Indigo Uncertainty...

[Gryphonisle]

Is it possible to get a consistent blue from indigo? I generally add it to the lye solution, 1tsp per pound of soap. I’ve gotten lots of gray, occasional Levi’s blue denim and once a quite striking navy that was nearly black. That the other layer was white kaolin clay enhanced (also added to lye solution) made for a spectacular soap. But How? Why? I just did my fourth practice “dancing funnel” pattern, which among other things featured a black and an indigo that both went gray, same shade of gray. Not very impressive.

I generally use palm/coco/olive/shea butter (at 10%) and castor oil. Recently I switched out the palm for babassu (lowering the amount used for the palm, and putting that much more olive oil in). In the “dancing funnel” #4, the recipe was more than half olive oil with the babassu and the coconut reduced. The blue poured the color of washed and worn denim, the black poured black.

In case it’s not clear, I’m talking CP soap.

 

[penelopejane]

If you use the same recipe, the same lye/indigo mix (processed in the same way), the same indigo powder, the same amount of indigo (use the same tsp and level it off with a knife), the same oils (even the same brand of OO can change in colour from bottle to bottle), the same process and the same FO, soap at the same temp and gel your soap you should get the same result. Change one of those inputs eg: soap at a different temperature and you will get a different result.

Your lye at a different temp when you add the indigo will also change the colour. SBing after the indigo is added will change the colour as well. Indigo is temperamental.

 

[Gryphonisle]

Ah. After I’d posted here I went back to the ‘net and found a website with a page dedicated to Indigo three ways, and with three types of indigo. But, they didn’t indicate it was so sensitive. I’ll try to watch the temperature of the lye when I add the indigo and see if I note any differences. I’ll also try it in the 3 standard recipes I use and see how that differs.

Any ideas on a good lye solution temperature for a bluer indigo? With natural colorants added to lye solution, is there a range of temps where the colors do better?

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Indigo comes from multiple types of plants and I’ve also read on the Nuture website that the concentration in powder from plants sources can vary, which affects the color intensity in the finished soap. I linked two threads below that cover my relatively recent trials using one kind of indigo powder added two different ways - in one batch it was dispersed in oil and in the other it was added to the lye. I just this past weekend made another batch using the dispersed oil method with the same indigo I used for the previous results and got results that are consistent with the previous batch. All three of my batches were made in loaf molds and the indigo has always turned grey on all six outer surfaces.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stormy-sea-soap-pt-2-with-indigo.75199/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/the-indigo-and-jagua-blues.75531/