A questions about colorants

[Greggooo]

Hi! I have a question about colorants. I mainly use mica, one that says it's for soap. I made a swirl a few months ago. Most of the soap was natural (yellowish) and used brown Mica and swirled a bit inside it. It looked great when I cut it. But during the curing, the entire bar turned brown, like the swirls. Did I need titanium dioxide in the other part of the soap? What causes the color to do that?

 

[dibbles]

This was probably caused by your fragrance oil. Anything with vanillin will turn some sort of brown, depending on the amount. TD can lighten it, but probably won't eliminate it in a fragrance that turns dark brown. You can use a vanilla color stabilizer, which can work quite well. I and many others have had good results with the VCS from Bitter Creek. Or you could try making your own. There are several threads on this and you can find more with a search if you are interested, but here are a couple.
Homemade Vanilla color stabilizer (VCS) summary
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...cs-vanilla-color-stabilizer-called-zcs.82729/
You can also separate part of your batter and leave it unscented for a light swirl in a dark base. Or many just embrace the discoloration.

 

[Greggooo]

This was probably caused by your fragrance oil. Anything with vanillin will turn some sort of brown, depending on the amount. TD can lighten it, but probably won't eliminate it in a fragrance that turns dark brown. You can use a vanilla color stabilizer, which can work quite well. I and many others have had good results with the VCS from Bitter Creek. Or you could try making your own. There are several threads on this and you can find more with a search if you are interested, but here are a couple.
Homemade Vanilla color stabilizer (VCS) summary
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...cs-vanilla-color-stabilizer-called-zcs.82729/
You can also separate part of your batter and leave it unscented for a light swirl in a dark base. Or many just embrace the discoloration.

Ah, thank you! It was a tobacco Vanilla.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

You can also think about ways to use a discoloring FO along with another FO that does not discolor. I recently incorporated a bit of a spice FO that discolors to tan into a multicolored soap. I used an orange FO in four portions and the spice FO in the fifth. Now I have orange spice scented soap. Last night I made a soap with an FO that is known to discolor to mauve or purple. I colored portions of the soap with colors that I think should look fine if they shift towards purple. The high vanilla FOs are challenging. I often just embrace the brown, but have also used the scented/unscented (or used a non-discoloring FO) approach as mentioned above. I’ve found that a dark FO will bleed a bit into an uncolored or lighter layer, but using some TD will help with that, or the bleeding can be incorporated into the design. Here’s a recent thread about incorporating design elements in dark bases, link.

 

[TheGecko]

But during the curing, the entire bar turned brown, like the swirls.

I concur with others that it's not the Mica, but an FO with a vanilla content. With that said, some pigments can 'bleed' a bit, but there is no colorant (that I am aware of) in which a small amount in a swirl would discolor the enter soap.

You do have options.......

- You can use a purchased vanilla stabilizer or you can make your own (see @dibbles link).

- Can simply 'embrace the brown' as it were. As long as the soap smells good, there is nothing wrong with 'brown' soap.

- You can use TD to lighten the soap or lighten portions of the soap. I do this with a few of my soaps and it looks pretty neat.

- If the FO discolors to a tan or light brown, you can blues, greens and purples and deliberately change the color.

- I made a Chocolate Espresso soap with a "whip cream" topping...the FO discolors to a medium brown. What I do after I pour in my Lye Solution is to give the batter a quick mix...not quite emulsion and very quickly pour off an amount for the topping. I then add the FO to the main batter along with some brown oxide and cocoa to give it a darker color. To the 'topping', I add TD. I then make a 'line' with cocoa between the brown soap and the topping.

 

[Greggooo]

Th

I concur with others that it's not the Mica, but an FO with a vanilla content. With that said, some pigments can 'bleed' a bit, but there is no colorant (that I am aware of) in which a small amount in a swirl would discolor the enter soap.

You do have options.......

- You can use a purchased vanilla stabilizer or you can make your own (see @dibbles link).

- Can simply 'embrace the brown' as it were. As long as the soap smells good, there is nothing wrong with 'brown' soap.

- You can use TD to lighten the soap or lighten portions of the soap. I do this with a few of my soaps and it looks pretty neat.

- If the FO discolors to a tan or light brown, you can blues, greens and purples and deliberately change the color.

- I made a Chocolate Espresso soap with a "whip cream" topping...the FO discolors to a medium brown. What I do after I pour in my Lye Solution is to give the batter a quick mix...not quite emulsion and very quickly pour off an amount for the topping. I then add the FO to the main batter along with some brown oxide and cocoa to give it a darker color. To the 'topping', I add TD. I then make a 'line' with cocoa between the brown soap and the topping.

Thanks for the reply. I did try a batch with TD, and its uninteresting color, not dark brown. That doesn't really bother me, but it seems like the color runs a little bit when I use it. There is a little brown bleeding out, even with no coloring but TD. I used 1 oz of oil for 37 ounces of oil. Maybe I should try a different brand?

 

[TheGecko]

Thanks for the reply. I did try a batch with TD, and its uninteresting color, not dark brown. That doesn't really bother me, but it seems like the color runs a little bit when I use it. There is a little brown bleeding out, even with no coloring but TD. I used 1 oz of oil for 37 ounces of oil. Maybe I should try a different brand?

Different brand of TD? TD is pretty much the same...some is soluble in water, some in oil (my preference as I use less and less chance of "glycerin rivers").

While TD can lighten or brighten, it's not like a dye. If I had TD to my oils (no FO), my soap won't be 'white' because of the natural color of the oils/butters that I use. When you use a discoloring FO and add TD to it, the discoloring is still there.

 

[Greggooo]

Different brand of TD? TD is pretty much the same...some is soluble in water, some in oil (my preference as I use less and less chance of "glycerin rivers").

While TD can lighten or brighten, it's not like a dye. If I had TD to my oils (no FO), my soap won't be 'white' because of the natural color of the oils/butters that I use. When you use a discoloring FO and add TD to it, the discoloring is still there.

No, different brand of the fragrance that may have less vanilla in it.

 

[earlene]

Or you could use a vanilla stabilizer.

No, different brand of the fragrance that may have less vanilla in it.

Only 1.9% Vanilla in this one: Tobacco Vanille | Muddy Soap Co