# I used the mint



## Guest (Jul 10, 2009)

I used mint for the first time. It was soaked in boiling water over night and then dried and crumbled. The reason it was soaked in water was to remove the stuff which would have caused it to brown the soap. Pink stars (not all perfect) were embedded and they were from a previous batch which had been coloured using yellow dock root powder. I'm all for natural stuff you see. Rosemary and spearmint essential oils were used and helped to wake me up this morning


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## rupertspal42 (Jul 10, 2009)

I like em!


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## nickjuly (Jul 10, 2009)

Love the green specks !


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2009)

Way cool , love the embeds , nice work 

Kitn


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## oldragbagger (Jul 10, 2009)

Absolutely gorgeous and very creative.  I love your approach with the all natural.  I ordered a synthetic colorant this evening because I have been dying to try color.  Then I thought it over and decided I maybe didn't want to do that, but I already had an email from Peak saying it had been shipped.  I'll probably end up breaking down and trying it.


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## carebear (Jul 10, 2009)

I've not heard that soaking will remove the stuff that goes brown.  Actually I thought it was the chlorophyll that was unstable and that it goes brown when that goes and is no longer masking the brown.  But my Earth Science was eons ago.  I really hope it works - I like the idea of a green soap.

I've tried a few herbal colorants and have found that the greens and blues fade away and the oranges stick much longer but shift.  The only pinks I've tried have been clay based.


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks for your wonderful replies. Maybe one day I'll use a synthetic colour to see what I've been missing. It's not going to happen for ages yet though as I still haven't experimented with all the different natural colours available.


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## vivcarm (Jul 11, 2009)

WOW SFB, they are great!


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## ChrissyB (Jul 11, 2009)

I love that green colour.


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## LJA (Jul 11, 2009)

Soapforbreakfast, I love those!!  The colors are great!


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## Tabitha (Jul 11, 2009)

Fabulous!


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## twilightluver (Jul 11, 2009)

i like them..almost smell them..


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## Vinca Leaf (Jul 11, 2009)

So, you boil it to break down the enzymes??? BRILLIANT!!!

And, those are some snazzy soaps!


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## Guest (Jul 11, 2009)

Vinca Leaf said:
			
		

> So, you boil it to break down the enzymes??? BRILLIANT!!!



Yes, that's the one! enzyme breakin.

Thanks for all your feedback


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## xraygrl (Jul 11, 2009)

just GAWJUS!


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## Mandarin (Jul 12, 2009)

Very creative!


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## artisan soaps (Jul 13, 2009)

..


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2009)

I'll update this thread in a week or so. Right now they haven't changed


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## topcat (Jul 14, 2009)

Seriously loving your colours and the whole look...beautiful soap!  I too am interested in the green colour being retained.  I have read somewhere on here that you can treat mint to help keep the colour but I couldn't remember what to do.  Thanks in advance for the future feedback on any colour change you notice.

Tanya


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## kittywings (Jul 14, 2009)

Does the mint scent it (enough to not use FO)?


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2009)

The spear mint eo is actually overpowering the rosemary eo. I wish I hadn't followed the instructions on rainbow meadow which said 3 parts spearmint to 2 rosemary.


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## kittywings (Jul 15, 2009)

Guess who just steeped some mint leaves!!!
<---------


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## Guest (Aug 19, 2009)

Good news 

Over 6 weeks and they're still green. No brownness/rancidity has occured.


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## vivcarm (Aug 19, 2009)

Soap_for_breakfast said:
			
		

> The spear mint eo is actually overpowering the rosemary eo. I wish I hadn't followed the instructions on rainbow meadow which said 3 parts spearmint to 2 rosemary.



How does it smell now SFB?


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## Bnky (Aug 19, 2009)

Soap for Breakfast, these are gorgeous!  The green and pale pink really look nice together.  Where do you find yellow dock root powder? Bnky


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## Vinca Leaf (Aug 21, 2009)

YAY!  I totally wanna do this now!


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## Guest (Aug 21, 2009)

Bnky said:
			
		

> Soap for Breakfast, these are gorgeous!  The green and pale pink really look nice together.  Where do you find yellow dock root powder? Bnky



Good old eBay.


The smell has calmed down a bit but it's still very much there. I used a piece already and I'm so pleased with it.


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## jarvan (Aug 21, 2009)

Do you suppose boiling would work for most vegetable matter to preserve it's natural color?


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## jarvan (Aug 21, 2009)

Do you suppose boiling would work for most vegetable matter to preserve it's natural color?


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## kittywings (Aug 22, 2009)

FYI- I got my yellow dock root at Sprouts (a farmer's market-y type grocery store)... they'd probably have it in the natural section of grocery stores or at health food stores.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2009)

jarvan said:
			
		

> Do you suppose boiling would work for most vegetable matter to preserve it's natural color?



It's supposed to work for parsley which I tried until the smell put me off. I threw it in the bin. I'm not sure about other veg.

Some people are lucky to have YDR growing  in their neighbourhood. Not me though.


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## angbaby4974 (Aug 23, 2009)

so it's been a while since you made this, is the color still holding true?


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2009)

angbaby4974 said:
			
		

> so it's been a while since you made this, is the color still holding true?



Indeed. Still green


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## angbaby4974 (Aug 24, 2009)

Most excellent!!!!


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## pink-north (Sep 25, 2009)

I think the soap is fabulous! So you boil it all not or just put boiling water over it and let is sit all night? BTW does anyone have a "scientific" explanation as to why this works?

I really like the pink star in the middle.


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