Colorants: Natural or man-made

[suzhartman]

I've been looking at the different options for coloring soap batter. From those with experience, please describe your experiences with color options, what color media you've chosen and why, do the "Pretty" soaps sell more during the holiday or year 'round? Overall, guidance is the area of colorants for soap would be wonderful. Thanks y'all!

 

[normajean999]

Hi. I'm new too. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page there will be links to several threads related to the one you posted about natural colorants. May be worth taking a look through. I do not sell but I've read a lot of posts that say the swirls sell during the holidays and the rest of the year the plain ones sell more. I'm sure the experts will be along to help soon. Good luck!

 

[suzhartman]

Thanks Normajean!

 

[hmlove1218]

I started out with natural colors and at first I was pleased with the results, but over time, most of them fade to almost nonexistent. I still use a few because I found their color lasts: alkanet root, maddar root, activated charcoal just to name a few. Oh, and tomato powder seemed to hold up pretty well.

But for the most part now, I use micas because the give me a bright, lasting color.

 

[Earthen_Step]

Copied from another thread about colors (http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=50630)

**I like to stick to natural ingredients. I have yet to try out any synthetic colorants. I've been pleased with most results, the plant-based greens tend to fade very quickly in light.

From my experience with natural colors this is what I can come up with at the moment. I have only done CP soaps, I add most at light trace with my EO blend.

Black Walnut Hull Powder: a nice tan to dark brown depending on amount -- love it, fades some in sunlight.

Cocoa: A nice tan to dark brown depending on the amount -- I like the look of it, but it bleeds a lot if you put much in.

Activated Charcoal: Deep rich black -- a little goes a long way! Bleeds a little in the water.

Safflower Powder: Yellow to orange/peach color with nice little specs -- fades a bit in the sun.

Dandelion Leaf: Dark green with slight brown colors -- fades to brown and loses most it's green in the sun.

Burdock Leaf: Same results as Dandelion leaf, just slightly darker.

Red Sandlewood Powder: Peachy Orange i'd call it, and fades some in the light.

Paprikia: Yellow to peachy orange color depending on amount -- This one seems to hold it's color really well from my experience.

Turmeric: Yellow/tanish -- I like to blend this in with browns and tans, it livens the color some. Fades in the sun a bit.

Indigo: Grayish blue -- holds its color decently in the sun.

Annato Seed: Infused olive oil 24 hours before use -- deep orange color that holds up well.

 

[shunt2011]

I too use mostly clays, oxides, aquamarines and Micas. I do use cocoa powder and activated charcoal.

 

[SplendorSoaps]

I too use mostly clays, oxides, aquamarines and Micas. I do use cocoa powder and activated charcoal.

This is what I do, as well. I've tried some other colorants (and some of the synthetic colorants are easy to work with and create a nice result), but I really like to keep it more natural or nature-equivalent for the vast majority of my soaps. Sometimes I get creative and play with color by adding things like brewed coffee for part of my water. I think I'm going to experiment with madder root and alkanet root powders next. I've also seen some nice results with indigo, but I haven't tried it myself yet.

 

[suzhartman]

Thanks y'all. Very helpful and informative. I'm leaning toward the naturals myself and wanted to see what a few others were experiencing.

Day before yesterday I mixed up a 1.5lb. brick of my GM soap with a cocoa and spice tea blend. Threw the liquid and spices at trace. I didn't discount enough GM, so I'm going to try it again. The soap is now at the curing stage and turned out pretty cool and really soft. I do like the color though and the specks of spices. The bars look very earthy and natural.

 

[seven]

looks great!