Natural Colorants vs Micas/Oxides

[Saponomancer]

yes thats right!

 

[gigisiguenza]

yes thats right!

Holy Hannah I think I got it! That was some serious figuring out LOL. But I got the concept I think

 

[IrishLass]

1. Am I correct to say that most people typically use a 30% lye concentration for an "average" or "typical" soap recipe? I understand it varies between soap makers and ingredients, but typically or safely a default of 30% works most of the time?

30% is a good 'safe' percent that I like to use when I'm not sure of how a FO will behave when I'm soaping it. For the majority of my batches, though, I actually like to use a 33% concentration. It's what I refer to as my 'Goldilocks' concentration- things don't move too fast or too slow for me when I'm using FOs that play nice enough for me. If I have a FO that I know is ornery and won't behave even at a 30% concentration, I will use a 28% solution. That's the most water I'll use in CP. If that doesn't 'tame' my ornery FO, I'll HP it. And then there are those times when I make a 100% OO Castile. Those take forever to trace, so I'll go to a 40% concentration on those (if the FO is a well-behaved one).

2. Is there a "cheat sheet" or something I can refer to that would give me a generalized, overall view of how much to change a particular recipe based on what I want; slowing trace, or the quantity of a particular oil, using milk to get from 50% to 30%, the fragrance, etc. For example, if I'm having a senior moment (sigh, happens more often than I care to admit) and I forget if coconut oil or olive oil requires less lye, or which fragrance traces fast, my handy-dandy cheat-sheet can refresh my memory?

The best cheat-sheet to have is the one you make yourself from the notes you jot down after making each batch. I'd give you mine, but it's so individual, being based on my particular likes/dislikes, that I don't think it would do you much good. lol Every soaper should have a notebook (I have several now), and should get into the habit of writing everything down. I confess I'm pretty fastidious/meticulous when it comes to taking notes and have about 6 of them filled now- all hand-written. lol

3. If I'm unsure about a particular recipe what would typically be a "safe" percentage to use so I don't trace so fast my stick blender requires dynamite to remove from the bowl, hahaha. I can always blend away for hours to reach trace, but if that soap sets, YIKES.

For me, a 30% concentration is my go-to 'I'm too unsure' concentration. lol


IrishLass

 

[IrishLass]

The only question left still unanswered for me is -
If I have 50% solution master batch, and I want to use a 33% solution for a specific recipe, how do I adjust it?

Example: my last recipe's lye/water amounts were determined by soapcalc, set at default settings, and they turned out to be
32 oz of oils needed
12.16 oz of water
4.49 oz of lye
Resulting in a 26.953% concentration lye solution

Now if I had a master batch of 50% concentration solution and I wanted to use the 27% solution recommended by soap calc, how do I adjust the water?
Do I this?
12.16 - 4.49 = 7.67?

12.16 (amt of water needed for creating a 27% solution)
- 4.49 (1:1 lye solution amt)
_______
= 7.67 ( amt of additional water I need to add to my 50% master batch solution to make it a 27% solution.


If I got something wrong lemme know please

ETA my head almost exploded figuring all that out LOL. I work from 330pm to 330am on Monday and Tuesday, and it usually takes me a couple of hours to wind down to go to sleep, so I check blogs and forums. But my poor brain is kinda fried by end of my day so it took some major brain squeezing to wrap my head around this LOL.

This is what I do- I break it down to a formula. First I type my recipe into SoapCalc and also type in the desired lye concentration I would like to soap at. Then I press 'calculate' and 'view/print'

On the 'view/print page it gives me how much water and lye to use in my batch for whatever desired lye concentration I typed in. Now is when I apply my formula:

Step 1: Lye x 2= how much 50% solution to weigh out. I take the lye amount SoapCalc gave me and I multiply it by 2. The resulting sum is how much of my 50% solution to weigh out.

Step 2: Water - lye = how much extra water to add. I take the water amount SoapCalc gave me and I subtract from it the lye amount that SoapCalc gave me. The resulting sum is how much extra water I need for the particular lye concentration I typed in on page 1 of SoapCalc.

The formula works the same way for any concentration you desire to use. Just type everything, including your desired lye concentration, into SoapCalc first.


IrishLass

 

[gigisiguenza]

This is what I do- I break it down to a formula. First I type my recipe into SoapCalc and also type in the desired lye concentration I would like to soap at. Then I press 'calculate' and 'view/print'

On the 'view/print page it gives me how much water and lye to use in my batch for whatever desired lye concentration I typed in. Now is when I apply my formula:

Step 1: Lye x 2= how much 50% solution to weigh out. I take the lye amount SoapCalc gave me and I multiply it by 2. The resulting sum is how much of my 50% solution to weigh out.

Step 2: Water - lye = how much extra water to add. I take the water amount SoapCalc gave me and I subtract from it the lye amount that SoapCalc gave me. The resulting sum is how much extra water I need for the particular lye concentration I typed in on page 1 of SoapCalc.

The formula works the same way for any concentration you desire to use. Just type everything, including your desired lye concentration, into SoapCalc first.


IrishLass

Eureka! I did indeed figure it out .... Ty so much for all the explanations

 

[IrishLass]

Yay! I 'm always so happy when it clicks for someone. You're going to love master-batching your lye and working based on lye concentrations.


IrishLass

 

[zolveria]

What is Natural.

Mica is found naturally around us.
Oxides are also found naturally around us and created in a Lab.
Botanicals are found in Nature also.


They key thing. NATURAL Botanical and or produce is only as pure as the Land that it sprung forth.

Mica can contain Lead. which at time cause lipstick to not pass the lead test.

Because we live in such a color forward world. We are constantly looking for
ways to color things.

People sometime do not understand all about the Pigment world and oxides etc which in turn can make a product unsalable.
for this reason. I had to think of purity. and my soap business. and going white.

 

[TeresaT]

Eureka! I did indeed figure it out .... Ty so much for all the explanations

YAY!! It's really simple and a huge time saver. (If you actually remember to double the weight of your recipe's lye amount when you actually pour your 50% solution. Whatever you weigh out if that bottle, only half is actually lye. That is burned into my brain forever, now. ) With the recipe you posted, you would pour 8.98 oz solution and add 7.67 oz water. You have a total of 16.65 oz lye & water combined.

 

[tbeck3579]

30% is a good 'safe' percent that I like to use when I'm not sure of how a FO will behave when I'm soaping it. For the majority of my batches, though, I actually like to use a 33% concentration. It's what I refer to as my 'Goldilocks' concentration- things don't move too fast or too slow for me when I'm using FOs that play nice enough for me. If I have a FO that I know is ornery and won't behave even at a 30% concentration, I will use a 28% solution. That's the most water I'll use in CP. If that doesn't 'tame' my ornery FO, I'll HP it. And then there are those times when I make a 100% OO Castile. Those take forever to trace, so I'll go to a 40% concentration on those (if the FO is a well-behaved one).






The best cheat-sheet to have is the one you make yourself from the notes you jot down after making each batch. I'd give you mine, but it's so individual, being based on my particular likes/dislikes, that I don't think it would do you much good. lol Every soaper should have a notebook (I have several now), and should get into the habit of writing everything down. I confess I'm pretty fastidious/meticulous when it comes to taking notes and have about 6 of them filled now- all hand-written. lol



For me, a 30% concentration is my go-to 'I'm too unsure' concentration. lol


IrishLass

Thank you for taking the time to answer, and as always, great answers! Your help is much appreciated.

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