So, what really happened? This is a close up of the side of the test block. I originally thought, as I posted, that the seeds had popped. Nope. It looks like as they got to the temp where the oil started to plasticize and char. Then it began to expand and ooze out of the pores and cracks. Obviously it did not all ooze out so it broke the clay apart.The black material at this point is dry, crunchy, and porous. It's almost like carbon foam. It's got no strength at all. It crumbles with a very small amount of pressure. So it doesn't serve to really hold the clay together at all either.
The whole thing looks a little like a chocolate cake with some funky black frosting. My daughter, the art major, said I could put it in a gallery. Maybe I can recover some costs. I can make five more of these tomorrow ...
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