Clay Help!! Sodium Bentonite - New Zealand

[david s]

I do not see why you need powdered clay the wet potters clay added to water and mixed to a slurry could be added to the mix water to incorporate into the home brew

Attempting to liquefy clay from a plastic state is quite difficult and takes a lot of energy and time mixing. It is far easier to break it into nothing larger than a fist then allow it to dry. Then when soaked in water it will break down readily into a thick slurry. Unfortunately it still requires lots of mechanical mixing to break down fine lumps of clay which you certainly don't want in your mortar. In addition you have to separate out any larger bits of foreign material. In this state a clay slip weighs around 1.8 kg/litre if that helps. I've processed tons of clay and made lots of slip and it is less work to simply pulverise dried clay to a powder and put it through a course seive.

If you can't obtain builders clay try pottery suppliers in Wellington, Waikato or Nelson.

[UtahBeehiver]

What about kaolin? It is a product of NZ should be easily available, less costly, and in dry powder form.

[jes2xu]

Thanks Utah,

Had a look into it without too much luck. Mostly beauty products.

I have however gone ahead and started digging my own. The best I could find locally was actually in my back yard, but it had a VERY high sand content. I ended up washing it and drying it. I think its almost ready to start pulverising.

Im looking forward to getting started

In the mean time friend has given me a lead on "fire clay" through a social club that operates in the area. Hopefully that pans out

[david s]

Try here.
http://www.wellingtonpotterssupplies...uct-catalogue/.
Look in raw materials, you want ball clay FX $54/25 kg bag.