Playing with colours that shouldn't be put in soap

SaltedFig · Mar 25, 2017

Yesterday I distracted myself from soaping, by playing with some artist powders on a thin sheet of soap to see what happens (not for use, just for play).

This is my favourite so far ... it's bronze powder (ground up copper and tin). It's still morphing ... originally it was a magnicient gold, then it turned this green as the lye converted the copper to copper hydroxide.

I won't be using the bronze powder in soap for use, but I do adore the effect.

CaraBou · Mar 25, 2017

Wow, that is really beautiful. I'd be interested in seeing some of the other morphing colors.

SaltedFig · Mar 26, 2017

Quote: CaraBou said:
Wow, that is really beautiful. I'd be interested in seeing some of the other morphing colors.

Thanks CaraBou.

Most of the others are fairly ugly (I can make "murky" in so many different ways :mrgreen

.

I am looking for blues and purples and will be visiting the art supply shop next week and redoing the experiment after that. I'll post any pretties or interesting morphs here, hopefully in the next week or two.

I have some ideas, but suggestions (they don't have to be safe) are welcome!

Zany_in_CO · Mar 26, 2017

Blimey, Fig! I hope you realize you're starting a trend... "Soap as Wall Art"!!! And so it begins...

earlene · Mar 27, 2017

Okay, did anyone ever try other non-soap colorants?

I once tried liquid fabric dye in soap. Then I figured it would not be good to give that to people so kept it to myself.

I tried Food Coloring and Cake Colorants, but at least I know they are probably skin safe because they can be consumed.

WeaversPort · Mar 28, 2017

I wonder what would happen if you used some of the glass coloring oxides, like Manganese dioxide, Cobalt , or Didymium..

SaltedFig · Mar 28, 2017

WeaversPort said:
I wonder what would happen if you used some of the glass coloring oxides, like Manganese dioxide, Cobalt , or Didymium..

Ooooh, thanks for those. I hadn't even thought of looking at the field of glass making for ideas. Thanks WeaversPort!

Zany_in_CO, I don't know that it would go so well on a wall, but what a funny thought

earlene, I haven't ever tried food colours. Did you like the effect?

Disclaimer - I am not advocating using soap with strange things in, but I reckon a bit of art play isn't so bad sometimes :mrgreen:.

WeaversPort · Mar 28, 2017

SaltedFig said:
Ooooh, thanks for those. I hadn't even thought of looking at the field of glass making for ideas. Thanks WeaversPort!

Zany_in_CO, I don't know that it would go so well on a wall, but what a funny thought

earlene, I haven't ever tried food colours. Did you like the effect?

Disclaimer - I am not advocating using soap with strange things in, but I reckon a bit of art play isn't so bad sometimes :mrgreen:.

If you do, please post pictures. I'm now full of curiosity as to how it turns out!

All in the name of science, of course

earlene · Mar 29, 2017

SaltedFig said:
earlene, I haven't ever tried food colours. Did you like the effect?

In a fairly translucent soap, the light pastels of the food coloring looked nice. I used an ITP swirl. The colors actually held up and lasted the life of the soap, which I used the last of at about a little over a year. I actually expected them to fade, but they never did.

I've only used them in soap the once. I was looking for brighter colors, so moved on to other things.

SaltedFig · Apr 2, 2017

WeaversPort said:
I wonder what would happen if you used some of the glass coloring oxides, like Manganese dioxide, Cobalt , or Didymium..

I found a Manganese based colour (it's a really pretty violet colour in powder form), so I've got that one to try in the next day or two :mrgreen:.

I'll post pics soon.

earlene, did your food colouring soaps have coloured bubbles?

earlene · Apr 2, 2017

SaltedFig said:
I found a Manganese based colour (it's a really pretty violet colour in powder form), so I've got that one to try in the next day or two :mrgreen:.

I'll post pics soon.

earlene, did your food colouring soaps have coloured bubbles?

No, they did not. However, when we (granddaughter & I) use Food Coloring in Bath Bombs, the goal is to color the water, and in that case it does. Funny isn't it? (At home I don't use FC in Bath Bombs, but this last time I traveled, I didn't have any colorants except Black Oxide with me by the time I got to her house.)

A manganese based color, that sounds interesting. I await your results.

WeaversPort · Apr 2, 2017

SaltedFig said:
I found a Manganese based colour (it's a really pretty violet colour in powder form), so I've got that one to try in the next day or two :mrgreen:.

I'll post pics soon.

earlene, did your food colouring soaps have coloured bubbles?

Ooohhh!! I'm excited to see how it turns out!

SunRiseArts · Apr 2, 2017

I tried to use neon pink food color for the black challenge of March to mix with the black, and looked beautiful, but my soap never set. I even tried to rebatch and it was totally ruined. I know my recipe was right. Never will I ever use food color again.... It was either the food color, or the safflower oil. :headbanging:

SaltedFig · Apr 9, 2017

Maganese Violet ... gave me another brown. :cry:

I did notice that it stayed the pretty pink colour in the pure fat, changed slightly towards brown in a very heavily superfatted soap and became quite brown in a strong lye soap. It got darker as there was more lye, with the strongest solution making a deep, warm brown.

I did also try Phthalo Blue - this hardly morphed at all, which I suppose is interesting in itself.

I'll be putting this test series aside for a bit while I focus on some other things, but I'll post to it again if I get anything interesting.

Still, these colours will be good for painting (their real purpose - my arty relative is delighted)..

SaltedFig · Apr 10, 2017

Phthalo blue (for reference), sorry it's a bit dark - it's been a bit stormy today.

Saponista · Apr 10, 2017

Manganese Violet was horrendous for me, it stank out the whole room and smelled like rotten eggs. It also went a disgusting shade of brown.

SaltedFig · Apr 11, 2017

Saponista said:
Manganese Violet was horrendous for me, it stank out the whole room and smelled like rotten eggs. It also went a disgusting shade of brown.

That's it, in a nutshell. :silent:

WeaversPort · Apr 11, 2017

SaltedFig said:
That's it, in a nutshell. :silent:

It was a very beautiful color, especially that pink. Sad it smelled so foul!

And the blue was quite lovely.

Talk about some fun science! Thank you for sharing the excitement with us, Fig!

earlene · Apr 11, 2017

I have noticed that some blues smell absolutely foul when used in bath bombs. I wonder what it is that the manganese violet and these blues may have in common? I wish I could tell you what I was using when I discovered that, but it was a year or two ago and I don't think I kept adequate notes on the issue. It may have been a liquid colorant or it may have been a mica; I really don't remember.

Zany_in_CO · Apr 11, 2017

earlene said:
I wonder what it is that the manganese violet and these blues may have in common?

Are they both ultramarines?

Playing with colours that shouldn't be put in soap

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