Search results

I usually soak my moulds with very diluted warm lye, that usually shifts any residual grease after unmoulding.

This is a little off topic but I am aware from observation that in the UK, pushchairs and wheelchairs are sometimes lined with real sheepskin/wool either on the original hide or knitted somehow into a cotton backing so that it still looks and behaves like sheeps' wool. Sheeps' wool is supposed...

I too was under the impression that cpoping improves colours, particularly of natural colourants - or at least maybe not cpoping itself but as a means to an end to achieve full gel. But my orange soap made with 5 fold orange eo plus ground orange peel is a nice medium pale orangey yellow when...

I use 8 cell silicon moulds like brownie moulds. Some are brown and one is red. The brown ones were ok but the red mould did stain for the first few uses. It doesn't any more. But the stains I got were just a bit of pink on the very surface not the deep colours you have there. It may stop...

I use madder root tea quite a lot. I find generally it starts off as a deep raspberry pink when the soap batter is poured but this quickly settles down to a medium dusky pink colour. I don't notice it fading much after this, but I do tend to keep my soaps in a dark box until I use them. Then...

I find mixing silk into lye takes ages however small I cut it, and I always need to push the resulting goo through a sieve to ensure I don't get bits of undissolved (and possibly lye rich) silk in my soaps. I was making my lavender and tussah silk soap today and swearing at the unmixable silk...

In the EU there are rules about cinnamon oils. Cinnamon bark oil seems to be a complete no no in soap. Cinnamon leaf oil is allowed at usage rates of half to one percent. I use 7g of cinnamon leaf oil in 600g batch of oils (this works out at one percent after you have calculated how much...

I have at last made some more Lavender and Tussah Silk soap with madder (Rubria Tinctorum). This is using the "tea" method - just mix the powder with boiling water, leave to cool and sieve out. Some pics below: The madder tea. After addition of tussah silk and lye. Mixed just prior to...

I checked the package for my madder root and the latin name is rubia tinctorum. I don't know if that helps you identify the type of madder (or is it all called rubia tinctorum). Also, I have to confess that at using 6g a time for about a dozen times I am still working through my first ever...

For extra info - jelly bags are used in jam making. You'll probably find them at a homewares store that sells jam thermometers and jars and the like.

The jelly bag is pretty fine. I guess you could use muslin or something similar instead. It is possible that a bit of fine powder gets through the bag, but unlikely in any quantity I would have thought. If you are suggesting that the colour is fine powder in suspension in the water rather...

No it's never turned blue. I'm afraid I don't know the type of madder root. I buy from an English company called Summer Naturals and they don't specify. It comes in little bits of red root which I grind to powder in the coffee grinder. Interestingly the seller says you should steep in oil...

If it helps further I use 172 grams of boiling water to 6 grams of ground madder root (I grind it up in an electric coffee grinder) and use a jelly bag to sieve out the madder root from the cold tea before adding the lye. At this point I reweigh and add a little more water as I lose some in...

I've used madder root added at trace and as a tea with the lye. Added at trace it produces a white soap with pink speckles. The soap turns pinker over time and by the end of cure you should have a light pink soap with dark pink speckles. Very pretty but yes a little scratchy which I can live...

I use green tea wax. It is expensive to buy but you only need a very small amount to get a good green colour, and it also seems to last better than other green colourants I've tried. However, I only make soap in small quantities. I use about half a gram to 600 grams of oils which gives me a...

Thanks Zany, but this ash goes right into the soap. I have tried soaping at higher temperatures and CPOPing with some success. But there are many other threads about ash so I won't hijack this one any further.

Ha! The only pic I have of this soap is when I posted asking for helping with ashing. The Lemongrass and poppy seed soap with the calendula as a colourant is in the middle, you can see the yellow colour in the centre of the soap, the rest has ashed. It is a nice, pale, cool lemon colour under...

I use calendula petals mainly for colour. It gives my soap a nice pale yellow shade which seems to last well. I just put the petals in the hot lye mixture and then add the lot to the oils and blitz. No waiting required apart from letting the lye cool a bit before adding to the oils. The...

I generally use Soap Kitchen, largely because it was the first main supplier I came across and their range is very good. Though I confess to not having researched other suppliers in huge detail. The trouble is, different suppliers may have different prices but you have to remember to factor in...

I think I referred to Jo's site when I was first exploring natural colours. I was creating a particular range of soaps with a limited range of different colours and I guess I must of just been lucky enough to pick the few that last. I have just been delving into my big bathroom box of the rump...