How to make a red colorant?

[Zing]

I soaped today and wanted a red. I used Bramble Berry's suggestion on 2:1 bubblegum pink : merlot. It was too pink and I kept adding more merlot and getting more pink. Hit me up if you have a great red colorant or a great blend that makes red. Thanks!

 

[AliOop]

I haven't tried this, but I've watched YT soapers add a titch of black to deepen the colors more towards a true red. It might have been Ione Eve, of Eve's Garden?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ve been using Nurture’s Trial By Fire lately. The red is good, but I do think it may be migrating a little. I made a soap last year using a blend of Nurture micas that produced a nice Christmas red. I still have a small piece of it in my shower and the colors haven’t migrated at all. I will try to remember to check my notes on that one tomorrow and will post some pics.

 

[lenarenee]

Sounds like you need to add a bit of orange - tiny amounts at first. Whether you use Nurture's micas or not - you might find it helpful to play around with the reds - mix with blue, orange, pink - and see how it affects colors. Or a color wheel. Mixing colors is not easy.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I agree with @lenarenee. The blend I was making used orange (neon, I think), Queen of Hearts and Brick Dust. The Brick Dust is a little brown/dark, so that goes along with what @AliOop is suggesting.

edited to add this link to the mica set called True Red Trio that I used to get a nice red:
https://nurturesoap.com/products/true-red-trio-mica-set

 

[TheGecko]

If you're using BB's Merlot Sparkle Mica I'm not surprised...it's got a LOT of pink in it.

I use Really Red! Pigment by Nurture Soap. Trial by Fire is supposed to be another good one. Nurture Soap is having a 50% off sale on all their FO and Mica Samples.

 

[Sudsnco]

I made a red using pink and bronze. Came out well and didn’t migrate. Unfortunatekt I don’t have referral code from the brands that you guys use.

 

[SoapDaddy70]

I’ve been using Nurture’s Trial By Fire lately. The red is good, but I do think it may be migrating a little. I made a soap last year using a blend of Nurture micas that produced a nice Christmas red. I still have a small piece of it in my shower and the colors haven’t migrated at all. I will try to remember to check my notes on that one tomorrow and will post some pics.

Just used the Trial by Fire the other day with white and green for a Christmas soap. The red is a perfect red but I did notice little wisps of it migrating into the white.

 

[Guspuppy]

I've been using 'Really Red' from Nurture for a couple years. I have a soap nearly two years old with heavy doses of mica (red and orange and yellow) - so mica heavy that some parts are soft from too much mica - and the red has not bled. Its a good deep red too.

 

[Kamahido]

I like Really Red Mica as well.

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

Trial by fire makes a lovely red however the one thing I don't like about it is the color comes through the lather and it's pink lather. Now it does wash out of the washcloth and doesn't stain but I've had a few people comment on it. Although I have to say my niece loves the "pink bubbles" from the soap.

 

[dibbles]

I like My Red Obsession from Nurture. It doesn’t color the lather or bleed. It’s not quite a cherry/fire engine bright red, but pretty close. If I want it brighter I mix a tiny bit of Trial by Fire or Really Red, since I already have samples of those. If I remember tomorrow I’ll look for a post I made some time ago showing it in comparison to one of the more brick red micas.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Here’s a comparison of the reds I’ve used. Trial by Fire on the left in a soap made a few weeks ago, Red Trio Blend in a soap made over a year ago (a tester soap from my shower ).


The drop in the older soap has a clean edge, but looks a little haloed here because the soap is translucent. In the swirled soap, the pink halo is at the surface.

 

[Zing]

This is why I love this forum! I just placed my first order with Nurture. They are sold out of the Red Trio but I ordered several other reds. I appreciate the feedback!

 

[jcandleattic]

I use Mad Micas true red set. IMO it is a more true red than trial by fire. I still got pink using trial by fire, which I have never gotten with MM's true red set. It's always the crimson Christmas red every single time I use it, regardless of the usage rate. As someone else said, in order to get red with trial by fire I have to use so much to get the red I want that it colors the lather. I've never had that happen with the true red set.

JMO

 

[Zing]

I use Mad Micas true red set. IMO it is a more true red than trial by fire.
JMO

That's exactly what I wanted -- your opinion! Thanks. I placed an order with Mad Micas too. I gotta lot of experimenting ahead of me.

 

[dibbles]

This is the post I made with a picture comparing the reds. This was before Trial By Fire was available, and I haven't used the MM True Red set. RED!!!!

 

[Guspuppy]

Photo of 2-yr soap with Nurture's really red. Its VERY mica heavy so does color lather but hasn't bled even so. (I had mistakenly used mica enough for the whole batter amount in each accent color so they are all super saturated! )

 

[Mango]

I managed to get a nice deep red with rosehip powder (I was trying for pink). The batch is only about 48 hours old, so I'm still waiting to see if/how it changes!
For a ~46 oz batch: seeped 2 Tbsp of rosehip power in rose water for a couple days, strained out and discarded the powder, then added an additional 1 tsp to half the batter at light trace. The black half has ~1.5 Tbsp activated charcoal.
I'd be interested to see how others have gotten red using non-mica colorants and am wondering if anyone thinks this red will last?

 

[Catscankim]

This was my trial by fire. Lard bar, regular amt of mica. Cpop