On the drawing board

[ResolvableOwl]

What is AC?

Guess where that rock band Activated Charcoal Deactivated Charcoal has its name from.

In the colorant department I have Ultramarine Blue and Light Blue Pigment. However, in the jars, they both look identical, that is, like Ultramarine Blue. Maybe if I added some TD to the Light Blue pigment I could produce a actual Light Blue.

Make three separate slurries of either (in carrier oil/water/glyerol, whatever works well) in advance. Note their weight (colourant + carrier liquid + container). Dye the dark batter, then add a small portion first of the Light Blue to the light batter; you have to eyeball then if it has enough colour depth, opacity and contrast, or if it's better to add more Light Blue and/or TD. Hope that the vibrance of the colours somewhat stays stable through saponification. Take notes, so that you can adjust the amounts of colourants to closer approach your expectations next time. Finally, and most importantly, post pics here!

 

[Zing]

You already got tons of advice but I can't resist adding my 2 cents.

For color prep, when I disperse colorants in oil first, I usually do 1 teaspoon of colorant in 1 tablespoon of oil. When I add the dispersed colorant in oil, it's usually 1 teaspoon or smaller. Don't worry about 1 tablespoon of oil affecting your recipe. Sometimes I take a tablespoon out of my measured oils, sometimes it's an additional tablespoon.

I add my micas directly into my batter because I'm lazy and don't like to do color prep. Because of that, almost all my colorants are micas.

By far my favorite blue is ultramarine blue pigment from Bramble Berry.

I'm assuming your last step in your list is using a skewer to swirl just the top 1/4 inch?

Keep us posted!

 

[KiwiMoose]

If you do take it out of your measured oils - take it only out of the liquid oils and not the ones you have melted coz they just set up again ( well with soy wax, CO and shea butter they do).

 

[John Harris]

What if I just put the colors on top of the batter and stick blended them in? No good?

 

[dibbles]

If you are using ultramarine you need to disperse it in oil (or glycerin) or it will be clumpy. Micas can be added dry and stick blended in if you want to do that. I still disperse micas in oil so I don’t have to stick blend more, unless I’m making a single color soap. In that case I usually stick blend the mica into the oils before adding the lye solution. I found this video to be very helpful when I was learning to use colorants.

 

[cerelife]

What if I just put the colors on top of the batter and stick blended them in? No good?

With micas you can absolutely do that, but ultramarines need to be prepped in oil first.
For my Blueberry soap I use Nurture's Kashmir mica and Winter White mica (which can be subbed for TD) for a 3 color soap. The perfect shades of both dark and light blue.
Here are my notes for a 2lb batch:
Blueberry Hill - 2 oz BB Blueberry Jam. Tilted tiger stripe with ½ tsp N Winter White mica, ⅛ tsp each of N Winter White and N Kashmir mica, and ½ tsp Kashmir.
BTW, if you pour a tilted tiger at very thin trace (like just past emulsion) you get lovely swirls!

 

[KiwiMoose]

But even with micas you can still get some clumps of colour. Best to disperse in oil first.

 

[John Harris]

Sorry to keep hounding you guys with this, but I have been thinking... If you have to prepare your colorants in advance and apart from your batter, how do you know how much colorant to use? The color might look good in the prep container but it will change significantly when you stir it into the batter.
That's why I was liking the (bad) idea of adding the colorant to the batter. That way you could easily add more if it wasn't dark enough.
It's like you need to know in advance how much colorant your going to need to prepare to get the color you want in the batter.
Am I explaining this well?

 

[dibbles]

@John Harris, some things you have to just do to learn from experience. This is another reason I pre-disperse my mica. I can add it a bit at a time until I get the color I want without using my stick blender. I rarely need to use the (recommended) 1 tsp PPO, and I only add enough oil (not batch oil) to my mica to get it beyond a paste like consistency - you definitely don't need a whole tablespoon of oil to disperse a teaspoon of mica. Sometimes there is a little waste of the colorant, but not that often and not that much. After awhile, you get a 'feel' or 'sense' of the right amount to use.

I don't use my batch oils to disperse my colorant, because I mix my color by eye to the shade I want. I would rather have a bit of extra oil than be a bit short. My rule of thumb is 3 or fewer total colors, I leave my superfat alone (normally 3-5%). Four or more colors I reduce my superfat by a percent or two.

This is another reason to practice with smaller batches.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

@John Harris
At some point, it is inevitable to rely on that rocket-science-y concept of “eyeballing™”. Pre-disperse a generous amount of colourant (say, double the amount you believe is needed) into some neutral liquid oil (olive e. g.), and add it in small portions to your batter until your gut feel tells you it's enough.

