2024-03-18
bentonite-Bentonite is a great glaze suspender
Kaolin particles are typically on the order of 10 microns in diameter. Ball clay particles are usually smaller but are still several microns in diameter. A micron is very small, by the way. A kaolin particle is roughly a tenth the diameter of a human hair. Good bentonites, however, are much smaller yet. They are typically less than one micron in diameter. This means that there are many more bentonite particles per unit weight than for the same weight of kaolin. The far higher number of bentonite particles helps to suspend other ingredients in a glaze.