# Which Colorant?



## Luckyone80 (Oct 20, 2014)

Which colorants can I use to mix directly into the CP soap mixture after everything is mixed and ready to pour?


----------



## Pixar (Oct 20, 2014)

I mainly use food coloring, but the color doesn't really work so i wouldn't use that. I sometimes use powdered colorant. It's really pretty.  I'm looking into other real colorants as well.


----------



## dixiedragon (Oct 20, 2014)

I use powdered oxides that way. I sprinkle it in and stick blend it in. If I want to do an in-the-pot swirl, I sprinkle the colorant and move the blender up and down directly over that spot.


----------



## IrishLass (Oct 20, 2014)

I use powdered colorants (micas, ultra-marines and oxides), but I mix them in either glycerin or a little bit of held-back batter before adding them to my main batter. They mix in nicely for me that way without leaving any speckles in my finished bars, although sometimes I add the powder in directly if I want my soap to have a speckled-look to it.

 IrishLass


----------



## Captain_Potbelly (Oct 20, 2014)

How much oxide is safe to use in CP before it starts staining? Can't seem to find any answers to this question - it only says that one should not use too much. I separated out a bit of cold process batter and tried to use a bit of color (pink ultramarine and black iron oxide), but when I followed the guidelines i found that the colors look really washed out. The black is grey and the pink is almost white. The guidelines were 1/2-1 teaspoon per pound of soap.
I'm going to try it "for real" eventually, but i want to be sure about it first. Wouldn't want to ruin a whole batch (again).


----------



## shunt2011 (Oct 20, 2014)

I use ultramarines, oxides, clays and micas.  I generally mix them in a bit of olive oil from my recipe and sometimes have to adjust it (add more) to achieve the color I want if I don't mix enough.  The only colors that can give me some trouble is black (activated charcoal) and red (red oxide & tomato Red).  Those when used too much can bleed.   I love the colorants from Nurture Soap Supplies.  They all perform well.  TKB Trading has some great ones too.


----------



## IrishLass (Oct 20, 2014)

Captain_Potbelly said:


> How much oxide is safe to use in CP before it starts staining? Can't seem to find any answers to this question - it only says that one should not use too much.


 
 That's most likely because it all depends.  Some don't show up very well unless you add a lot (ultramarine pink and ultramarine violet are 2 examples that come to mind), and some only need a little before you've gone overboard and you end up with colored lather or facial cloths, like ultramarine blue, for instance. It's all a matter of trial and error (and keeping copious notes, of course!)

 What colorants are you using and how deep/dark/bright to you wish them to be? 

 IrishLass


----------



## KatieShephard (Oct 20, 2014)

While surfing the internet today, I came across this...
http:// http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/index.php/coloring-your-cold-process-soap/

It's a great blog post, and the youtube video on the page is even better (I'm visual, so I learn better that way).  Hope it helps!


----------



## snappyllama (Oct 20, 2014)

KatieShephard said:


> While surfing the internet today, I came across this...
> http:// http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/index.php/coloring-your-cold-process-soap/
> 
> It's a great blog post, and the youtube video on the page is even better (I'm visual, so I learn better that way).  Hope it helps!



Nice post - thanks for sharing!


----------



## TheOneWhoSoaps (Oct 20, 2014)

I used clays to colour to begin with - I added the required amount to my warm oils and stick blended well before adding the lye solution. This made sure that there would be no pockets of dry clay in my cured soap. 
It worked really well, it gave the soap a solid, earthy colour. The downfall was that adding the clay at this time prevents you from doing more than one colour (unless you tried to separate by dividing the oils and lye solution into 2 containers each - I wasn't keen to try).

I have started using liquid dispersions to great effect, you can divide your lightly traced batter into separate containers to mix many different colours and shades, and then layer your soap or do a swirl in your pot. 
I've just bought my first mica, which I am yet to use.


----------



## Captain_Potbelly (Oct 21, 2014)

IrishLass said:


> That's most likely because it all depends.  Some don't show up very well unless you add a lot (ultramarine pink and ultramarine violet are 2 examples that come to mind), and some only need a little before you've gone overboard and you end up with colored lather or facial cloths, like ultramarine blue, for instance. It's all a matter of trial and error (and keeping copious notes, of course!)
> 
> What colorants are you using and how deep/dark/bright to you wish them to be?
> 
> IrishLass



I've bought ultramarine pink + violet + blue, black iron oxide, green chromium oxide, manganese violet and activated charchoal. 

I'd like to get a really black soap and one that's a dark (yet bright) purple. I've however realized that i should let my purple dreams go.

"Accidentally" spritzed a soap made with black iron oxide with rubbing alcohol. Bad idea.


----------



## OliveOil2 (Oct 21, 2014)

No don't let your purple dreams go! If you get the Purple Vibrance from Nurture Soap you can mix all kinds of shades of purple. I use 1 teaspoon per pound. 
Their Iris and Wisteria also work great too. I do agree that you will have a difficult time getting purple just using ultramarine violet or pink. I have heard that some people have success, but for me it was a waiting game to see if the grey would turn to lavender.


