# Natures Rainbow



## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

Yesterday I made a soap I call Natures Rainbow.  Each color is a natural colorant.  Its scented with lavender, grapefruit, orange 5x and litsea.  Making this soap was super fun.  It did break through when I poured the second layer.  I just poured that one a little too hard.  Oh well, guess I have to do it again!!!  LOL!  Happy Soaping!:razz:


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## Genny (Feb 26, 2013)

Gorgeous!  Can I ask what the deep red is?


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

Its Madder Root infused oil.  I stirred the infusion to make sure to get the powder mixed into the infused oil. Then I added a touch of the Paprika oil because it was looking a tad on the brown side.  The Paprika infusion was settled though, no solids.


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## three_little_fishes (Feb 26, 2013)

Oh my gosh, that is so pretty!! I love rainbow colored anything!


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

Thank you


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## ruby61 (Feb 26, 2013)

very pretty!:


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## Koshka (Feb 26, 2013)

wow! Beautiful!!!


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## Momonga (Feb 26, 2013)

How beautiful!  How cute!  When you're grumpy because you woke up at 5:00 am to go to work on a Saturday, you step into the shower, pick up one of these, and... instant cheer!


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## lizflowers42 (Feb 26, 2013)

WOW!  Did you use indigo for the blue??
Could sure use a rainbow over the midwest right now!  Yuck, freezing rain, rain, now snow.  And this is just today folks!


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## Genny (Feb 26, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> Could sure use a rainbow over the midwest right now!  Yuck, freezing rain, rain, now snow.  And this is just today folks!



Would it be mean if I gloated & said it's a toasty 39 degrees here in upper Wisconsin right now?


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

Genny said:


> Would it be mean if I gloated & said it's a toasty 39 degrees here in upper Wisconsin right now?


 
Genny! For shame  Its 54 here :twisted: We all are in need of spring cheer though for sure!!!! I lived in Nebraska for 22 years:think: so I know how winter can drag on and on.


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

lizflowers42 said:


> WOW! Did you use indigo for the blue??
> Could sure use a rainbow over the midwest right now! Yuck, freezing rain, rain, now snow. And this is just today folks!


 
Yes the blue is indigo.  Sorry your weather is so dreary :-|


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## lizflowers42 (Feb 26, 2013)

Genny said:


> Would it be mean if I gloated & said it's a toasty 39 degrees here in upper Wisconsin right now?



:evil: 

That was our weather yesterday.  Oh well, more free soft water for soapmaking!


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## RocknRoll (Feb 26, 2013)

Those look really cool! Glad that you had fun making them! :mrgreen:


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## sweethavenarts (Feb 26, 2013)

AngelMama, would you be willing to share what you used for each color? pretty Please with rainbows on top?


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## Mommysoaper (Feb 26, 2013)

So pretty!  Amazing what bright colors you can get using natural elements!


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

sweethavenarts said:


> AngelMama, would you be willing to share what you used for each color? pretty Please with rainbows on top?


 
Sure.   All plant materials were mixed into slightly warmed oil and then steeped for a few days.  These were the infused oils I used to color the layers.  I added the different colored infusions at trace.

I refer to using an infused oil as 
STIRRED (meaning I stirred the powdered plant material that had settled down to the bottom of the infusion back into the oil so that the soap would include the plant material).

Or SETTLED (meaning I used just the infused oil in the soap, carefully pouring so as to not disturb the settled plant material at the bottom of the infusion).

Red~ Madder Root Powder(stirred) with a touch of Paprika Pwd(settled)
Orange~ Paprika Powder(settled)
Yellow~ Turmeric Powder(settled)
Green~ Alfalfa Powder(stirred)
Blue~ Indigo Powder(stirred)
Purple~ Alkanet Powder(settled)

I wasn't really going for the speckled look.  But some of the plant materials, even after a few days, didn't transfer their color with much intensity.  That is why I stirred some of the infusions so as to include the plant material and get the color from it.  I might have better luck with the color infusion on those if I left them to steep for longer.


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## Sammi_552 (Feb 26, 2013)

Happy soap! Love it.


