# Natural Soap Colours



## Crystal_fa (Oct 21, 2010)

Someone HELP please! I've tried with no luck to make my own natural soap colours for melt and pour soap. I just tried a blend of olive oil and clay in my slow cooker with no luck! How do you turn the powders to natural colour? I've also tried just adding the clay to the already melted base and it sinks to the bottom! Any ideas out there???? 
I'm new to this forum...hope I posed right!!! :roll:


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## agriffin (Oct 21, 2010)

Clay is sometimes heavy and will sink.  

Some ideas:

Let your soap set up a bit, give a final stir and pour into your mold. 

Have you tried adding spice powders to MP.  They might be lighter than clay and will suspend better.  Maybe parsley, tomato powder...etc.

You can also get a suspension base which holds stuff like that better.


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## jadiebugs1 (Oct 22, 2010)

I have to be honest, I don't understand the question.  Sorry :cry:

ETA: (edited to add)   BTW!!!  Hello and welcome!!!!


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## Crystal_fa (Oct 22, 2010)

The question was; how do I colour melt and pour soap naturally? I like how people make their soaps with the earthy tones but have tried with no luck to accomplish this myself!


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## jadiebugs1 (Oct 22, 2010)

Oh....well I haven't colored MP with anything "natural"...I like to use oxides dispersed in glycerin....they don't bleed, they are natural looking colors.  HTH!


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## VelvetDragon (Oct 22, 2010)

I guess it depends on what you consider natural! It's a difficult line to draw.

Oxides and mica occur in nature, of course, as metals and minerals. I've seen several micas which are colored with carmine (aka crimson lake, natural red 4, cochineal), which is from insects, especially purples. Many colors are made from combining different minerals. Yes, many of these things are made in a lab and processed -- but so is the clay.  Clays have to go through quite a bit of processing to be made into the form that is sold as cosmetic grade. (I buy it for making glazes, etc. for ceramics, and much of it still has to go through a lot of processing to get to that stage too.)

So if you're going for the aesthetics of the natural coloring, I think you can widen your search for some of those beautiful oxides, which are probably much easier to incorporate into M&P than clay.

However, I have seen people do beautiful things with herbs and seasonings in M&P as was mentioned earlier by agriffin. Spirulina gives a beautiful green, though I'm told if you use too much it does have a smell (beachy?). I saw it used lightly to make speckles in clear M&P soap, as well. 

When I was putting ground up oatmeal in my M&P, I had to stir and stir until it was thick before it stayed suspended through the whole soap. Basically RIGHT before that stage when you have to call it off and remelt the whole thing.  So maybe that would help with the clay!


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## Crystal_fa (Nov 8, 2010)

Thanks for the info. I have made a beautiful oats and honey soap using cocoa powder to swirl it brown. The trick to using ground oats, you're right, is to let your soap cool slightly before you pour it into your mold. I let it sit for a few minutes and cover it was plastic wrap to avoid bubbles forming on top. Then I stir in my oats and cocoa and it suspends nicely throughout the mold! As for other herbs/powders, I have yet to successfully try. I'm doing a craft show in 2 weeks so need to get creating!


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## carebear (Nov 8, 2010)

Oxides are not natural, really.  But then nothing really is anyway.
You might find this article helpful: http://www.teachsoap.com/colorants.html


Of course, petroleum is as "natural" as anything else (It's "mined" AND it's the product of decayed organic material - what could be more natural?), and there are no laws defining the use of the word so just go with your heart on it.


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## Catmehndi (Nov 11, 2010)

Some people make their own colors by boiling things like beets, asparagus and such and then reducing the cooking water until there's hardly anything left - it's a super concentrated color and you don't need a whole lot. You can then use ice cube trays to freeze your color and keep until you're ready to use.

If you let your base evaporate a little, it should be easy to replace the 'lost' moisture with the liquid color.

If you want to color with clay, it's like using corn starch: you have to dilute it in a little bit of the base first and then add to the rest of your base - that way, it won't sink or lump.

Other option are spices:
Turmeric for yellow, add paprika for orange, on its own, paprika gives a peachy hue, cinnamon will make it brown and so on.

Good luck!


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