# using hibiscus



## Absinthe (Nov 5, 2009)

I just got a bunch of hibiscus petals. How do I best use them for color?


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## pixybratt (Nov 5, 2009)

soak them in water and the water turns a wonderful red color, or you can make them into a powder and use them that way, Hibiscus was used in love potions because of the wonderful color it produces, and is still though of as a love herb.


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## Absinthe (Nov 5, 2009)

Are you suggesting that I make my lye water with them? 

Will they result in red soap? or will they turn brown like everything else 

How do I determine how much to use?


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## Imblebee (Nov 5, 2009)

I tried once and they turned brown.  Perhaps someone has a magic bullet?


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## pixybratt (Nov 5, 2009)

yes they will turn brown, making a tea before adding the lye should give you a nice red color.


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## MagiaDellaLuna (Nov 6, 2009)

Hibiscus is highly acidic.

I used some of the crushed petals a long time ago and the resulting soap was brown and mushy even though the powder was a glorious deep magenta colour.

Never used it again.


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## Absinthe (Nov 6, 2009)

Ok, Pixiebratt, let me make sure I understand this:

Come up with my recipe, then using the water that I would make lye with make a tea with the hibiscus. Then take that tea and add my lye. This will make RED and not BROWN soap?

OR

Do I make the tea, and then mix soap as usual using regular water, then at some time, trace or otherwise, add in the tea (thus increasing my water overall)

Is it the tea that keeps it from turning brown, or the mixing directly with the lye?


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## MagiaDellaLuna (Nov 6, 2009)

Hibiscus will make a nice coloured tea...........

.............but taste it and you will find that it is very acidic.

This will mess with your lye..............but try it if you must......

My soap was brown and mushy as there was not enough lye to make up for the acidity, and no accurate way to calculate how much lye to use extra to compensate for the neutralising effect of the acidic hibiscus.


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## Absinthe (Nov 6, 2009)

Well, I must!  

I am really wanting to use some natural colorants. I really want to avoid the D&C and FD&C chemistry and have not yet taken the plunge to order a bunch of mica's or oxides and such. 

There must be a way, a known compensation, or even something to test for. Certainly I could buffer the infusion with bicarb or lye until it is neutral, that wouldn't mess with the lye. I might have to get some litmus paper if I want to do that though. 

I just hoped that someone already did this and I can learn from all their mistakes instead of having to make all my own


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## MagiaDellaLuna (Nov 6, 2009)

Absinthe said:
			
		

> I just hoped that someone already did this and I can learn from all their mistakes instead of having to make all my own



That is why I have given you the benefit of my experience of soaping with Hibiscus.

If you do find a way to make this work we will expect a blow by blow account 

I still have a sizeable packet of that Dark Magenta hibiscus powder.

ETA........you can try some Tumeric which gives a nice Golden Yellowish colour and also Sweet Paprika, but not too much. That will give a nice Salmony colour and obviously Cocoa will give brown.

EATA
http://www.mullerslanefarm.com/soapcolors.html

Some handy info here too.


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## Absinthe (Nov 6, 2009)

I think I might give this a try

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipst ... tcolor.htm


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## MagiaDellaLuna (Nov 6, 2009)

Absinthe said:
			
		

> I think I might give this a try
> 
> http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipst ... tcolor.htm



Seems like a sensible approach.

Please post results. I would test if I could, but I am currently in digs in the middle of a coffee plantation, half a continent away from home.


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## Happy2018 (Feb 17, 2018)

I know this is an old post,

Tonight, I've tried two small batches of Hibiscus soap.

I didn't see this until now, even thought I had searched.

I made Hibiscus tea,

to get the most intense colour possible I boiled / simmered  until the leaves settled to the bottom. 

let sit over night
boiled / simmer again about 15 mins
When cooled put into a mason jar in the fridge

1) used 100 percent of the tea with lye.

It was a beautiful deep red-ish / cardinal bird red  colour
Added lye, it turned deep green, then brownish, then soft orange - or tangerine - or light peach colour (looked nice)
added to the oil and it turned a tan-ish / cream colour, with a dull or greyish - tanish - brownish colour

its sitting all bundled up in towels right now.

2) used half with lye, and added the other half at trace
The  exact same thing happened to 1.1  ,1.2,  

At trace added the remaining tea, and saw green on the edge of the bowl then it turned  into a rich, really rich beige cream,  almost like a cream you find inside a rich chocolate, it also looked very smooth.

It is sitting all bundled up in towels right now.


3) I thought I would try it steeping in oil, and see what happens. This will take a little while to sit before I can try it.


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## Eileen (Mar 27, 2019)

As a handspinner/dyer, I am going to try infusing in olive oil (Pomace) and see if I can get a red/pink.  I did get a nice red soap from madder root powder.


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## Milagrito (Mar 27, 2019)

The best oil for Hibiscus is sunflower


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