or bentonite wh some gelling or thickening will be seen to occur after several minutes of stirring following the blending of the water and the gelling or thickening agent solid potassium manganate oxidizer is added as well as any stabilizers or accelerators and continued mixing takes place until the desired viscosity is reached stabilizers are used to slow down the deterioration of the activity of the bleach when chlorine based oxidizers are used stabilizers include compositions such as soda ash added in about 4 by weight of the composition which has been shown to help maintain chlorine activity while the composition is in storage and gives the composition more body it is found that certain ingredients added to the composition such as sodium bicarbonate accelerate the activity of the composition that is increases the effectiveness in achieving a given look in a faster period of time than utilizing the composition without such accelerators sodium bicarbonate is typically utilized as an accelerator using about 1 2 to 2 by weight when sodium bicarbonate is used as an accelerator it also helps achieve an easier cleanup an additional component may be added to the gel composition to adjust the ph for example acetic acid has been found to be effective in reducing the ph of the gel composition when such reduction is called for altering the ph of the garment before it gets tumbled with the composition such as in a.