# Alkanet root



## JBB (Nov 11, 2012)

Does anyone know what the least amount of time is that you can get by with infusing alkanet root powder in oil prior to using as a colorant in soap? I've read 1-2wks, but is it really necessary to wait that long??


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## AlchemyandAshes (Nov 11, 2012)

If you gently heat the Oil and Alkanet Root in a jar in a hot water bath on the stove on low OR heat the Oil and Alkanet Root in a double boiler you can get quicker results...anywhere from 2 - 6 hours. I have also infused it in a crock pot on LOW for several hours. The trick is to heat the oil enough to soften the root fibers and extract the natural color...you just have to be careful not to overheat the oil.

If you set a jar of oil in a cool, dark place it usually takes 6 weeks or so, and that's with turning and gently shaking the bottle every couple of days. Some people set their jars in a window sill to gently heat the oil over the 4-6 weeks, but I'm not fond of doing it this way, as sunlight has a tendency to fade natural colorants (or colorants in general).

Amanda from Lovin' Soap had a great method for infusing oils with natural colorants:
http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/07/color- ... nd-spices/


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## JBB (Nov 11, 2012)

Thank you so much! I may give that a try.


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## green soap (Nov 11, 2012)

I use mine the next day.  I heat the herb in oils, let it rest overnight, filter and use.


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## JBB (Nov 11, 2012)

Thanks!


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## LadyM (Nov 12, 2012)

I think I did a low heat infusion for a couple of hours, and it was glorious.  Doesn't take too long with that approach.


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## JBB (Nov 17, 2012)

Well, I finally got my FIRST soap made, but ended up using Ultramarine Violet oxide instead of the alkanet root. I have infused it and it's ready to go though I'm not sure if there is a time frame I must use it once it's been infused...does anyone know? I'm really pleased with how the soap turned out. I have people that are already wanting to purchase some. (Yaaay!) I'm ready to try another batch and have pink grapefruit essential oil. Just trying to think of how to creatively "decorate" that one. Nothing really comes to mind.

Love this forum and love having a place to turn to for guidance on all of this! Thanks again for everyone's input!


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## AlchemyandAshes (Nov 17, 2012)

JBB said:
			
		

> Well, I finally got my FIRST soap made, but ended up using Ultramarine Violet oxide instead of the alkanet root. I have infused it and it's ready to go though I'm not sure if there is a time frame I must use it once it's been infused...does anyone know?


Infusions do not last any longer, and sometimes less, than the base oil used. Keep them in an airtight jar in a cool dark place, or even the refrigerator. If they start getting cloudy (except in the fridge-it will clear up when it gets to room temp) or smell "off", toss it. Overheating your oils breaks down some of their compounds and can lead to quicker rancidity, so something to keep in mind.



			
				JBB said:
			
		

> Well, I finally got my FIRST soap made... I'm really pleased with how the soap turned out. I have people that are already wanting to purchase some. (Yaaay!)


You'll probably hear this from more than me, but...you really shouldn't be selling your soaps yet. If this is your first batch, you probably have no idea how your soap will hold up over the next 6 months. For instance, those lavender buds on top will go brown and look like "lavender bugs" after a short period of time (first hand experience  ). Some oils, like Canola, are less stable and can go rancid in soap in a short period of time and result in DOS. Fragrance Oils with high Vanillin content will turn brown. Do you know how to pH test your soap? Do you know how to tell if its lye heavy? What properties does your recipe have in terms of hardness, conditioning, etc?
Your soap is quite pretty and may be wonderful soap, but these are just a FEW things you really gotta think about before selling your soap.
Be your own guinea pig first  :Kitten Love: Then maybe you can have a few close friends or family members to be your testers? If they want to compensate you for your materials, that's great! You would hate to sell or give away soap that is caustic, or at the very least, substandard quality and lose potential customers, or worse...
Don't let this discourage you...keep learning all you can about making soap, the properties of the oils you use, why you use them, perfect your recipe, and before you know it, you'll be ready to sell!


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## JBB (Nov 17, 2012)

Thank you for your reply and input, but I certainly haven't sold any soap, nor would I, until I have tested it!


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## AngelMomma (Dec 6, 2012)

If you heat infuse your oils in a water bath this is a good way to keep the jar off the bottom of the pan.  Just use twist ties to connect the metal jar lids.  You could cover the whole bottom of the pan like this and infuse multiple jars at a time.