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## AngelMomma (Feb 26, 2013)

One of my kids got home from school and called it 'Hippy Soap' and the other said it looked like the candy 'Dots'  I like the first comment, but now when I look at it I think of that gross candy that sticks to your teeth.  Harumph!  I will have to improve the shape on this version!


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## dianne70 (Feb 26, 2013)

This is truly beautiful....and the fact that you got those beautiful colors from natural ingredients.....absolutely blown away


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## Badger (Feb 26, 2013)

Wow, that is beautiful!  Very nice job!


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## melstan775 (Feb 26, 2013)

That is super pretty Angel. I betit smells amazing, too. I love citrusy stuff!


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## 2lilboots (Feb 27, 2013)

Awesome job with the natural colorants.  Very bright beautiful soaps!


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## DWinMadison (Feb 28, 2013)

How on earth did you keep the colors from bleeding?  I thought natural colors bleed.


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## AngelMomma (Feb 28, 2013)

DWinMadison said:


> How on earth did you keep the colors from bleeding? I thought natural colors bleed.


 

I wasn't under that impression.  I just mixed the colored oils in at light trace.  The bit of mixing between the red and orange was because I poured the orange too hard.  I have seen lots of soaps with swirls or layers that were done with different herb/plant colorants.  Maybe there are some colorants that act differently I don't know.  I am learning more about natural colorants all the time, its a process. The layers still look the same as when I first cut them.  

I saw an old thread pop up that someone bumped yesterday I think.  It had lots of good info on natural colorants.  I will see if I can find it again.


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## AngelMomma (Feb 28, 2013)

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/sorrel-root-ladys-bedstraw-pink-soap-24137/

I am sure I have seen more than this, but at least I found this one.  I was trying to think of the soaps that I did the colors seperate and I have done a few.  None of them bled out of the areas they were swirled in.  But that may just be the kinds I was using.  The fun thing is that you probably have 3 or 4 things in your spice cupboard that you could try out.  And it really doesn't take all that much to get some great color infused into some oil.  I like to warm the oil up just a bit to get it started off.


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## semplice (Mar 1, 2013)

My favorite soap of the day!


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## hlee (Mar 1, 2013)

Nice!


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## AngelMomma (Mar 6, 2013)

This soap now smells like Fruit Loops from the combo of Essential Oils that I put in it.  Perfect for my little people


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## 100%Natural (Mar 7, 2013)

That is gorgeous and the colours are so rich!  Have you noticed any coloured bubbles at all?


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## AngelMomma (Mar 7, 2013)

Nope, but it still has plenty of curing left before the final word on that.


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## SueSoap (Mar 7, 2013)

Lovely soap.  What sort of mold was used?


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## AngelMomma (Mar 7, 2013)

SueSoap said:


> Lovely soap. What sort of mold was used?


 
Corrogated Plastic cut to fit into a loaf mold.  Mine still needs work as the curved shape isn't exactly 'rainbow' smooth.  I cut through half of the cells in the appropriate areas to get the corro plastic to bend.  I also had to extend out the sides of the loaf mold or its just too tiny with the added plastic.  Luckily the sides of my wooden loaf mold are removable so I added a piece of wood  in just to accomodate the corro plastic, which can then be removed for regular use.


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## bodhi (Apr 11, 2013)

Stunning!  Did the colors morph?


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

Well, this is the bar I have at my kitchen sink right now.  I don't notice a huge difference.  The alkanet turned more purple.  And maybe the green is a little more olive green.  What do you think?  We love it!


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## bodhi (Apr 11, 2013)

Wow, thats just fabulous.  I think you said in an earlier post that when you tried again you would ease up on the first two pours so they didnt mix?  I love that they did.  I think it adds to it very nicely.  Mind if i ask what oil you infused in?  Looks like they all darkened a bit, but they all still work perfectly together.  Put one one of those on the mantle.  Well done!!


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

I usually infuse in Olive Oil.  Its in almost, if not all my recipes.  So that makes it convenient to infuse at any time and have it for future use in just about any recipe.  Thank you for your kind comments!!!


