Crayons

[spotts71]

My son has tons of left over crayons. I have read a few places that some soapers have used them to color their soaps. I'm trying for the thrifty approach here and would like to try them.

My question is has any one used them and how did they work?

Also do I need to weigh them out to figure in to the soap base as if it were beeswax? And howdo I melt them?

 

[mandolyn]

I have heard of soapers who've used crayons, but they are NOT skin safe for use in soapmaking.

I would be very careful about this especially if you're going to give your soap away or sell it.

There are lots of alternatives that ARE skin safe & not too expensive like spices, clays etc.

Here's a place to start finding info about natural colorants - many are probably in your kitchen as I write this:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapm ... colors.htm

 

[spotts71]

thanks I'll check it out. I just figured since they are non-toxic (kids tend to eat them) that they should be safe for soap

 

[Tabitha]

Crayons have not been approved by the FDA for use in skin care products, but you are right, they are non toxic. If you can eat something, odds are you can wash w/ it :wink: . Selling soap w/ non approved ingredients could get you in trouble though.

To answer your question, it takes quite a bit of crayola shavings to color a bar/batch of soap, not sure how much.

 

[Tabitha]

I sure though there was a thread around here with a link to recipe on the Miller website that included crayons as colorant. I could be wrong. Maybe someone else will come along w/ that link.

ETA: Found it! http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html Scroll down, it's the *"Favorite Castile"/No Palm Oil recipe.