Hello! I'm near St. Louis, MO

PurpleLinda · Jul 17, 2018

I'm also half owner of Byrnes Mill Bath Boutique. We are small but determined to make people happy via soap! LOL I've never been sad while making soap, the smells and colors make me happy, and it's therapeutic. So...better living through cleansing! I actually work out lots of problems while making soap. It gives me something creative to do and I love it. I have three cats, one husband and tons of wildlife that visit just outside our door.

I'm also very new to this "forum" and the concept, so I think I'll get lost a time or two trying to answer or find something, but that's ok! Please be patient.

Posting a question: anyone else have trouble with blue micas? It seems that some fragrance oils will turn it into strange colors. I had a soap for Independence Day that I just called Red, White and UGLY!!! Smelled great, but the blue turned teal, then brown green then just sludge looking with brown spots. It even leaked into the white stars (M&P) and started making them brown. What a gross color.

shunt2011 · Jul 17, 2018

Hello and welcome! I've only had my blue turn green with a yellow tinged FO. Otherwise, no surprised with reputable companies. I primarily use Nurture or TKB Trading. Some use Steph's Micas and More but that's a pre-order thing, so if in a hurry not the best option but good if you can wait.

cmzaha · Jul 17, 2018

The blue you used might not be a high ph stable colorant. What did you and and where did you purchase it? If from a hobby store it would have most likely been a m&p colorant which are usually not high ph colorants. Shari above mentioned TKB and they do have wonderful micas but read their descriptions, they will tell you if they are high ph or cp soap stable. Sorry I forget their exact verbiage.

steffamarie · Jul 17, 2018

I have some blues from Nurture and they've done great! No issues at all. I have some other micas from Brambleberry that I like as well. Nuture has a sampler pack of micas that come in little jars so you can get just a little of like 10 different colors to try out!

Also, hello from STL! Always lovely to see people from my neck of the woods

cmzaha · Jul 17, 2018

PurpleLinda said:
I used Ultramarine Blue and Klein Blue - both from Nurture . The FO was Macintosh Apple from Rustic but there was some Caramel Apple added to it to make it more "pie like" so maybe the vanillian???? that was the most recent episode. I've had things happen before (I can't remember the particulars of those batches) but I just seem to struggle with blue - of all things. Yellow morphs then comes back, green does the same, but I didn't expect blue to be a problem.

Klein blue I have never used, but have never had a problem with Ultramarine Blue. Also I have never used either of the fo's so no help there.

lenarenee · Jul 17, 2018

Since the blue-turned-brown color started affecting the white soap next to it, I suspect vanillin was the issue.

The yellowness of a fragrance can alter colors as well. I've said some unhappy words when mixing the perfect color - then pouring the fo, seeing how yellow it is, and saying goodbye to my perfect colors!

This doesn't sound like a big contributor to your problem, but the color of your oils/batter affect the end result of colors. That's just one of the reasons why I stopped using palm and olive oil (unless in tiny amounts).

Welcome to the forum! I've lived in the St. Louis area and loved exploring the city and rural areas. I've seen the Piasa bird!

ETA: I love klein blue from Nurture and have never had issues with it. In fact, all of the blues I have from Nurture I'm very happy with. Still trying to find a good dark orange, and a good basic green (nurture's green vibrance bleeds)

earlene · Jul 17, 2018

I have had UM Blue morph into a lovely purple shade. I loved the result, but if blue was my goal, I surely would have been disappointed. I don't know where it was purchased, however, as it was not my own, but another soaper's colorant when I used it.