Thank you very much for the input gentlemen.
Last night I added and mixed a 5th gallon of water to the 5 lbs of bentonite. In the morning, the consistency was more to my liking but still a little wiggly and not self-leveling. Those are two qualities that do not appeal to me personally. We are what we are.
Hey, I only have one shot at this. You guys have plenty of options to experiment.
The other thing that I am not liking about this HDD bentonite (at 5 gallons water to 5 lbs bentonite) is that it really does not coat. It's more like slime or glop. Very WAM-y but not what I had in mind for the mud spa. Also a little slow to rinse off. Very clumpy/clingy.
I must admit that if a person sank to their neck in this they would probably be very stuck.
UPDATE: The bentonite is starting to self level and coat after 3 full days of hydrating. I did my first "step in" and it was enjoyable. It coated a little clumpy but maybe in a few days it will coat more evenly. The color has less green hue. It is now more of a tan that I associate with Elmers contact cement. It did scrape off reasonably well and it rinsed off fairly quickly. Like Fred588 said, give it time. I definitely will.
Very interesting experiment!!
Also, I did a some research on local pottery clay distributors and it turns out that I can purchase 50lbs of white ball clay for $11 so comparable to pure bentonite. I can pick it up myself which will save the shipping cost except for my fuel but I can run some errands while I am there to nullify the pure fetish expense of the venture
. I plan to evaluate this soon.
I am impressed with how much water the bentonite can absorb which makes it more cost effective than other clays. I have read that the ball clay will have some of the characteristics of bentonite (elasticity), but because there is kaolin in the mix it should have the creamy coating properties that I want to experience. Color ... we will see. Colorant ... more reading.
Fred588, I note that your bentonite pit is very creamy and the color is a solid medium grey. With so much variability in bentonite, this HDD clay from WYO-BEN could be on the other side of the creamy and color spectrum. Like you have said, maybe that will improve with time.
Sorry for the long post. I am a night person.