Coloring Soap

[SunRiseArts]

OMG Irishlass, your soap is gorgeous! I know you mention you dip the stamp in the gold, but do you spray your stamp with alcohol, or nothing at all?

Personally I like using baby food to tint my batter, and then use micas for the swirl. I put the mica directly on the batter, and shamelessly I also eyeball it.


I have a question. I am planning my Christmas soaps. I want to make them in September so they have a long curing time.

What would you say is the best red colorant for CP? One that would give you intensity of color?

 

[Relle]

SRA - This is the colour I use for red (scroll down) http://www.heirloombodycare.com.au/colourants/liquid-soap-colour
and add some red reef clay to it. http://shop.newdirections.com.au/epages/newdirections.sf/en_AU/?ObjectID=42261
Makes it into a rich red/burgundy shade.

Christmas soaps with the red in them. (extra one at the bottom of the page).
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=48513

 

[cobbsie]

I think seeing this thread has answered a question....my coloured sections solidify slower and in not keen on the texture. It looks like I may be using too much! My lovely blue and yellow swirl is fab but makes distinctly yellow bubbles and the last one I did with dark blue has left a stain on my ha d after washing some of the soap batter out of a jug and some slooshing into my glove.

I have been putting a whole teaspoon into the colours and wondering why they don't mix with a teaspoon or two of oil

Less is more....less is more!

 

[penelopejane]

When people say 1 tsp they might be saying 1 tsp ppo - depending on the colour) So if you are making a swirl using 300g of batter that's only about 250g of oil and requires only 1/4 tsp of colour.

 

[SunRiseArts]

SRA - This is the colour I use for red (scroll down) http://www.heirloombodycare.com.au/colourants/liquid-soap-colour
and add some red reef clay to it. http://shop.newdirections.com.au/epages/newdirections.sf/en_AU/?ObjectID=42261
Makes it into a rich red/burgundy shade.

Christmas soaps with the red in them. (extra one at the bottom of the page).
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=48513

Thank you so much! And your soap is GORGEOUS! Specially the second one!

So I am guessing the liquid red is glycerin based? Maybe is like the fun color from NG.

 

[Relle]

Thank you so much! And your soap is GORGEOUS! Specially the second one!

So I am guessing the liquid red is glycerin based? Maybe is like the fun color from NG.

As far as I know, I don't think it is glycerin based, it's very watery. I have know idea about NG's colours. I get all mine from here in Oz.

 

[IrishLass]

OMG Irishlass, your soap is gorgeous! I know you mention you dip the stamp in the gold, but do you spray your stamp with alcohol, or nothing at all?

What would you say is the best red colorant for CP? One that would give you intensity of color?

You'll have to forgive me- I didn't see this post until just now!

After I stamp, I just give it a single spritz with alcohol and call it done.

As for a red colorant, I can't say which is the best because I only have experience with a few, but for what it's worth, my go-to red that has never failed me is a mix of Colorana Bordeaux mica from TKP Trading and Tomato Red liquid colorant, also from TKB Trading, which you can see in this soap: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=475650&postcount=13. I mix the two together with some glycerin before adding to my batch. I only swirl with it, though. I tried coloring my whole batch with it once and it turned my shower into the scene from Psycho....well, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it did turn my lather quite pink. When I only swirl with it, my suds stay white.


IrishLass

 

[ibct1969]

Boy, I just never stop learning new things on this forum... just wanted to lay that one down.

 

[SunRiseArts]

You'll have to forgive me- I didn't see this post until just now!

After I stamp, I just give it a single spritz with alcohol and call it done.

As for a red colorant, I can't say which is the best because I only have experience with a few, but for what it's worth, my go-to red that has never failed me is a mix of Colorana Bordeaux mica from TKP Trading and Tomato Red liquid colorant, also from TKB Trading, which you can see in this soap: http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showpost.php?p=475650&postcount=13. I mix the two together with some glycerin before adding to my batch. I only swirl with it, though. I tried coloring my whole batch with it once and it turned my shower into the scene from Psycho....well, that's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it did turn my lather quite pink. When I only swirl with it, my suds stay white.


IrishLass

Yes! That is the red I want! I will check that supplier Plus again gorgeous soap.

Also, you do not spray your stamp with alcohol then? That is what I was asking ... you dip your stamp in dry mica? Sorry, I probably sound dumb ...

 

[IrishLass]

.

Also, you do not spray your stamp with alcohol then? That is what I was asking ... you dip your stamp in dry mica? Sorry, I probably sound dumb ...

Yes- I dip my stamp in dry mica (the stamp is dry, too). Then after I stamp my soap, I give it just one spritz of alcohol and call it done.


IrishLass

 

[SunRiseArts]

I have a question related to colorants. Have anyone ever pour on CP batch color straight out of the bottle? (Like the red colorant suggested by Relle and IrishLass).

