Powdered Clay

[muddywildfire]

Hi people

How much powdered clay in KG would you need to fill a decent size inflatable kiddies pool?? (enough for a good session half full etc)

Also any one know of any good mail order suppliers in the UK??

Cheers

[Lizzie_Claymore]

I'm not sure - I suppose it depends how big the pool is and how deep you want the clay - not a particularly useful answer, I grant you, but true nonetheless! With very careful management (after all, you don't want it to go down the drains in one go and block them - and what the hell are you going to do with it all afterwards?!), I can usually make a 12.5Kg sack last maybe 10-12 sessions, with each session using about a gallon of thick creamy gloop. At that rate, you're looking at about a gallon per Kg, though your preference for gloopiness may give you more or less than that.

I've used 1150 modelling clay from Potclays in the past and it's been excellent. (I get it from the local art/ceramic suppliers).

Potclays are now doing web-order and delivery and you can get powdered clay in huge quantities for very reasonable rates. This page, for example, seems astonishingly good value - 25Kg sack for just £13.22 Larger sacks are proportionately cheaper but you won't be able to lift the sacks. The description of this particular clay (and they have hundreds of different types on offer) sounds very good (buff grey and very plastic). I'd have thought 25 gallons of the stuff is more than adequate but you're going to have a hell of a job mixing it! (Industrial drill and plaster stirrer called for, I think!) Also, bear in mind the mass of this lot - will your floor stand the weight when mixed!!??

We'll look forward to seeing the results on here!

[sludge]

To mix it, just add the water a day or so before. You'll be amazed at how well the water completely permeates the clay.

[BillShipton]

Thanks Claymore for the supplier. We have been using one in Tunbridge Wells who are about twice that price! And they don't deliver. Very useful. Will use more clay in future!!

[Miss T]

Oh they deliver....... eventually!

[Lizzie_Claymore]

To mix it, just add the water a day or so before. You'll be amazed at how well the water completely permeates the clay.

Ah yes, of course - I'm thinking in terms of solid bags of clay (which is what I've bought in the past and need loads of mixing to get the lumps out). Powder should just go straight to 'gloop' consistency, I should think (provided you've got the water/powder ratio correct).

[SimonW]

Long time lurker here.
This thread brings back memories of several messy clay sessions with a then girlfriend who lived near Stoke-on-Trent....long before wam was generally known, and well before all the pottery factories in Stoke closed down!
She worked in the office, but was able to get small quantities of grey clay powder...when mixed with water it made a pourable soup known as "slip" when it was used for its proper purpose of casting pots. VERY messy.
I always wanted to have a go on a potters wheel....or ideally for her to have a go while wearing something totally inappropriate like a cocktail dress or smart suit, but that sadly remained a fantasy.
Happy days.

[dunktankbabes]

Thanks for the link guys, the prices are really good. We did find a place up north that were as cheap but needed to purchase by the pallet , ie , 1000kg !
I`m sure we'll be ordering some soon to fill the dunk tank with....


www.wamextreme.com
www.dunktankdownload.com

[SimonW]

Just a thought following on from my previous post....anyone know any pics of videos involving potters wheels, lots of clay, girls, smart clothes and things-not-going-as-planned?

Thanks.

[dunktankbabes]

[quote="Claymore_wam"] I can usually make a 12.5Kg sack last maybe 10-12 sessions, with each session using about a gallon of thick creamy gloop. At that rate, you're looking at about a gallon per Kg, though your preference for gloopiness may give you more or less than that.

quote]

Is this for the powdered clay ? Need to mix up about 400 gallons , just wondered how much i would need to buy. I can get bentonite fairly cheaply , but the clay looks more fun !

[Lizzie_Claymore]

No that's for the 'ready to go' sacks. I make it last so long because (a) I only mix enough for about half a bucket at a time and (b) I scoop as much back out of the clothes as possible into the bucket for re-use a few days later (by which time any additional water picked up during the rinsing off has evaporated). I use it in the bath and you can't go bunging a lot down the drains as you'll block them.

Thus, when I referred to 10-12 sessions, that was including the recycled ones. The actual mixing ratio to make a nice thick heavy gloop is probably something like 2Kg per gallon. If you wanted a 'slosh' mix then I'd guess that this would be about 1Kg per gallon, though (strangely enough) I've never done a scientific study of it! (Mixing metric and imperial measurements there but you get the drift!) I can't see that this would be significantly different for modelling clay or bentonite - it's probably going to be much the same.

Blimey 400 gallons!!???!!!! What the hell are you going to do with it afterwards? You really do need to think carefully about that. Given the higher mixing ratio, above, you're probably looking at getting on for a tonne of clay! (Remember - it is very dense stuff.) You can't just go pouring that down the drain and the mixing time would be phenomenal as well. It's not going to be too cheap either - you're looking at just over £200 per tonne in bulk (and how you handle that lot in one go is anyone's guess - I assume they deliver it in a drop bag on a lorry with a Hiab crane but you'll need to keep it dry until you're ready to mix it or it'll set like concrete).

[dunktankbabes]

That does sound like a lot of clay, when I worked it out using Bentonite it wasn`t any where near that quantity.
I may see if I can get a sample to play around with and work out wether I need quite so much. Its for the dunk tank so doesn`t really need to be super gloopy, more of a custard or porridge consistancy.

[Lizzie_Claymore]

...er.... Bentonite IS clay! (Just a slightly different version of the many, many available). I was only estimating based on the very small quantities that I tend to use in a bucket and, as I say, I haven't really done any accurate survey on it. If you're happy with your calculations then go with those.

Just using the Potclays site again, it looks as though Bentonite is still going to cost you about £200 per quarter tonne in non-powdered bulk form. If we assume that 250Kg per 400 gallons will give you a thick enough mix, that would equate to about a quarter of one of those one-tonne drop bags that the builders' merchants use. It could be ok I suppose. I guess the trick would be to slowly fill up with water and keep mixing in the clay so that you haven't added all the water or all the clay first so you can still adjust if you need to but it's going to take ages to mix. If you're ok with handling bulk non-powder then the cheapest 'plastic' clay seems to be ESVA ball clay at just under half that price.

Probably the best bet is the cheapest bulk powder they appear to do, China Clay Powder (which should be nice and white anyway!) at about £116 per quarter-tonne, which is a lot cheaper than the Bentonite, actually, and still in powder form which should make for easier mixing. As you say, maybe order a 10Kg sack of that as a test (£6.74) and do some accurate water measurements to work out how much you'll need for the consistency you want.

I'd be interested to hear how you get on. I've not tried China Clay but if you think it works ok and if I can get that in powdered form from my local art supplier then I'll give that a go next time I need to buy some in. (Mixing the modelling clay from solid block form is pretty laborious!)

By the way, beware of the models ingesting any Bentonite if you use that - it's sometimes used as a laxative! Conversely, China Clay (Kaolin) is used in anti-diarrhoea remedy so might result in constipation (although I think the majority of that product relies on the corresponding use of morphine that is mixed with it)!

[dunktankbabes]

I can get Bentonite reasonably cheaply if I buy a tonne direct. I had some samples delivered and had some good results, it was just commiting to a tonne of the stuff I wasn`t so sure about. lol
I`ll get a small pack of the other clay from potclays and have a play around.

[Lizzie_Claymore]

I totally agree! You don't want to commit to a tonne of something you don't know about! I think a lot has to do with the plasticity which, I gather, can vary quite considerably from type to type.

Interested to see how it turns out anyway. Keep us posted!