Gel Tones Help

[tranquilspirit]

Hey all,

I made my first swirl soap yesterday and it looked so aweosme. I colored it green and did black swirls. This morning after I woke up and checked it all my swirls are gone. It is as if the colors blended together to form a dark green and I see no swirls.

I dont know what I did wrong. Did I use too much gel tone? Can someone tell me how much gel tone to use for a 3 pound batch?

Any ideas on what could have caused this? Here is a pic of what it looked like before.
www.simetraonline.com/swirl.jpg

 

[Guest]

that has happened to me a few times... i had a nice green soap...only to wake up in the morning to no color at all... I think the heat burns off the coloring sometimes. As long as I have been making soap, I never really found an anwer to that question.

 

[IanT]

that looks pretty cool!! Im new to this whole soapmaking thing...what is gel-tone? wish I could help you, my basic knowledge of chemistry is telling me that probably what happened was that the colorant you used probably was too 'loose'?? and assimilated itself into the soap as opposed to staying where the swirls where...maybe because it was overpowered but the surrounding color?? or it didnt stay in suspension because of a heat issue?? not sure...but trying to learn just as you are!

again, wish I could help!


Ive been up til like 4am studying soaps for the last week....havent tried a batch yet but Ive got the lye now and a sleeeeeeeeeeeeew of questions! I was curious as to the effect of say marbelizing/swirling with a smaller portion of the same recipe of soap however with the added colorant you desire...not sure if people do this already (they probably do...) but to me it seems this would be the best way to get the color to stay in suspension in the soap so long as whatever colorant you add doesnt change the solution too much...

 

[tranquilspirit]

how much do you use to color 3 pound batch? Do you drop it right into the bowl and mix?

 

[Barb]

i'm not familar with that type colorant. they should have given you some kind of guide as to how much to use ppo. and a color chart.

some colorants are mutated by the lye and will morph into just about anything but what they started out as, or can disappear all together.

some don't work well with soap formula's that are high in olive oil, or are made with goats milk.

some need lots to get the color you want. that's why they suggest you experiment with small amounts of soap first and keep good notes.

yes green and black make forest green.

sorry

barb