concrete after installing a basketball hoop.
 
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