Blue mica keeps turning green! Ugh.

[Katie68121]

My friend ordered soaps for a bridal shower and wanted them to be light blue. I’ve made light blue before but I can’t seem to get the color blue now! First recipe attempted 3x with slightly different methods, I changed my Olive oil to light olive oil, I added TD to my oils, changed the type of mica. I tried Aphrodite from mad micas and another blue I forget the name…from Nurture Soap
Palm 35%
Coconut 30%
Olive 30%
Castor 5%
Then on my 4th attempt I took out the palm oil and used shea butter at 20% I really thought my last attempt was going to stay blue because I mixed the mica in with the oils and it stayed blue but this time!! Then I added the lye water and POOF it changed to dark green!! Anyone have any advice? Thank you.

 

[Ford]

Have you tried adding colorant. After saponification? Using a fragrance? That can cause colors to change also.

 

[AliOop]

You might need a lot more mica, or a darker shade of blue to start, especially if your shea butter is unrefined and a bit yellow. I’d also skip the TD at first, until you get a blue color.

Are you gelling these? If you don’t get more of a blue color by using more blue without TD, then try gelling these on a heating pad, or in a 150F oven that has been turned OFF before you add the soap.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

For Aphrodite, the recommendation is 1-2 tsp of mica per pound of oils. I would use at least 2 tsp ppo and not add the mica until after the lye has been added and the batter is nearing emulsion.

 

[dibbles]

I've never used that particular mica, but I wonder if you used enough. I've had some blues look a little off when I've added too little. This soap was made with a blue-green mica, and you can see in the gradient that the lighter portions look green.

 

[dibbles]

I was just thinking...Could you highlight some areas by dry brushing some of the Aphrodite mica on the tops of the soaps? They are so pretty, and it would be nice if you could somehow use them. I also forgot to mention that you should move the soaps off the metal rack you have them on, since the contact could cause DOS. I learned that lesson the hard way.

 

[Zing]

Blue is my favorite color and I've tried many micas, mostly from Bramble Berry, some from Mad Micas. However, by far, my most favorite blue that is a true blue in soap is not a mica, https://www.brambleberry.com/shop-b...ezCsgTGb-be-5qXll2MVXeWPhN98H2mhoi4W2ovVADAwm .

Good luck, I know it's frustrating. Your soaps look awesome and will be great gifts (to you or others) even if it's outside the wedding.

Keep us posted.

 

[Katie68121]

Have you tried adding colorant. After saponification? Using a fragrance? That can cause colors to change also.

After saponification? Meaning after trace? I have not...Im using Brambleberry FO says no discoloration. I also tried using Dewy Rose and Lily of the Valley all saying no discoloration...

I've never used that particular mica, but I wonder if you used enough. I've had some blues look a little off when I've added too little. This soap was made with a blue-green mica, and you can see in the gradient that the lighter portions look green.
View attachment 79686

I thought maybe the first couple tries I didn't put enough mica, so the last one I doubled the amount and it just turned darker green.

Blue is my favorite color and I've tried many micas, mostly from Bramble Berry, some from Mad Micas. However, by far, my most favorite blue that is a true blue in soap is not a mica, https://www.brambleberry.com/shop-b...ezCsgTGb-be-5qXll2MVXeWPhN98H2mhoi4W2ovVADAwm .

Good luck, I know it's frustrating. Your soaps look awesome and will be great gifts (to you or others) even if it's outside the wedding.

Keep us posted.

Thanks! I have ultramarine blue pigment! Should I try it?

I was just thinking...Could you highlight some areas by dry brushing some of the Aphrodite mica on the tops of the soaps? They are so pretty, and it would be nice if you could somehow use them. I also forgot to mention that you should move the soaps off the metal rack you have them on, since the contact could cause DOS. I learned that lesson the hard way.

Thank you, weird ive used this rack before never had any issues, maybe differing environments and recipes have that affect as well

 

[AliOop]

Thank you, weird ive used this rack before never had any issues, maybe differing environments and recipes have that affect as well

Many of those metal racks have a very thin stainless steel coating. That will work for awhile, but eventually, the high alkalinity of fresh soap will cause that coating to crack and peel, exposing the soap to the other metals underneath. And that's when you will get DOS. I learned this when I was first soaping and was using stainless cooling racks (like one would use for cookies). They worked great for awhile, but eventually, the coating began to wear thin.

Using some kind of liner between the rack and the soap is the easiest fix. I've used parchment paper, shelf liner, and oven liner sheets with great success.

 

[A-Polly]

I haven't used the Aphrodite mica either, but agree with @AliOop that gelling sometimes makes a big difference in color. This photo is from the LovinSoap website; the rectangles were gelled but the round one is ungelled from the same batter.

This picture is from YouTube soapmaker tellervo; the gelled soap is on the right:

Not all colorants react the same way, though — that would make things way too easy!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I've had great results getting shades of true blue by mixing ultramarine blue and TD. My biggest challenge with using ultramarine blue is to get the clumps/lumps out. I use a palette knife to mix the powder with oil on a piece of glass, working it until it is as smooth as possible. I learned that method from a Tree Marie Soapworks video.

 

[dibbles]

Thank you, weird ive used this rack before never had any issues, maybe differing environments and recipes have that affect as well

My rack wasn’t coated, which would have helped. It was cheap stainless and DOS started right away. I should have suggested a liner of some sort as @AliOop did. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that.

 

[cmzaha]

I love Ultramarine Blue, in fact, it is/was my all-time favorite blue because I could accomplish many different shades of blue.

 

[Cindy D.]

This is all the blue Mica colors from nurture that I have, some definitely are more green than others. These were all gelled.

 

[akseattle]

@Cindy D. , what a great job you've done of cateloging your mica experiments!! Thanks for sharing!!
I assume this was done over a period of time. Did you use the same recipe each time? I'm curious if you think there is a particular recipe that works the best for testing micas - like so that it won't be too yellow to start with, etc.

 

[Cindy D.]

I did a post about my color samples a while ago. I pretty much use one recipe most of the time, so I use that to make the samples. Having color samples helps me pick my colors and have an idea of what they will look like. At one point I was using used avocado oil and that made blues more green.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/making-color-samples.92229/#post-996769

 

[akseattle]

@Cindy D. thank you for that link, what a great system you have!!! Beautiful colors, too!

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/making-color-samples.92229/#post-996769