FreeShip- Magnesium Sulfate, Clay Plasticizer, Flocculant, Glaze Suspension- (Rebate on orders with 3 or more FreeShip items!)

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Got feet? On them all day and they're sore? Take the Epsom Salt Soaking Cure! Magnesium sulfate is sold in grocery and drug stores as Epsom Salt (back in the day, we called it epsom salts, the plural).
It's widely known and has been used for a couple of centuries in medical treatments. It's also used in agriculture and more recently in more esoteric and controversial medicinal treatments. It has niche uses in cosmetics, beauty, and skin care.
In the last 100 years, it has mainly been used dissolved in warm water for soaking sore muscles and feet.

Before getting to the more common uses for it, I found a ceramic use for magnesium sulfate that I didn't know. It acts as a flocculant (the opposite, a deflocculant, it reduces water needed for a slip) and a plasticizer in clay. It is mentioned in the Digital Fire resource under the common name, epsom salt, { https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/epsom_salts_292.html } :

"Magnesium sulfate is most commonly employed in ceramics as a flocculant. It thickens and gels suspensions by electrostatically charging particles so that they attract each other more. This not only suspends them in the slurry but makes them stay put on non-porous surfaces (by virtue of the gelling mechanism)...
The most effective use strategy is to make a saturated solution (30g dissolved in 100ml of water). If the crystals are added directly it takes time for them to dissolve and act and it is easy to overdo it and thicken the slurry too much (if you do not give the crystals time to dissolve)...
The addition of Epsom salts is commonly done with engobes. A gelled engobe will apply in a even coat and stay in place even though it takes time to dry. Without the epsom salt addition, it will run and drip (even with a low water content). It is better to add epsom salts as a saturated solution (rather than in powderized form)...
Epsom salt additions can be invaluable for glazes, its enables creating a thixotropic (gelled) slurry that applies evenly, holds in place and goes on in the right thickness on porous or dense bisque ware. When the slurry has a sympathetic specific gravity, about 2g per gallon of epsom salts should gel it. Slurries containing CMC gum will not gel this way. Others may fail to gel because they lack adequate surface area to react electrolytically (e.g. they only contain kaolin, no ball clay). Surface area can be greatly increased by incorporating bentonite in the recipe. Kaolin can be substituted gram-for-gram for bentonite (they are both clays) with minimal effect on fired results. 2% should be enough.
Some clay body manufacturers add Epsom salts to their clay mixes to improve plasticity and stabilize bodies against the thixotropic and spontaneous softening effects of certain soluble compounds in the mix (e.g. soda feldspar, nepheline syenite). It is typical to use .2-.3%..."

Here is a reference to the plasticity enhancement for clays in the online Ceramic Industry Magazine, the whole article is here { https://www.ceramicindustry.com/articles/87856-ppp-stoneware-clay-body-formulas---part-3-plasticity } :
"Adding about 5 oz of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) per 100 lbs of dry clay formula (approximately 0.3% of the formula) can increase plasticity on another level. Epsom salts increase the attraction of clay platelets in the moist clay state and cause the clay to become flocculated. Clay platelets are then drawn together, similar to the way in which the north and south poles of a magnet are attracted and bind together. The overall effect is a tight, plastic clay body with good throwing properties. Each clay body will require a slightly different percentage of Epsom salts due to the individual materials in the formula. Too high a percentage of Epsom salts can cause salt migration to the drying clay surface, which can result in blistering and carbon being trapped in the clay. Adding the Epsom salts to the water and then adding that mixture to the clay mixing operation can help ensure that the salts are dispersed evenly throughout the batch."

Back to the health, beauty care, and garden uses for magnesium sulfate:
Wikipedia says { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_sulfate } :
"...Epsom salt has been traditionally used as a component of bath salts. Epsom salt can also be used as a beauty product. Athletes use it to soothe sore muscles, while gardeners use it to improve crops. It has a variety of other uses: for example, Epsom salt is also effective in the removal of splinters...
Magnesium sulfate is a common mineral pharmaceutical preparation of magnesium, commonly known as Epsom salt, used both externally and internally. Magnesium sulfate is highly water-soluble and solubility is inhibited with lipids typically used in lotions. Lotions often employ the use of emulsions or suspensions to include both oil and water-soluble ingredients. Hence, magnesium sulfate in a lotion may not be as freely available to migrate to the skin nor to be absorbed through the skin, hence both studies may properly suggest absorption or lack thereof as a function of the carrier (in a water solution vs. in an oil emulsion or suspension). Temperature and concentration gradients may also be contributing factors to absorption...Externally, magnesium sulfate paste is used to treat skin inflammations such as small boils or localised infections. Known in the UK as "drawing paste", it is also used to remove splinters....Epsom salt is used...for isolation tanks. Magnesium sulfate is the main preparation of intravenous magnesium..."
The article goes on to list internal medical uses, which I won't include. It continues with agricultural uses:
"In agriculture, magnesium sulfate is used to increase magnesium or sulfur content in soil. It is most commonly applied to potted plants, or to magnesium-hungry crops, such as potatoes, roses, tomatoes, lemon trees, carrots, and peppers. The advantage of magnesium sulfate over other magnesium soil amendments (such as dolomitic lime) is its high solubility, which also allows the option of foliar feeding. Solutions of magnesium sulfate are also nearly neutral, compared with alkaline salts of magnesium as found in limestone; therefore, the use of magnesium sulfate as a magnesium source for soil does not significantly change the soil pH."
...and finally, we can't leave out:
"Magnesium sulfate is used as a brewing salt in making beer."-

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