If more is left over than you are ready to sacrifice to the sink: label it and put it on the shelf/into the fridge for the next soaping session. Better than running out of colourant early, and better than having pigment clumps, or having to SB too much after reaching emusion.

 

[Tara_H]

Sorry to keep hounding you guys with this, but I have been thinking... If you have to prepare your colorants in advance and apart from your batter, how do you know how much colorant to use? The color might look good in the prep container but it will change significantly when you stir it into the batter.
That's why I was liking the (bad) idea of adding the colorant to the batter. That way you could easily add more if it wasn't dark enough.
It's like you need to know in advance how much colorant your going to need to prepare to get the color you want in the batter.
Am I explaining this well?

Contrary to some other opinions, I weigh my micas and prepare them separately, I never adjust after adding to the batter*. I know from testing the amount that gives a saturated or muted colour, and I plan that out when I'm calculating the volume for the mould. If I'm using more than one colour, I calculate the proportion of batter that I want to be each colour and then use that for my calculations. So far this technique has served me pretty well.
*Sometimes TD has a mind of its own and I have to tweak after adding, but I don't count that because it's just mental.

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm a 'it'll be alright' kinda soaper, so I just guess how much I think I will need and premix it. Given that I usually make 1 kg (of oils) batches it means that the colours I split off are rarely more than half that amount - and usually if there are three or more colours it means they are little more than 200-300g per colour. So I know from experience that I only need about a 1/3 teaspoon of mica to colour that much. As @dibbles states, it really is just that I've made so many batches now that I 'just know'.
N.b. I'm not a measurer. When I say 1/3 teaspoon i have no idea if that's what I'm using. I use the end of one of my small mixing spatulas to scoop out the mica from the bag. When I say 200-300 grams I have no idea if that's what it weighs. I just pour it into a small jug until it looks 'about right'. It's all done by 'eyeballing TM' (thanks @ResolvableOwl). The only thing I measure is my oils, lye and liquid at the beginning of the process.
It'll all be OK in the end. If it's not OK then it's not the end

 

[Mobjack Bay]

In the colorant department I have Ultramarine Blue and Light Blue Pigment. However, in the jars, they both look identical, that is, like Ultramarine Blue. Maybe if I added some TD to the Light Blue pigment I could produce a actual Light Blue.

I have successfully used water to disperse oxides and ultramarines, but recently “masterbatched“ a few different colors with glycerin. Mixing with water turned out to be easier, but I wanted to try the glycerin for comparison. I just recently made this soap using the ultramarine blue in glycerin. Look at how many blue tints you can get! The high OO (50%) base I used is close to white and a wee bit translucent when gelled. If your base isn’t close to white you might need some TD to achieve a true blue.

 

[earlene]

How do you account for that lightweight oil in your recipe computations?

I generally prepare my colorants before I mix the soap batter, taking oils from the batch oils. Sometimes I use soft oils (liquid), but I have used hard oils, then warmed them up right before adding to the split portions. It's easier with soft oils of course.

I have used pre-batched colorants dispersed in glycerin, but found that I have to be careful not to use too much glycerin in a batch of soap. Be sparing with the glycerin if you go this route, because I learned the hard way that too much added glycerin in bar soap makes soft rubbery soap that will never get hard. I can't really say how much is too much, just that it happened to me and even after 4 or 5 years that soap never got hard. Glycerin doesn't evaporate like water AND it attracts water (moisture from the air), so the soap was soft and rubbery for it's lifetime. I salted some of it out and kept several bars to see what would happen. Eventually it began to smell off, so I only recently tossed it.

So I became wary of mixing colorants in glycerin, and now when I do do it, I use the least amount of glycerin possible. But even so, I try not to use glycerin because of that experience.

 

[John Harris]

Well, I finally did it! My first ITP. My main worry - accelerated trace or seizing - didn't happen. I have a couple of pictures for you. More to come once they get cut (36 - 48 hours.)

Thanks SO MUCH for all your helpful advice!

 

[dibbles]

Look at you being all fancy - nice work! They look great!

 

[AliOop]

Wow, love the color choices and swirls!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Can't wait to see how it looks on the inside! (Still, much worse for you, I guess )


Dumb question: what is your pot made of? It looks like paint cover fleece to me?

 

[Ford]

hi, pot looks like enamel over steel. I have enamel camping cook ware. like this one.

 

[MellonFriend]

Beautiful work!