Can Prang tempura powder be used in melt & pour soap making or cold process soap making?

[Ephemerella]

I saw 'tempura' then some mention of something edible, so I was thinking something like panko crumbs, which confused me to begin with, thinking panko crumbs??? in soap????

Then I started seeing reference to crayons, various colorants & then noticed the different spelling in a few different posts....and finally caught on

I just figured that if I was confused, someone else might be as well

Count me in the confused camp. I was like lord have mercy now what are we adding to our soap?!?

 

[akseattle]

In April, I asked if anyone had ever used Prang's tempera powder to color their soap. I had found 4 one pound containers of it in my storage.
Some soapers had used crayons to color their soap but it had faded over time. I went ahead and used the tempera. It looked perfect to me (except that I was going for hot pink when I used the red tempera with diamond white mica).
I wrapped two of the soaps (one of the green and one of the orange) and thought I'd see how well the color held up over time.
The green and yellow are colored with Prang’s green tempera and Prang’s yellow tempera.
The orange is Prang’s red tempera with Ceya’s Diamond White mica.
It's been 3 months. As far as I can tell, by comparing to the photos I took in April, they haven't faded.

Out of curiosity, I got some Prang's liquid tempera at the hobby store. I mixed red with white and a drop of orange. In the spoon, it was a beautiful Barbie pink. When I mixed it into my clear melt and pour base, it turned into a muddier pink. It also gave the soap a jelly like quality. I think it was too much liquid for the amount of M&P I was using. I left that dirtyish pink, jellyish soap just sitting there in a little block these last couple months. Today I made a bar of soap and used it for just a narrow 1/8 " layer. Some of the excess liquid most have evaporated off in the heating process because it feels fine on the soap. I even feel like I can hang with the color... So, i'm glad I didn't throw away that experiment!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

 

[akseattle]

I tossed these Melt & Pour soaps I made on April 24, 2023 ( so 1.5 years ago) using Prang Tempera in a box where I toss other soap ends. I had wondered if Prang Tempera, like kids use to paint with in school, can be used to color soap. The white color is white soap base. The green and the yellow are Prang Tempera and the orange is red tempera with a little diamond white mica by Ceya. The green, yellow and white bar looks pretty much as it did when I made it. The top is a little rough, like it was trying to get glycerin dew. The orange, yellow and white bar doesn't look so great. The red tempera bleeds and has completely turned the yellow orange. The white is now a pale shade of orange. I had saved these to see what changes there might be in the color. I'm going to start using these to see if I have a reaction to the tempera.

 

[Humblegoat]

I don’t know if this will be helpful to you or not @akseattle. I started researching color theory because I didn’t want to invest a ton of money in multiple Mica powders for different colors. So my initial thought was the typical primary colors red, yellow & blue. However I discovered that the “real” primary colors are magenta, cyan & yellow. These are the colors our eyes see. I had an epiphany, ohhh those are the ink colors in a printer. So I purchased those as well as white and black. I’m studying color wheels and reading more. My colors are getting better (I think) and seem to be staying truer and not fading as much. It is experimenting for sure, hope I’m not just drinking the koolaid.

 

[akseattle]

@Humblegoat, I'm impressed by your approach to getting the exact colors you are after!

In my case, I initially just wondering if I could use powdered Prang tempera in soap. I had just started soaping. -- I had 3 or 4 micas and then remembered that, by coincidence, a month or so prior, I had run across these giant 1 lb containers of tempera ( yellow, red, blue and green) in my storage. I had bought when my kids were little. So, I started thinking ....
By the time I got responses on this forum - somewhat mixed on the the advisability of using tempera in soap-- I had already tried out the tempera (the green, the red, and the yellow.) But, I had also already ordered enough micas to me a lifetime (although that hasn't stopped me from buying more - this soaping is a true addiction....)

I thought I'd try out that old orange M&P bar made from Prang. It actually feels great. It's super sudsy and creamy. I think sitting around for 21 months has helped it. It also feels pretty moisturizing. The suds is white, so no staining issues, etc. Since I have so much mica, I hadn't really thought of using that tempera any more. But, now that you talk about your experimenting with the color chart, and since I don't think this Prang tempera is harmful, I might just try some color experiments, too. I only tested the Prang in M&P. Itmay just totally morph into something different in cold process, maybe I'll just end up with greyish-brown bars. But, I'm kind of excited about trying to experiment with it!

As to the magenta and cyan, I have wondered why those ink colors aren't called pink and blue. I guess cuz they are not?

 

[Humblegoat]

@Humblegoat, I'm impressed by your approach to getting the exact colors you are after!

In my case, I initially just wondering if I could use powdered Prang tempera in soap. I had just started soaping. -- I had 3 or 4 micas and then remembered that, by coincidence, a month or so prior, I had run across these giant 1 lb containers of tempera ( yellow, red, blue and green) in my storage. I had bought when my kids were little. So, I started thinking ....
By the time I got responses on this forum - somewhat mixed on the the advisability of using tempera in soap-- I had already tried out the tempera (the green, the red, and the yellow.) But, I had also already ordered enough micas to me a lifetime (although that hasn't stopped me from buying more - this soaping is a true addiction....)

I thought I'd try out that old orange M&P bar made from Prang. It actually feels great. It's super sudsy and creamy. I think sitting around for 21 months has helped it. It also feels pretty moisturizing. The suds is white, so no staining issues, etc. Since I have so much mica, I hadn't really thought of using that tempera any more. But, now that you talk about your experimenting with the color chart, and since I don't think this Prang tempera is harmful, I might just try some color experiments, too. I only tested the Prang in M&P. Itmay just totally morph into something different in cold process, maybe I'll just end up with greyish-brown bars. But, I'm kind of excited about trying to experiment with it!

As to the magenta and cyan, I have wondered why those ink colors aren't called pink and blue. I guess cuz they are not?

@akseattle the magenta is super strong, and is actually red and blue. Cyan is actually blue, yellow and white. Yellow is just yellow. This article on color theory was pretty helpful even though it talks about fabric.

https://warpandweave.com/color-mixing-weaving-two-primary-rule

I found it interesting that these are the colors our eyes see.

https://issuu.com/iscience/docs/spe...e when,a completely different colour: magenta.

I think the biggest challenge for me is the depth of color I see when mixing isn’t necessarily what I get as an end result. It’s getting better and I’m getting bolder colors (I stop gel, goat milk soap). I was being too stingy with the mica powder and was getting mostly pastels Red is actually magenta and yellow which then makes red a non primary color.

I do have a sense of wonder and am a life long learner. How did I live before without google?