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## chicklet (Dec 6, 2012)

The jar rings tied together is a good idea.  I've used a dish towel in the bottom of the pan to keep the glass jar from touching the metal pan.  I've also made a homemade double-boiler by putting a pan of water on the bottom and a glass bowl on top of that with the oils to be infused in the glass bowl.  Sometimes I put the alkanet (or annatto seeds or whatever) in the oil then strain later, but I've also used a coffee filter to hold the alkanet so it sort of filters as it goes.  I've just realized after typing all that that I am so consistent in my inconsistency. . . .


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 6, 2012)

Oh, I love the lids tied together like that. Very smart! My alkanet is currently in its oil on the kitchen counter. I'll try it out between Christmas and New Years when I have some time off work.

Hey, if I infused turmeric in olive oil, would I get a yellow oil = yellow soap??


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## AngelMomma (Dec 7, 2012)

I cannot take credit for the ring idea.  Canning Granny on FB has lots of creative fans with great ideas.  Thats where I picked up the idea.  

And I did infuse some Turmeric awhile back to go into my daughters Oatmeal & Calendula soap........that I am DYING to make!!!!!  (I've been way too busy making 400 cookies this week  :shock: )  But anyway, I had put some turmeric into a different batch and the color didn't really come through like I wanted it to, so I put some in the oil.  Its been sitting around since then.  I have just been shaking it now and then.  I don't know if it would be stronger color with added heat, but it sure it YELLOW!  I hope to put it into a batch in a few days.


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 8, 2012)

Please post the results! My alkanet root is ruby red in its jar of olive oil, and it will turn soap purple (if you're lucky), so there might be a surprise color when you use the turmeric oil.


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## AngelMomma (Dec 8, 2012)

Hausfrau007 said:
			
		

> Please post the results! My alkanet root is ruby red in its jar of olive oil, and it will turn soap purple (if you're lucky), so there might be a surprise color when you use the turmeric oil.



I will post results.  But your alkanet root color has me thinking that there must just be some natural varience in the in the alkanet root that is harvested........or something.  I stirred my alkanet root powder into olive oil also.  And mine is certainly purple.  So there is that variant to contend with, as well as the differences is soap recipes etc.  

As far as the turmeric is concerned, I did get a bit of yellow from adding some turmeric powder at trace, just not at much as I wanted.  I though it would be more color and a more even distribution of the color.  Adding the powder at trace ended up being slightly speckled.  I would be surprised if the color of the infused oil morphed with the turmeric.  I will try and see.  I am hoping to soap tomorrow.


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## AlchemyandAshes (Dec 8, 2012)

Hausfrau007 said:
			
		

> Please post the results! My alkanet root is ruby red in its jar of olive oil, and it will turn soap purple (if you're lucky), so there might be a surprise color when you use the turmeric oil.


Alkanet will look red or magenta until the lye hits it...then it will go dark navy. As the pH drops, it will usually morph to more purple.


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 9, 2012)

I couldn't help myself. I just took 5oz of OO and infused it with a TBS of turmeric. Oh the suspense!!

Btw, the alkanet powder I'm currently infusing in OO has turned into a thick solid layer on the bottom of the jar that wouldn't desolidify even with the sternest of shakes. I had to take a metal wisk and scrape the solid sediment off the bottom of the jar. I then shook the bejeesus out of it to teach it a lesson. 

So when y'all say that the infusion needs a gentle shake every couple of days or so, I found this to be untrue. It needs a very stern rattling so the alkanet powder doesn't settle and solidify on the bottom of he jar, for me at least. Unless I'm doing something wrong??


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## AlchemyandAshes (Dec 9, 2012)

Hausfrau007 said:
			
		

> So when y'all say that the infusion needs a gentle shake every couple of days or so, I found this to be untrue. It needs a very stern rattling so the alkanet powder doesn't settle and solidify on the bottom of he jar, for me at least. Unless I'm doing something wrong??


You don't know your own strength! Be careful with that jar...I've seen what you can do with a soap stamp!  :shock: 
 
You'll just have to filter out the sludge before soaping...no big deal.


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Lol @ My own strength. 

It's not sludge, baby. I wish it was. It's solidified at the bottom of the jar.


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## 2lilboots (Dec 9, 2012)

Hausfrau007 said:
			
		

> Lol @ My own strength.
> 
> It's not sludge, baby. I wish it was. It's solidified at the bottom of the jar.



