I decided to use some time this winter to play around with natural colorants and EO blends, and to take better notes so I can remember exactly what I did when the results are good (or bad).
Here's a couple of matcha tea and indigo soaps I made yesterday. The tea powder (old... from 2019, Walmart, stored in the freezer) and indigo powder (Baphicacanthus indigo, purchased in 2019 from Nurture, stored in a cupboard) were added to warm CO at 10% of oil weight and then kept warm in a crock pot for about 6 hours. The jars were shaken occasionally to help keep the powders suspended. After allowing the jars to sit overnight, decanted matcha tea CO (no powder) was added to one batch of oils at 10% of total oil weight. For the indigo soap, I re-dispersed the powder into the CO and then used at 20% of total oil weight. The colored oil (matcha) or oil + powder (indigo) went in the pot before I added the lye. The white soap is uncolored. I used my GW 415 recipe, which also includes avocado oil, bleached cocoa butter, castor, and sunflower oil. The soaps were made using 36% lye concentration, have sodium citrate and raw sugar added, and are scented with an EO blend, an Aveda "Shampure" dup that was added at emulsion due to the inclusion of an accelerating EO (ylang ylang III, sticks well in cp soap). The small test batches spent the night in a styrofoam cooler and were still warm when I took them out this morning.
The resultant green is close to what I achieved way back in 2019 when I first started playing around with matcha tea. I'm surprised that the tea powder held up so well in the freezer. I'm happy enough with the indigo, especially considering how old it is and the less than optimal storage conditions. I think the blue in this run looks closer to the soap made with indigo in lye, here, but possibly a bit duller (or just darker?) and not nearly as blue as when it was added dispersed in oil for the high water blue in the middle soap at the same link. Of special note, there's hardly an edge ring of lighter colored soap around the indigo layers.
To help preserve the colors for as long as possible, the soaps are already in the dark. Based on previous trials, I expect the green to fade fairly quickly and the blue more slowly. I will love the green as it is for now and then enjoy the muted color scheme.
Here's a couple of matcha tea and indigo soaps I made yesterday. The tea powder (old... from 2019, Walmart, stored in the freezer) and indigo powder (Baphicacanthus indigo, purchased in 2019 from Nurture, stored in a cupboard) were added to warm CO at 10% of oil weight and then kept warm in a crock pot for about 6 hours. The jars were shaken occasionally to help keep the powders suspended. After allowing the jars to sit overnight, decanted matcha tea CO (no powder) was added to one batch of oils at 10% of total oil weight. For the indigo soap, I re-dispersed the powder into the CO and then used at 20% of total oil weight. The colored oil (matcha) or oil + powder (indigo) went in the pot before I added the lye. The white soap is uncolored. I used my GW 415 recipe, which also includes avocado oil, bleached cocoa butter, castor, and sunflower oil. The soaps were made using 36% lye concentration, have sodium citrate and raw sugar added, and are scented with an EO blend, an Aveda "Shampure" dup that was added at emulsion due to the inclusion of an accelerating EO (ylang ylang III, sticks well in cp soap). The small test batches spent the night in a styrofoam cooler and were still warm when I took them out this morning.
The resultant green is close to what I achieved way back in 2019 when I first started playing around with matcha tea. I'm surprised that the tea powder held up so well in the freezer. I'm happy enough with the indigo, especially considering how old it is and the less than optimal storage conditions. I think the blue in this run looks closer to the soap made with indigo in lye, here, but possibly a bit duller (or just darker?) and not nearly as blue as when it was added dispersed in oil for the high water blue in the middle soap at the same link. Of special note, there's hardly an edge ring of lighter colored soap around the indigo layers.
To help preserve the colors for as long as possible, the soaps are already in the dark. Based on previous trials, I expect the green to fade fairly quickly and the blue more slowly. I will love the green as it is for now and then enjoy the muted color scheme.
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