I mean not mixing it with the batch, but just a line straight of the bottle on the top. Kind of what saponista did with the gold in the May challenge, but inside the middle of the batter.

 

[artemis]

I have a question related to colorants. Have anyone ever pour on CP batch color straight out of the bottle? (Like the red colorant suggested by Relle and IrishLass).

I mean not mixing it with the batch, but just a line straight of the bottle on the top. Kind of what saponista did with the gold in the May challenge, but inside the middle of the batter.

You mean, like a mica swirl on top, only inside the soap? I think I remember this coming up before. When I have done the mica on top, the oil absorbed, leaving the mica AND a depression in the top of my soap. That makes me think it might leave a cavity in the soap if you tried it inside? If I had any lye today, I'd be inclined to experiment.

 

[Kittish]

I have a question related to colorants. Have anyone ever pour on CP batch color straight out of the bottle? (Like the red colorant suggested by Relle and IrishLass).

I mean not mixing it with the batch, but just a line straight of the bottle on the top. Kind of what saponista did with the gold in the May challenge, but inside the middle of the batter.

I tried it with ultramarine blue in olive oil with my first attempt at a blue lace agate soap. I don't yet know how it worked, not yet able to cut it. I didn't try to get much in the way of particles, just those that had stayed suspended in the oil after it had sat for half an hour or so. I also drizzled some on top and made a swirly, it didn't leave indentions as deep as I've seen from mica in oil.

 

[SunRiseArts]

You mean, like a mica swirl on top, only inside the soap? I think I remember this coming up before. When I have done the mica on top, the oil absorbed, leaving the mica AND a depression in the top of my soap. That makes me think it might leave a cavity in the soap if you tried it inside? If I had any lye today, I'd be inclined to experiment.

Is not a mica colorant, is the one suspended in glycerin

 

[dixiedragon]

Is not a mica colorant, is the one suspended in glycerin

I've tried what I think you're describing. I was using a column mold. I mixed the mica with olive oil and poured some soap, then dripped some color, then soap, etc, then I did 1 stir to try to get a swirl, not to blend. It didn't really work - when I sliced the soap the oil droplets just fell out, leaving a little hole in the soap.

 

[artemis]

Is not a mica colorant, is the one suspended in glycerin

It comes that way? Like, you buy it already suspended in glycerin? I'm sorry-- I'm not quite following. ETA: I followed the links, but I didn't see where it said they were suspended in glycerin. Sorry-- I've never worked with liquid colors like those.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Yes, it comes that way artemis! Thanks Dixie dragon, that is what I was thinking of doing. But I guess I mix it with some batter to make my line. I do not want my batch to be damage.

Artemis the fun colorants from NG are suspended in glycerin, This is what I have, as suggested by Irish Lass

http://www.tkbtrading.com/item.php?item_id=199

 

[DeeAnna]

A time or two, I mixed mica with glycerin, drizzled this "syrup" over a cocoa pencil line, and then poured more soap batter over the pencil line to complete the soap. My goal was to make a soap that looked something vaguely like rock with a line of "ore" flecked with "gold" within the soap.

It was a nice idea that didn't work out so good. Like Dixie reported, the drizzles of "syrup" within the soap leaked out after I cut the bars, leaving small holes within the pencil line and smears of mica on the cut surfaces of the bars. Even if the glycerin didn't leak out, it would eventually absorb into the soap and still leave a cavity.

The effect was less than spectacular. :think:

I now only use this "syrup" on top of my soap, so the cavities left behind where the glycerin used to be will create interesting texture and color accents on top.

 

[artemis]

:

I now only use this "syrup" on top of my soap, so the cavities left behind where the glycerin used to be will create interesting texture and color accents on top.

When I made such a syrup and drizzled it on top, it beaded up before I could swirl it.

 

[DeeAnna]

Yes, it will bead up, but it still works. Also, try to drizzle the syrup as thinly as you can, but I know that can be hard. I use a little disposable pipette. If drizzling is tough, try dropping small droplets here and there as best you can. Use a chopstick to lightly swirl through the top 1/8 to 1/4 inch (2 mm to 4 mm) of the soap batter. The chopstick will pull the syrup into pretty curves and puddles. Stop when you get the look you want -- don't fiddle too much.

After saponification, the glycerin syrup might still be a liquid on top of the soap but give it a few days -- the glycerin will gradually soak into the soap. What used to be beads and lines of wet syrup will be small, dry grooves and cavities in the top of the soap. These grooves and cavities will be coated with the colorant you put in the syrup.

I don't have a super nice photo of how this looks on a cured bar of soap. Here's the best I can do on short notice -- it's not the prettiest example of what I've done with this technique. The top of the lower bar has the clearest examples of this mica swirl -- look on the right side of the top. I should have used more syrup to get more of these little flecks.