natural coloring with spices...

[Brandica2013]

I'm curious about coloring with spices like paprika,cinnamon,ginger & others.Oh and clay's 2...it would be great to know about tea, coffee & cocoa 2.

If you color with these natural colorants how did it turn out and do you like the results of the soap & color? I love pictures 2 if you want.I'm just trying to learn the good and bad parts of soaping.

 

[newlycrunchy]

following along- I'm interested as well.

 

[Brandica2013]

following along- I'm interested as well.

great im so glad I'm not alone in this =D

 

[squeakycleanuk]

I'm a newbie so haven't really done any colourants yet except for with the cocoa, which you can kind of see in my avatar. I was trying to do swirls but it thickened too quickly (due to cornstarch) anyway I was very pleased with the colour, a nice dark brown. I have some paprika infusing at the moment so will use that soon as its ready.

 

[three_little_fishes]

I've only done paprika and it turned out a pretty orange color. If you look at my thread in the photo gallery with the salt bars, you can see how it turned out.

This link talks about infusing for color.

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/07/color-soap-naturally-infusing-oil-with-herbs-and-spices/

 

[Lotus]

I know cinnamon is an irritant to skin. Wouldn't paprika do that as well? If not, I want to try it.

Turmeric is a good one. I don't have any pictures, because I did it a long time ago.

 

[newlycrunchy]

what a great resource- i never thought of infusing in the oil. very neat stuff.

 

[three_little_fishes]

I know cinnamon is an irritant to skin. Wouldn't paprika do that as well? If not, I want to try it.

Turmeric is a good one. I don't have any pictures, because I did it a long time ago.

I'm really not sure. I don't know if any of the actual spice lives through the lye process or not or if it's just the color. I don't have sensitive skin though and love our shave soap with cinnamon EO added at trace. Getting ready to try one of my own like that.

 

[Lotus]

I've always wanted to use a decent quantity of both cinnamon and nutmeg in soap. I used to have the EO, but as hard as I looked, the other day, I couldn't find it. Anyway, I didn't like the smell of the EO, because it didn't have that natural smell that ground cinnamon has. It had that "Christmas Cinnamon" scent that you find in candles and candies. I LOVE cinnamon, but hate that (what to me, feels like) artificial flavor/scent.

Anyway, I wanted to use the ground versions of cinnamon and nutmeg in a soap. I don't have sensitive skin, either. But, I wouldn't want to try giving away something that is still up in the air (as far as I can tell), as to whether or not it would be safe for them to use. Sigh.

 

[soap_bubbles]

I have used pink clay as a colorant as well as paprika and cocoa with good success. The paprika I just used dry mixed into the soap batter, and it did speckle which I thought was a nice effect. PICTURES!

The top soap--bengal chai-- the base is colored with paprika, the mid level with swirls of paprika and chocolate, with a solid white top. This is scented with my own blend of EO's.
Middle soap-- Mocha Latte-- colored with melted chocolate, not powdered cocoa and of course coffee, with a solid white top. Unscented. I am now making this with an orange EO and coffee FO
mid 2 soap-- bunny love-- bottom layer is carrot that has the orange pumped up with paprika. The swirls in the top layer are done with puree carrot, which didn't work like I thought--future batches have paprika swirls.
Bottom soap Green tea & honey-- Soap made with green tea and honey with ground tea stirred in, with a plain white soap swirl.

I thought I had a picture of my pink clay swirl, but not on this computer i guess.
HTH!

 

[Ruthie]

It is not a spice but I made a castille last weekend that amazed me. I had calendula infused olive oil. It was EVOO so even after infusing it looked green. But it made the prettiest yellow soap! Trying to figure now how to get that nice color in non castille soap. Btw I used half a cup of petals in a quart jar then filled it with oil. Planned on leaving it 2 weeks but it ended up being 6.

 

[welsh black]

new to soap making but used green tea infused water to make lye. the soap was a dirty brown/green .. not very attractive! however the soap made lovely bubbles. Have used this mix of oils before but i put the soap in a very warm place to push the gel stage, so do you think soap which has gelled has a better lather than one that has not gelled?

 

[mel z]

For powdered spices and flower heads I just put some in oil and let it sit, shake it every now and again. Don't shake it right before use so you don't get speckles, unless you want them. Then add them to the soap batter, and what you see is what you get.

For dry herbs and leaves, I put them in a muslin tea bag in oil and let it sit, I shake sometimes but there really isn't much need with these. The day of use I put them in pot with water and put on low. Let that sit for an hour or two then cool. Squeeze the tea bag, then add to the soap batter. Again, what you see is what you get.

I haven't had any morphing or changing of color after cure with this method, so I can see through the jar to see what color it will be and add enough to the batter to achieve desired tone. You can get some really nice colors, but do try to avoid things like cayenne that may burn.

 

[Hazel]

I really like paprika as a colorant. If you try parsley powder, I suggest adding it in at trace or even HP the batch to make sure it's not exposed to too much lye. Otherwise, it can turn brown. I've only used parsley in HP and I've been very happy with the soft green sage-like color.

new to soap making but used green tea infused water to make lye. the soap was a dirty brown/green .. not very attractive! however the soap made lovely bubbles. Have used this mix of oils before but i put the soap in a very warm place to push the gel stage, so do you think soap which has gelled has a better lather than one that has not gelled?

I've been told it's the tannin in the tea which causes the browning. You'll experience the same effect if you use wine.

Interesting question. I've never thought to make the same recipe and test the lather for a difference between gelled and not gelled. I usually gel batches in which I've use water, beer or wine and I don't gel batches in which I've used milk products. I've always been happy with the lather of batches which I haven't gelled. The soap seems almost as bubbly but creamier than gelled batches.

To gel or not to gel comes down to a personal preference. Here are some links to discussions which you might find interesting.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/gel-not-gel-22762/
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/gelling-not-gelling-28073/
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/gel-phase-30992/

I know there was another one I thought was interesting but I can't find it now. If I find it later, I'll post the link for you.

eta: green soap wrote some posts about using botanical colorants. You might find the info helpful.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27147
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28553

 

[kazmi]

I love all of them ^^ but especially like the carrot soap. Sorry off topic, but do you hand bevel your soaps?

 

[Relle]

A link re natural colouring - http://www.soapmakingforum.com/f11/natural-coloring-question-3863/

 

[soap_bubbles]

Yep! I do hand bevel my soaps and I put the scraps into confetti soap

 

[Lotus]

Yep! I do hand bevel my soaps and I put the scraps into confetti soap

Please, tell me. What is confetti soap? How do you use it?

 

[Brandica2013]

I'm a newbie so haven't really done any colourants yet except for with the cocoa, which you can kind of see in my avatar. I was trying to do swirls but it thickened too quickly (due to cornstarch) anyway I was very pleased with the colour, a nice dark brown. I have some paprika infusing at the moment so will use that soon as its ready.

Thank you The ones in your avatar look beautiful...can't wait to see what you do with the paprika!

 

[Brandica2013]

I've only done paprika and it turned out a pretty orange color. If you look at my thread in the photo gallery with the salt bars, you can see how it turned out.

This link talks about infusing for color.

http://www.lovinsoap.com/2011/07/color-soap-naturally-infusing-oil-with-herbs-and-spices/

Thanks ill go check out now