----------



## Captain_Potbelly (Oct 21, 2014)

OliveOil2 said:


> No don't let your purple dreams go! If you get the Purple Vibrance from Nurture Soap you can mix all kinds of shades of purple. I use 1 teaspoon per pound.
> Their Iris and Wisteria also work great too. I do agree that you will have a difficult time getting purple just using ultramarine violet or pink. I have heard that some people have success, but for me it was a waiting game to see if the grey would turn to lavender.



Thank you for the advice. Unfortunately that store is located in the US (i live in sweden) and with shipping, tax and customs that purple soap would cost me about $30 (over 100 with priority).


----------



## OliveOil2 (Oct 21, 2014)

Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize that you weren't in the US, that is way too much for colorants. Do you see ochre colorants available? I'm asking because I have a red ochre that a friend brought back from France. It is a beautiful deep terracotta color, I love it, but same story for shipping. The ochre come from iron oxide, but this one is fine milled so I don't get those little speckles, and they come in a variety of colors.


----------



## marilynmac (Oct 21, 2014)

I made some beautiful dark black soap using activated charcoal at 1/2 Tbsp ppo.  I might get away with less, even.  Certainly not more.


----------



## IrishLass (Oct 21, 2014)

Captain_Potbelly said:


> I've bought ultramarine pink + violet + blue, black iron oxide, green chromium oxide, manganese violet and activated charchoal.
> 
> I'd like to get a really black soap and one that's a dark (yet bright) purple. I've however realized that i should let my purple dreams go.
> 
> "Accidentally" spritzed a soap made with black iron oxide with rubbing alcohol. Bad idea.



As Oliveoil2 said- don't let your purple dreams go! Even though you need to use more of the ultramarine violet than some of the other colorants, you can still get a lovely purple with it. It's actually what I use the most for my go-to purple in my soaps. Here is a pic of one of my 100% coconut oil soaps with ultramarine violet swirls and green chromium oxide swirls (I used 1/3 teaspoon of the UM Violet to 1/2 cup of soap batter for the purple swirl, and just a touch over 1/8 teaspoon of the green chromium oxide to 1/2 cup soap batter for the green swirl:








I use activated charcoal as my go-to black. Here is one of my 100% coconut oil soaps colored with it (I used it at a rate of 1 teaspoon ppo for the entire batch):






And the suds did not turn out black. They were actually white.

Oh- if I want a darker shade of purple, I mix my UM Violet with some activated charcoal. And for a pastel lavender shade, I add a little TD to it. The trick to getting the violet to be purple instead of a washed-out gray is to just use more of it. Thankfully, you can use _a lot_ of UM violet without it staining your washcloths. 

Hope that helps!

IrishLass


----------



## snappyllama (Oct 21, 2014)

Pretty Soaps!


----------



## OliveOil2 (Oct 21, 2014)

Those are beautiful!


----------



## Captain_Potbelly (Nov 13, 2014)

IrishLass said:


> As Oliveoil2 said- don't let your purple dreams go! Even though you need to use more of the ultramarine violet than some of the other colorants, you can still get a lovely purple with it. It's actually what I use the most for my go-to purple in my soaps. Here is a pic of one of my 100% coconut oil soaps with ultramarine violet swirls and green chromium oxide swirls (I used 1/3 teaspoon of the UM Violet to 1/2 cup of soap batter for the purple swirl, and just a touch over 1/8 teaspoon of the green chromium oxide to 1/2 cup soap batter for the green swirl:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thank you very much! I'll try that! 
Just recently bought two purple micas, the lady said that they were both stable in cold process soap. Nope. One immediately turned brown/grey and it reminded me of my manganese-violet-incident. Yup, that's what was in it. The other one turned brown/purple. I'll be sure to try out mixing violet UM and charcoal. Thanks a bunch!


----------



## Luckyone80 (Nov 14, 2014)

Captain_Potbelly said:


> I've
> 
> "Accidentally" spritzed a soap made with black iron oxide with rubbing alcohol. Bad idea.


 
I did this same exact thing! I didn't know you couldn't use alcohol with it, my soap has droplets on it where the slcohol had sat.


----------



## KristaY (Nov 14, 2014)

I love using ultramarine violet oxide but can't get a darker shade of purple with it alone. When I add just a touch of ultramarine blue it brings up to a bright, vivid purple that holds well. Also, I haven't had any wash cloth, skin or shower staining.


----------



## SplendorSoaps (Nov 14, 2014)

KristaY said:


> I love using ultramarine violet oxide but can't get a darker shade of purple with it alone. When I add just a touch of ultramarine blue it brings up to a bright, vivid purple that holds well. Also, I haven't had any wash cloth, skin or shower staining.



Great tip!  I've had a hard time getting a darker purple (I seem to always end up with a dark lavender).


----------



## Captain_Potbelly (Nov 14, 2014)

Luckyone80 said:


> I did this same exact thing! I didn't know you couldn't use alcohol with it, my soap has droplets on it where the slcohol had sat.



Just droplets? Mine kind of floated away with the alcohol.


----------



## Luckyone80 (Nov 20, 2014)

Captain_Potbelly said:


> Just droplets? Mine kind of floated away with the alcohol.


 
Yes, look at the tops, the soap in the front on the right side shows it.


----------

