Cleaning up colorants after making soap

[greasyspoon42]

How do yall clean up after making soap? The batter in the pots are easy as well as the lye pitcher. For me the colorants are a pain and don’t really get them completely clean. I use old medicine containers, I put a teaspoon or so of oil and the color or charcoal and use a milk frothier mix them before I add to my batter. But they are hard to clean out. I use various dioxides if that makes a difference. I have not tried micas yet. So how do you clean colorant containers and/or what do you use premix you colors in?

 

[2lilboots]

Paper towels

 

[Kari Howie]

I use very small dessert cups, like the size that are used for crème brûlée, in which to disperse my colorants. Since they’re a little shallow and have a wide mouth, mixing with a frother can get messy so I often mix with the frother without turning it on. Works fine. Clean up is easy.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I mix my colorants in small ceramic dishes or stainless steel condiment cups. To clean up, I use paper towels to remove what I can, followed by a light spritz of 91% ethanol and a last wipe down before I wash the container in soapy water.

 

[AliOop]

Awhile back, I found these shallow glass prep bowls at the Dollar Store. The top opening is about 3" wide, similar to what you see used on cooking shows when they have premeasured all the spices into little bowls. I greatly prefer these for mixing colorants and for weighing out small amounts of other ingredients, because they don't have any perpendicular seams that are the hardest to clean. The downside is what @Kari Howie shared - they are too shallow for using a frother.

 

[greasyspoon42]

Thanks the last batch of soap I made I used paper towels in my medicine bottles and that cleaned most of it out. Soap turned out well but I use an oxide brown color swirl with charcoal for the black. Once it hardens enough to demold it look kinda like poo. Laughed pretty good about that.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Rather than adding my colourants to the batter, I mix my colourants in the bottom of the jug I will be pouring batter into. Once the main batter is mixed in the 'big bowl', it then gets poured into the individual jugs with the colourant in the bottom. after pouring all the coloured batter into the molds, the jugs get washed as normal.

 

[KimLynn]

I mix my colorants in small ceramic dishes or stainless steel condiment cups. To clean up, I use paper towels to remove what I can, followed by a light spritz of 91% ethanol and a last wipe down before I wash the container in soapy water.

I use the stainless condiment cups, too. Got them from a restaurant supply company and they work just great. I’d add that Dawn spray wash is a wonderful degreaser and gets the leftover oil out quite nicely.

 

[akseattle]

I mainly make only 1 pound batches with only 3 times so far 2 pound batches so I mix colorants in stainless steel tablespoon measuring spoons OR glass shot glasses (I bought at thrift store for this specific purpose. )

I initially used at least a couple plastic tablespoons . That did not work well. As you said, they were very hard to clean. Even though all utensils and containers ii use are used ONLY for soaping, it bothered me.

I use plastic for other purposes (lye water), but not for mixing colorant. No problem adding colorant to batter that is already in the plastic bowl, just not colorant directly on to the plastic.