Natual Color Setting Time
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You should pretty much see the color once mixed into the batter. Color change will depend on if it's gelled or not. It will also depend on what you are using. Some have been known to morph. I don't use a lot of natural colors as I found out in the beginning they have a tendency to fade over time, especially if in the sun.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
I'm not too sure about CP but the turmeric (for cooking) I have turns my gelled HP batter a bright orange, but it's a pale yellow when I cut next day.
I read somewhere that ratanjot and/or alkanet can sometimes look blue, then turn purple as the ph goes down. Dunno, mine stayed blue but the soap passed the zap test after a couple of weeks (stormy CP). The infusion was red lol
My manjistha (similar to madder root) was an almost red wine color, which changed to pink after unmolding.
The red sandalwood powder stayed more or less the same color, similar to red wine.
One thing I noticed for all is that they fade. More so with higher amounts of salt, not sure why.
I read somewhere that ratanjot and/or alkanet can sometimes look blue, then turn purple as the ph goes down. Dunno, mine stayed blue but the soap passed the zap test after a couple of weeks (stormy CP). The infusion was red lol
My manjistha (similar to madder root) was an almost red wine color, which changed to pink after unmolding.
The red sandalwood powder stayed more or less the same color, similar to red wine.
One thing I noticed for all is that they fade. More so with higher amounts of salt, not sure why.
As long as the color is stable in the presence of the lye and the high pH of soap, colors tend to look like you expect them to look pretty much right from the start. Some are enhanced with the solidifying and some with gelling of the soap. But some are less stable in a high pH and will morph to another color, while some will morph back and forth from one color to another. I have had blues that turn purple and remain purple (I believe these were pH related changes, which for me was a happy surprise as I love purple). If I want a true color, I stick to micas from a reputable vendor who tests soap in CP and shows results of how the color displays in CP soap.
Some natural colorants (from botanicals) may start out with a nice looking color, but fades to nothing over time. One example of natural colors I have used that started out nice looking, but faded are: tomato paste - faded to no color eventually.
I have also used manjistha and loved the deep color, which actually remained dark (sort of like a rich mahogany wood color) for the life of the soap, even two - three years later. So I conclude that the amount used will also affect the richness & longevity of the color in soap.
I have had colors bleed, as well, but that depends on the component of the soap ingredients, the colorant itself and other factors, like discoloring FO's as well. My brick red oxide used in a ghost swirl (high and low water soap batters mixed to create a swirl) started out with distinct designs, that over a year or so, became a solid red through-out the soap during cure. Even Dr. Dunn was surprised by that one. He had not heard of this happening before with a high & low water soap. But I am sure it has to do with the actual colorant itself as well as the movement of ions within the soap during cure.
Some natural colorants (from botanicals) may start out with a nice looking color, but fades to nothing over time. One example of natural colors I have used that started out nice looking, but faded are: tomato paste - faded to no color eventually.
I have also used manjistha and loved the deep color, which actually remained dark (sort of like a rich mahogany wood color) for the life of the soap, even two - three years later. So I conclude that the amount used will also affect the richness & longevity of the color in soap.
I have had colors bleed, as well, but that depends on the component of the soap ingredients, the colorant itself and other factors, like discoloring FO's as well. My brick red oxide used in a ghost swirl (high and low water soap batters mixed to create a swirl) started out with distinct designs, that over a year or so, became a solid red through-out the soap during cure. Even Dr. Dunn was surprised by that one. He had not heard of this happening before with a high & low water soap. But I am sure it has to do with the actual colorant itself as well as the movement of ions within the soap during cure.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
The amount could maybe explain why my ratanjot stayed blue. Too less I think.
Sorry to hijack, but I have one quick question.. How much did you use to get the dark color? Thanks earlene.
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I use natural colourants and the answer to your question is "it depends". Some are much brighter when first mixed but mellow either overnight or within the first couple of days. I find this with honey (caramel brown mellowing to pale creamy brown within 2 or 3 days), and madder root (raspberry pink mellowing to medium pink overnight). Cocoa powder, green tea wax, calendula petals (mixed with the lye) and 5 fold orange with or without paprika seem to be the same as when first mixed. It also can depend on when introduced to the soap mixture. If you add ground madder root at trace (instead of using as a tea with the lye) you get a white soap with pink speckles at unmoulding which slowly gets pinker over the next few weeks. It's quite a substantial change and rather pretty though some of you would find it too scratchy. My soaps never stick around long enough to fade normally, but I've had soaps for well over 6 months without noticable fading. The worst ones that do are green soaps. Spirulina and nettle I found faded quickly whereas green tea wax seems more stable. I do, however, keep my soap in the dark. Alkanet I've never achieved better than "battleship grey" and I've never tried blue colours.
Oh dear, that'll take some searching through my notes. I'll try and do that in the morning. Too tired right now, sorry.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
Oh no worries! Just maybe when you come across them while looking for something or whatever. No rush, I can always experiment
Oh no worries! Just maybe when you come across them while looking for something or whatever. No rush, I can always experiment
That was a high & low water (ghost swirl) soap batch with a total of 32 ounces (902 grams) of oil. I mixed 1 tsp of manjistha powder in one Tsp of almond oil before mixing it all into the batch oil. I mixed the batter with lye solution as usual, then split it and added extra water to one half the batter to create the high water portion for the 'ghost swirl'.
To read more about the process created by Auntie Clara, this is the SMF High & Low Water Challenge thread that I used as my stimulus (I had not joined SMF at that time, but when I found that old Challenge thread, really wanted to give the method a try.)
I highly recommend using old challenges as a guide and stimulus for new-to-you techniques. It's lots of fun. Here's the link to a thread that lists all SMF Challenges to date. You know, I thought we had done one on natural colorants, but I am not seeing that on the list; maybe there will be one in the future. It could be fun. I do know some people have incorporated natural colorants into some of their challenge soaps over time, and in some of the challenges, there have been discussions of how to use natural colorants interspersed within the disussions.
Dawni
Well-Known Member
Oh yes, I have both those bookmarked. I should look through them more.
I've tried the ghost swirl (kinda) but the problem is I had stupidly used an individual mold and I'm still figuring out how to make the "ghost" show through lol
Whenever I have time I search for natural colorants threads but very few do HP so it's trial n error for me. My sandalwood is one example, when I added after the cook it did nothing but it colored beautifully in the lye water.
Thank you so much for looking the procedure up, and pointing out the challenge threads
