I'm ready to give it up on color

[NatureandNurture]

:? Tonight I used SOAP colorant in my soap, I really don't know what kind it is (not labeled), but it came from another CP soaper, so I thought it would be okay. It was supposed to be BLUE, but it turned PINK, and not a bright pink but rather a really muted dusky pink (read as: grey-pink :roll: ). This is seriously getting ridiculous. Why is it I can't ever get what I'm aiming for?!

 

[jarvan]

Don't give up. I have a feeling your pink will be a lovely shade of blue. This happened to me while trying to make purple soap. It was a lovely shade of magenta before it morphed during gel. It turned out just as I wanted it.

Have faith!

 

[JenniferSews]

Hang in there! I haven't delved into coloring yet, still working on the basic recipe. But I gather from another post (gee, I hope it's your posts!) that you bought a lot of stuff from a previous soaper. I'd try the colorings recommended on this forum before you give up completely. It may be that you just have older, or not the best, color additives. I'm only familiar with fabric dyes but I know when they are older they can shift color or just come out unexpected colors. Good luck!

 

[xyxoxy]

I have made some beautiful soaps but I'll admit that even those were rarely as I had envisioned them. For me, coloring, like scenting, is just one of those things you have to learn with practice and decide what works for you.

I've been exploring micas and oxides lately and am very encouraged (though still figuring out the best way to blend them in)... but I still have a stock of liquid colorants to use up one of these days. I also like dabbling in more natural colorants but if you want dramatic results as I do... well I'm not convinced that botanicals are the best choice for color.

 

[Guest]

I too am totally perplexed and frustrated with color . I very seldom get the color I am aiming for . I have bought many many different colors. Oxides and ultramarines work best for me at this point in time .I have the pop micas ordered so I can try them out .GRRR

Kitn

 

[IrishLass]

Coloring can be really tricky at first, but you'll eventually get the hang of it if you don't give up. Don't forget to take notes so you can duplicate a color when it turns out the way you wanted it to!

I really like my oxides & ultramarines. After much trial and error I finally have a good, working rythmn going on with them and my formulas.

IrishLass

 

[BlueSky]

So frustrated with colors that I have not used any in the last two batches, but I have to admit I'm getting a little tired of off white soaps.

 

[honor435]

I can relate, ive had some weird color experiences, but i keeo on trying. I can do pink, yellow, brown. blue, purple, swirls not so good. I really love earthtones anyways, so...

 

[emilaid]

I know what how you feel!
Last week I tried to make green, (using green surprise, surprise ) and it turned orange, then morphed into a neutral colour.
Now it doesn't look like anything's been added at all :cry:

 

[BlueSky]

Yea, me too. The last time I used LabColors Orange Sherbet, there was no color whatsoever. Then I used the same amount of Citrus Green and I have dark green soap with green bubbles and green goo in the bottom of my soap dish.

I get that it comes down to experience and knowing how each color behaves. But what I don't get is what is happening to the color when you end up with a completely neutral soap. Are there really Pac-Man monsters lurking out there on a molecular level? :shock:

 

[Egzandra]

When I tried to rebatch some soaps one day I foolishly added some pink colouring meant for melt and pour. (or melt and pout, as I've just typo-d) I did more than pout when I saw the colour that turned out. It was like a reddish coloured poo. Also the cherry fragrance Iadded did not do anything for it. I still have the soaps, but they leave a brown goo on the sink.

I think that soap making is quite difficult really when you also have to get the colour right as well as the scent.

 

[LJA]

Save yourself a lot of headache and just invest in Labcolors. You wont be sorry. Easy and reliable.

 

[tincanac]

Hi

I discovered that my powdered oil soluble colours that I had gotten for lipbalm and lotions etc are quite consistent in cp soap. They also come out in nice rich colours as well. I have bought CP soap dye and it didnt turn out as nice as the regular, much cheaper oil soluble colour. What sucks about it though is that you gotta really blend, blend, blend in the powder with some kind of oil (I use almond or castor) cos it tends to clump and then you get speckles - I dont mind speckles in general but I do mind when I dont want them in there. A teeny little bit of powdered colour goes a super long way too. Hope this helps!

 

[AshleyR]

Another one for Lab Colours! I held off on buying them for a long time because they're pricey, but they're SO worth every penny! So easy to use and the colour turns out every time. Occasionally it doesn't show up "right" right away (ie: the purple turns grey, and eventually morphs into purple after the soap gels) - but every single time I've used them I've been happy with the end results.

The other thing I have had success with is clays. I use french green and french pink clay in some of my soaps and they colour nicely. No clumping or speckling like I always seemed to get with oxides and ultramarines!

 

[IrishLass]

I get that it comes down to experience and knowing how each color behaves. But what I don't get is what is happening to the color when you end up with a completely neutral soap. Are there really Pac-Man monsters lurking out there on a molecular level? :shock:

By their very nature, soaps made with lye (as opposed to MP or syndet bars) are actually never neutral (as in a pH of 7). Although the lye has been totally reacted with the fats and 'neutralized' (not caustic anymore), and though you might even have a high superfat, lye soaps will always be on the alkaline side of the scale with the pH hovering within a range of about 9.5 to 10.5. If you try to lower the pH to neutral, the soap will actually separate. That doesn't mean, though, there is anything wrong with the soap (as long as it doesn't 'zap'), it's just the nature of the beast. When choosing colorants, one should always make sure that they are formulated to remain true in an alkaline medium.

IrishLass

 

[NatureandNurture]

Well, I un-molded the soap this evening and while it'll never be called any kind of blue, it morphed into a halfway decent pink, which will work rather nicely with the rose fragrance I used. So it's all good I suppose. I won't be doing anymore swirl attempts though in my round molds, it's too much of a PITA and doesn't work well anyway.

 

[NatureandNurture]

Oh, does anyone know any place that sells oxides, ultramarines, or Labcolors as a kit? It'd be nice to be able to get a handful of them together than all separate.

 

[TheSoapyEwe]

Brambleberry has some colorant sample packs, here's the link

http://www.brambleberry.com/Sample-Packs-C41.aspx