# Woad & Spirulina as M&P colorants



## AlchemyandAshes (Jul 12, 2012)

My first post!   You all are so creative and inspiring...so hopefully one of you can share a little soap wisdom on this~
I am using only natural colorants in my soaps. I've never tried these in M&P, so this was unchartered waters for me. My mission today was to make a 6 lb batch of WATER ALCHEMY soap (my soap business is ALCHEMY AND ASHES). I wanted a layered effect going from sky blue to a blue green. First, I layered my loaf mold with coarse sea salt...then added 1 lb Clear M&P mixed with 1/2 tsp of my essential oils and 1/8 tsp WOAD...second layer was 1 lb Opaque M&P mixed with 1/2 tsp of my essential oils and 1/8 tsp WOAD...third layer was 4 lbs Opaque M&P with the remainder of my essential oils and 1 tsp SPIRULINA. My essential oils (2.5 oz total) were Spearmint, Grapefruit, Ylang Ylang, Rosewood, and Tangerine (nice "watery" scent when blended). The scent is perfect and it masked the "high tide" scent of the Spirulina, which I was worried about. THE PROBLEM IS...ALL THE LAYERS, INCLUDING THE CLEAR/WOAD LAYER, ARE GREEN. The middle layer is slightly blue. It's pretty, but not sure why the Woad didn't stay blue??? I was afraid it might "grey out", but instead, it "greened out". ANY IDEAS??? Was it the EO's possibly? This isn't a problem in CP or HP soaps.

I may need to rename this "SWAMP WATER ALCHEMY"  :wink:
[attachment=1:rn9yuv71]Water_Alchemy_Post.jpg[/attachment:rn9yuv71][attachment=1:rn9yuv71]Water_Alchemy_Post.jpg[/attachment:rn9yuv71]


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## Hazel (Jul 12, 2012)

I'm sorry I can answer your question but I think your soap looks great. The colors remind me of the color of a lake we used to vacation at every summer. The water also had varied greenish tints from the algae and all the trees surrounding it. Plus, there was whitish foam at some places where the waves hit the shore. Maybe you could call it Lake Verde Alchemy?


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## AlchemyandAshes (Jul 12, 2012)

Thanks! I was hoping the salt would look like when ocean waves crest and foam up...so at least that worked!   
The high school here in Land O' Lakes (FL) mascot is the Gators, and their football field is called "The Swamp", so maybe this would appeal to the locals! It reminds me of a pond...but smells better  :wink:


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## Hazel (Jul 13, 2012)

Then you should stick with Swamp Water because I think it would appeal to locals and football boosters. I thought you just said that as a joke but it might become your most popular soap.


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## judymoody (Jul 13, 2012)

I think your soap looks really pretty!

I don't do M&P but in CP soap, spirulina can end up smelling kind of funky, even a little swamp-like!     Hope that's not the case with M&P.  I like the look you achieved with this.


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## AlchemyandAshes (Jul 13, 2012)

I was really worried about the funky-swamp smell of the Spirulina, but after sitting all night, the soap still smells like my EOs...I think the Spearmint helped, with that being the predominant smell. Now I just need to figure out why the Woad went green!  :?


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## Genny (Jul 13, 2012)

Alchemy&Ashes said:
			
		

> Now I just need to figure out why the Woad went green!  :?



Most likely because most of those EO's are in the yellowish hue category.


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