OKAY YALL. so i ordered some clay, for a custom im doing with dixie and if ANYONE can help me in how im mixing this....

or did i get the wrong shit?? can this be used?? i am using it as a slimy mud...not thick....thin clay. its for using on miss dixie and i dont need a LOT.

did i get the wrong shit or am i doing this wrong? its clumping right now....but the stuff i let sit overnight did not....it stirred well but doesnt seem like the coverage is going to be rad...i may have to add some color to it for the coverage....

OR do i order something else that can get here by thursday?? i dont need much....i can always have ariel pick me up some on her way here....someone let me know if im wasting my time...thank yeeeewww!!

I've only used clay a few times, and I remember it mainly being pretty thick.

If you want thinner, it sounds like you'd want something more akin to the casting slip potters use (which is still clay, essentially)

It may just be that the water/clay ratio to get the texture you want is off? I'd try breaking up the clumps and experiment with adding a bit more water to a smaller sample of the clay to see if you can get the consistency you want.

This might help too:

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/daily/ceramic-supplies/pottery-clay/how-to-make-casting-slip-clay-body/

The paragraph towards the bottom on deflocculating is probably most relevant.

Good luck!

well i just went in there and used the whisk against some of the stuff i let sit in cool water overnight and the consistency is good!!

its the color it leaves when it goes on you....it is good but id rather have it darker....so i am just gonna add a hint of food coloring


i think im gonna be okay! yay!! thank you for that. using the whisk was a good idea. NOT using hot water...that will clump it up IMMEDIATELY and mixing some that has set overnight in water and formed into a ball, you dump it in a bowl and whisk it....and it comes out fantastic.

Ahem... mudwrestle.us

I used to buy 6 or 7 50 lb bags of "OM-4" at a ceramics wholesaler in Tacoma WA and throw them in the wading pool we used at the venue. At the time it was $6.50 a bag

The finer the clay, the more it clumps, but it always smooths out after a few hours of sitting. Stomping around in it helps too. I highly recommend not using a flat-nose shovel in a plastic wading pool with 300 lbs of wet clay in it. Can you guess why?

Clays tend to come in white, grey, or red. For anything else, you have to improvise. OM4 is a fairly light grey and we left it like that because it helped to spread the available light more evenly and neutrally.

I have had consistent success with bentonite powder, fairly similar to Soundguy's OM4, and have also used kaolin. I find a five gallon plastic pail, and a drywall mixer attatchment for a heavy duty electric drill works wonderfully. once mixed, let it stand, mix again. you can add water SPARINGLY if it gets too thick, but less than 1/4 cup at a time. you will get great coverage.

I hope this is useful to you and others.

Ahhh...I am so jealous!! 100% bentonite...ya got the good stuff! It will be sort of clear/transparent, but should be silky smooth!

The big thing bentonite needs is TIME. The water actually needs to enter the molecular structure of the clay. You can try to speed that up by taking the bucket of powder and adding water to that... stir / mix a lot as you add water and it should mix to a smooth consistency. But it really needs time to be 100%.

If you have a bucket of water and pour the clay in, it will likely clump and you'll be chasing clumps of clay around in a big bucket of water.

But even if it does clump, as you said, you can let it set for 24 hours or longer, the clumps should break down with enough mixing.... and by 'mixing' I mean ideally a couple of bodies wrestling around in a deep pool of it!

Good luck!

We ve got this natural 'red' clay running through here. Used to feed a dozen brick factories back when they made kiln fired bricks, Nice slurry after rain.

yeah i didnt like the "clear transparency snail trail" it left behind. it was tan in color but when you put it on it left a snail trail of sorts mixed with some of the tan. i didnt like that. so i added black food coloring to THAT batch. i had two batches of clay. that stuff, and then I had some stuff i got from my local potter, mixed that day and put in paint cans that was thick and awesome and the color was tan. my stuff i ordered unded up being a really dark grey so we had a cool mix of thick and REALLY coating stuff from the pottery place...and then we had this darker grey, smooth as silk stuff. really cool mix! i loved it! you all will love the vid once it comes out