Amazon Fuller’s Earth

[IndyFan89]

Was searching on Amazon for some Fuller’s Earth and there’s so many to pick from! Could someone give me some advice on which is best?


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[Indiana Jeff]

Assuming all the products are 100% Fullers Earth (the actual name of a type of clay) the only difference will be price. Health and beauty applications will be crazy expensive. Some listed under costuming charge a ton more to include a shaker top to the container.

You can get pounds for the same price as ounces if you check your local pet or auto supply stores. Kitty litter (without color or fragrance) and oil spill clean-up are made from fullers earth.

A quick and dirty web search shows an 8 pound bag for oil absorption for $3.99 and 25 pound bag of kitty litter for $21.44.

Generally these bags of fullers earth will be more coarse than is readily applied for costuming, but it's easy to grind some down to a powder.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Charybdis]

I got the one pound bag from Starwest Botanicals. It's usually the first one on the list. You probably won't need more than a pound of the stuff unless you are going to roll around in it!

[davidd]

Kitty litter (without color or fragrance) and oil spill clean-up are made from fullers earth.

Wait... cat litter is made from fullers earth? So you're saying that many of the people on this forum who spend hundreds of dollars or more on custom high-end hats proceed, in essence, to dump cat litter on them?

And after all the intense, sometimes heated, discussions over hat care and felt grades and reblocking, the bottom line is, y'all are intentionally dumping cat litter on your precious bespoke screen accurate original ribbon hand blocked hats?

Okay, I've always thought this hobby was a little bit crazy. But now I realize that it is full-on certifiably rubber room electro-shock candidate insane!

[Dalexs]

Well, not standard cat litter... you got to make sure its the unscented, unflavored kind...

Otherwise, you'll never get to wear it...

[Indiana Jeff]

Oh no you didn't!


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Dalexs]

Yes... yes I did!

[Charybdis]

Of course, you absolutely have to make sure that the cat did not use the litter first!!

[IndyFan89]

What tool is needed to grind kitty litter?


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[Dalexs]

Dare I say a chopper style coffee grinder?
Something like this...


Or put it in a bag, and smush it with a rolling pin. Old school milling


or REALLY old school

[IndyFan89]

So my wife does makeup for my short films and she had some left over face powder. I tested to make sure it would brush off before I did it but after I knew it would I went to town.




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[giantthugee86]

Is fullers earth hard to remove from a jacket or hat?

[Indiana Jeff]

Jackets generally not, you can wipe off the leather with a damp cloth, though it can get caught in the seams.

Hats are more difficult. The nature of the felt and ribbon being more "porous" allows for the finest particles to really get in there. A full professional cleaning is often necessary to get all of the dust off.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[giantthugee86]

Jackets generally not, you can wipe off the leather with a damp cloth, though it can get caught in the seams.

Hats are more difficult. The nature of the felt and ribbon being more "porous" allows for the finest particles to really get in there. A full professional cleaning is often necessary to get all of the dust off.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

I was going to put some on my Todd's hat. Should I reconsider?

[Indiana Jeff]

Strictly from what I've seen here, most folks who have added Fuller's Earth have had to have their hats cleaned to bring them back to looking new.

Depends on the total use of your hat. If you don't mind it looking dusted up, go for it. If you want to keep it looking clean enough for dressier wear, then I would recommend against.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Tennessee Smith]

Well, not standard cat litter... you got to make sure its the unscented, unflavored kind...

Unflavored? What kind of cat litter are you buying and why would it need a flavor?!?!?!?

[giantthugee86]

What tool should I use to put fullers earth on my fedora? I tried the sock method and made a huge mess. I'm trying to make it look like streets of cairo.

[IndyFan89]

The sock method worked great for me. Additionally I’ve heard of people detailing with a small brush or even using acrylic paint to replicate the SOC method.


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