The term "hyperthermic ceramics" refers to ceramic material that has been overheated in the kiln until it sags, swells or bloats out of shape. Hyperthermic means ceramics fired to the edge of physical destruction. The idea for this process came from the "clinker bricks" that litter the beach at a local brick factory near the artist's studio. While collecting some cracked and bloated clinker bricks for his patio, Clayton Bailey discovered their igneous beauty when they swelled like bread or cookie dough, and he decided to make some clinker creations of his own . The brick factory supplied him with their native blue shale clay which naturally contains carbon particles that cause the clay to bloat when it is fired. The hyperthermic pots of this series are made like traditional folk pottery jugs, and then reshaped "hyperthermically", in the heat of the kiln.