weberworks

Here is a decent amount of the clay, dried and ground

Hello! I have been working with wild clay from the shores of Lake Superior on and off for about a year, and have a few questions. First, I've been using the wet processing method and can never get the clay to settle properly. I've used vinegar to hopefully flocculate the clay and get rid of some of the lime present but it hasn't worked. When I attempted this I used about 3 quarts of food grade vinegar in roughly 60 pounds of clay done in a 5 gallon bucket, and there was clear water for about an inch from the surface. After this inch there was a distinct change to suspended clay particles. Would I benefit from adding more vinegar or another flocculant like Epsom salt, or maybe try dumping off all of the clay laden water to a certain point anyways? Second, I have been looking to get a mineral analysis of the clay body to see the quartz and feldspar concentration, as well as looking for other things like lime, iron, copper, lead, etc. Is this just superfluous information or genuinely useful? At the moment I don't know what the clay fires to, I just know that it doesn't vitrify by cone 05 and melts at cone 6 Third, I've noticed that the clay cracks quite readily when working the clay by hand. What is the easiest way to fix this? Attached is an image of the clay I've processed so far.