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## bodhi (Apr 11, 2013)

Back to the drawing board for me then.  I cant get a purple from alkanet, ever, and my indigo's are way too dark.  You're welcome


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## WallFlower (Apr 11, 2013)

That is awesome! I love it! And I especially love how vivid the natural colors are! This has inspired me to start using natural colors. I'm going to see about getting some madder root and alkanet powder now...


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## christinak (Apr 11, 2013)

That is so adorable!  I love the shape and the way the colors bend does have a "hippie" look.  I try to use lots of natural colorants but haven't tried alkanet yet.  I usually add the powders at trace because I'm confused about using infused oils.  When I do multiple colors, I pour my oil/lye mix into different cups and add the color.  If my colors are already in the oils, how do I add the lye mix to them and stir til trace?


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

Ok, so for example if a recipe has 10 ounces of Olive oil (among others of course)......I will make the soap like usual, except I withhold the amount of infused oils from the recipe. Instead of using 10 ounces, I would use 6. So if I think that I am going to divide into 2 different colors and I have strong infused colored oil, I would put 2 ounces of each colored oil into the two seperate containers that I would be dividing the batter into. I would mix the soap batter to light trace and then pour 1/2 into each of the containers that contain the infused colored oils. I end up with the correct amount of Olive oil in the end. And I usually SF at about 5% so if its not quite dark enough, and I add a touch more of the colored oil its just fine. 

As far as doing an infusion its alot more simple than you thing. Its very important to mark your containers (I use sterile glass canning jars) And keep notes. That way you never lose track of whats in an infusion and if you ever use one and you think its not strong enough you could adjust that so that you get a stronger color saturation. I usually put my glass container on the scale, weigh out the oil, warm the oil just a tad bit, then add the plant material. I give it some really good shakes, especially that first day. But I also go through and shake them up when I remember. If you have the patience to wait at least a week they will be much much better than if you use them the first couple of days. With most I like to get the color into the oil and JUST USE the oil to color the soap, not the plant material. To do this without getting specks of the plant material you can just allow your infusion to settle for at least a day before you pour off the colored oil gently from the top. Try a practice infusion with something that you likely already have in your spice cupboard. Maybe Turmeric(yellow) or Paprika(peachy to orange)????

One of my lavender soaps has 10 or 12 ounces of infused alkanet oil. Its a really nice dark purple.


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

And sorry if any of that is confusing, today is a splitting headache day :/


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## christinak (Apr 11, 2013)

Thank you.  I love you!  One question....why would you use 6 oz. instead of 10?  That probably has an obvious answer but Im missing it, lol.  I have tons of infused oils...I just didn't know how to incorporate them!  That is AWESOME!


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

christinak said:


> Thank you. I love you! One question....why would you use 6 oz. instead of 10? That probably has an obvious answer but Im missing it, lol. I have tons of infused oils...I just didn't know how to incorporate them! That is AWESOME!


 
I make the soap using the 6oz of Olive Oil(plus the others), divide in 1/2 into each of the two containers which would have 2oz of colored oil in each container(I said 3oz before, but the headache).  6+2+2=10  After its all mixed and poured you end up with your 10oz of Olive Oil.


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

A simpler example might be....

If you have a recipe with 10oz of Olive Oil and you want it to be yellow. So you substitute 5oz of annato infused Olive oil for 5oz of the plain Olive Oil. And in that case if its just a one color soap you can just go ahead and add it in the beginning.

eta: the best thing is that you get to experiment with the concentration of your infusions and the rate at which you use them.  It really is super fun.


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## christinak (Apr 11, 2013)

Thanks a million!


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## AngelMomma (Apr 11, 2013)

Your very welcome!  I know there are also some really good threads on using natural colorants.  You might find additional tips and other peoples methods by searching through some of those as well.


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## newbie (Apr 11, 2013)

I don't think I've seen such vibrant color from natural colorants and I'm most impressed by your red. I too love the look you got from the breakthrough of the red into the orange. It adds a great movement into the soap. It's been a long time since I've used paprika and turmeric- I may just have to go back and re-experiment so thank you for the inspiration and all the information!


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