That just seems like a lot of work to get a purple color in your soap.  What is wrong with ultramarine violet? :shock:


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Nothing, most likely. Once again, I may have been too enthusiastic. But now that I'm in it, I have to see it through to the end.


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## AngelMomma (Dec 9, 2012)

Hausfrau007 said:
			
		

> I couldn't help myself. I just took 5oz of OO and infused it with a TBS of turmeric. Oh the suspense!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Now I have to go check my jar and see if I have "sludge"  :shock:


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Yeah, tilt the jar to the side and look for solid sediment o the bottom. Mine wouldn't shake loose ... I had to dislodge it with a wire whisk.


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## AngelMomma (Dec 9, 2012)

The powders do settle to the bottom of the jar....the ones I have used that behaved this way.......annatto, paprika, turmeric and now the alkanet.  It did shake loose though.  Guess I still have a little UMPH in these little muscles   8)


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## 2lilboots (Dec 9, 2012)

AngelMomma said:
			
		

> The powders do settle to the bottom of the jar....the ones I have used that behaved this way.......annatto, paprika, turmeric and now the alkanet.  It did shake loose though.  Guess I still have a little UMPH in these little muscles   8)



Angelmomma is a mover and a shaker, but Hausfrau is one tuff chickadee!  She took a solid chunk and turned it into liquid!  lol!  I should have boiled this wine to make soap instead of drinking it...lol


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## Hausfrau007 (Dec 9, 2012)

Lol. I never should have posted the picture of that buster up bar!!


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## Lindy (Dec 9, 2012)

Alchemy&Ashes said:
			
		

> Hausfrau007 said:
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## lizflowers42 (Mar 24, 2013)

Bumping this thread because I used alkanet root powder for the first time in my soap today.  I just added the powder at light trace about 1tsp to a 2lb batch that I added soap shreds into, so there is some color variance.  It turned gray which I expected after reading through on this forum.  It's been gelling for almost 8 hours and I took a peek...it's brown!  The FO I used didn't mention that it had vanilla in it, so I wonder how it's going to look tomorrow when I unmold and cut!


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## melstan775 (Mar 24, 2013)

Interesting Liz.  Let us know how the results go.  I think alkanet is probably best used as an infusion replacing a fair amount of olive oil. You really need a big amount of it to really make it purply. I have some sitting in a wishlist somewhere, so when I get around to ordering it I'll do a testy batch and see.


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## soapsydaisy (Mar 26, 2013)

Here is one I made using infused alkanet. I noticed that I get more of a plum color when adding the powder straight to the oils ITP.


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## melstan775 (Mar 26, 2013)

very pretty.  I thought it was chocolate at first. By oils itp, do you mean soap buckets or added straight to other melted oils?


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## soapsydaisy (Mar 26, 2013)

Mel, the picture makes it look more brown than it really is. It is more of a merlot color. When I added a teaspoon of alkanet to my oils it was more of a stormy plum color.


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## Cherry Bomb (Mar 26, 2013)

AlchemyandAshes said:


> If you gently heat the Oil and Alkanet Root in a jar in a hot water bath on the stove on low OR heat the Oil and Alkanet Root in a double boiler you can get quicker results...anywhere from 2 - 6 hours. I have also infused it in a crock pot on LOW for several hours. The trick is to heat the oil enough to soften the root fibers and extract the natural color...you just have to be careful not to overheat the oil.
> 
> If you set a jar of oil in a cool, dark place it usually takes 6 weeks or so, and that's with turning and gently shaking the bottle every couple of days. Some people set their jars in a window sill to gently heat the oil over the 4-6 weeks, but I'm not fond of doing it this way, as sunlight has a tendency to fade natural colorants (or colorants in general).
> 
> ...




Thank you for this link! I was just about to start searching this forum on how to use this particular natural colorant! You are the best!


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## sapone (Apr 24, 2013)

AngelMomma said:


> If you heat infuse your oils in a water bath this is a good way to keep the jar off the bottom of the pan.  Just use twist ties to connect the metal jar lids.  You could cover the whole bottom of the pan like this and infuse multiple jars at a time.



That is a good idea!  I have been using a folded paper towel to 'float' on the bottom of the pan. I place my jar on it and then there is no jittering and banging against the pan....


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