I think my lye "ate" my color.

[Neathra]

I just started soap making with my dad. We made our first batch based on this lavender soap recipe. (Simple Lavender Soap Recipe + ways to customize it).

Apart from substituting all the palm oil for coconut oil (I forgot to order it) I think we followed the directions exactly.

To color everything, we took a tablespoon of the oil and mixed it with an 1/8 tsp of the ultramarine violet pigment. Then we added that back into the rest of the oil.
We then mixed in the lye.

Our bars are solid, smell lovely, and are pure white. (See picture). I assume that the color got "eaten" by the saponification process, and that we read the instructions wrong. But I have also heard that some pigments don't play nice in cold press soap.

Can someone with more experience help explain because this seems to be one of those "so basic to know and hard to screw up nobody talks about what happens when you screw it up." Type situations.

 

[shunt2011]

I just started soap making with my dad. We made our first batch based on this lavender soap recipe. (Simple Lavender Soap Recipe + ways to customize it).

Apart from substituting all the palm oil for coconut oil (I forgot to order it) I think we followed the directions exactly.

To color everything, we took a tablespoon of the oil and mixed it with an 1/8 tsp of the ultramarine violet pigment. Then we added that back into the rest of the oil.
We then mixed in the lye.

Our bars are solid, smell lovely, and are pure white. (See picture). I assume that the color got "eaten" by the saponification process, and that we read the instructions wrong. But I have also heard that some pigments don't play nice in cold press soap.

Can someone with more experience help explain because this seems to be one of those "so basic to know and hard to screw up nobody talks about what happens when you screw it up." Type situations.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Hopefully you ran the recipe through a lye calculator when you made the change to the recipe. All recipes need to be run through a calculator as errors in print happen.

Also, adding Shea at trace is unnecessary. Just all all your oils and butters together.

You likely needed more of the colorant. I add 1 tsp per pound of oils. Sometimes more.

I would also do a zap test to make sure it’s not lye heavy.

Congratulations on your first soap.

 

[Neathra]

Thanks!

We did run the altered recipe through Brambleberry's lye calculator and everything came out the same. I just did the zap test and no zap (Although the soap definitely does not taste as good as it smells).

 

[Kamahido]

Was the colorant in question Cold Process stable?

 

[Obsidian]

Many purple colorants are not suitable for CP. I have a lavender ultramarine that disappears in soap.
Its something I ordered when I first started soaping, before I knew to double check that every color is PH stable.

Save yourself a headache and buy a few PH stable micas from a reputable soap suppliers.

Congrats on your first soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

...We did run the altered recipe through Brambleberry's lye calculator and everything came out the same....

If you substituted an equal weight of coconut for the palm oil you didn't have, the lye weight had to have changed.

Original recipe calling for coconut 112 g + palm 82 g => 64 grams NaOH​

Recipe with coconut (no palm) at 194 g => 67 grams NaOH​

If you used only 64 grams of NaOH, it's no wonder the zap test didn't give you a zap -- the superfat changed from 5% per the original recipe to a little over 9% in your all-coconut version.

I've had such spotty results with ultramarine violet to the point I don't use it anymore. It generally fades to an uninteresting very pale lavender going on uninteresting very pale pink. I probably would have used more than 1/8 tsp of the dry pigment to color your batch if I was still thinking this pigment was useful in soap.

If you take a closer look at the various soaps in the tutorial you followed, you'll see only the third photo from the top shows soap with a nice lavender color. The image directly associated with the actual soap making tutorial is a washed-out pale color, a lot like my experience with this pigment.

 

[cmzaha]

I hate that particular pigment and also quit using it a long time ago. I would also say that no way would 1/8th tsp of Ultramarine Violet in that particular recipe give a nice color. But then I have never been able to get a nice color from it if anything an ugly gray.

 

[TheGecko]

To color everything, we took a tablespoon of the oil and mixed it with an 1/8 tsp of the ultramarine violet pigment. Then we added that back into the rest of the oil.

I have a 9-cavity Square mold; holds 33.75 oz. An 1/8 tsp is not nearly enough to color that much batter, you would want closer to 1 1/2 tea. You also need to check if the colorant is appropriate for soap. BTDT twice now.

 

[Neathra]

Was the colorant in question Cold Process stable?

The website we bought it from claims so, but apparently it is known for acting up.

 

[Neathra]

If you substituted an equal weight of coconut for the palm oil you didn't have, the lye weight had to have changed.

I just reran the calculation with the weights we used and it is saying 63.78 grams. So I have no idea what is what is going on anymore!

 

[artemis]

Just a little note on lye calculators:

I started out with the Bramble Berry one, too. It was very simple and I didn't have to think about anything too complicated.

Once I wanted to seriously start formulating my own recipes, I found that calculators like soapee (and now, soap making friend) are much more flexible. I would recommend picking one of those and start playing around with them to become familiar. It won't necessarily help with your color problem, but it might help when you are substituting oils.

 

[DeeAnna]

I just reran the calculation with the weights we used and it is saying 63.78 grams. So I have no idea what is what is going on anymore!

It's because your recipe isn't the author's recipe with coconut subbed for the palm. You also left out the shea in your no-palm version.

If you put the author's original, unmodified recipe into a soap recipe calc, you'll find the only way the lye equals 64 grams at 5% superfat is for a recipe that includes the shea.

Just because a person adds fat at trace doesn't mean that fat can be ignored. It still becomes part of the soap and superfat.

 

[cmzaha]

I agree with DeeAnna your no palm version would have required 67 grams of lye not 64.

 

[Neathra]

I swear this all ignorance, not stubbornness, but if the she's butter was added at trace wouldn't all the lye be reacted with the other days already?

 

[artemis]

I swear this all ignorance, not stubbornness, but if the she's butter was added at trace wouldn't all the lye be reacted with the other days already?

This is a common misconception. After you have reached trace, the lye is still active. Any fats are up for grabs as far as the lye monster is concerned.

 

[TheGecko]

I swear this all ignorance, not stubbornness, but if the she's butter was added at trace wouldn't all the lye be reacted with the other days already?

IF you were doing Hot Process and added the AFTER the cook...then yes (aka superfat). But this is Cold Process...'trace' simply refers to the fact that your batter is emulsified and is thickening up. It takes a full 18-24 hours for saponification...where the lye fully reacts to the oils/butters and turns into 'soap'.