Questions on Alkanet powder infusion

[rjalex]

First and foremost: what's the consensus about potential carcinogenic of Alkanna powders or the colour washing off in an oil infusion ? I am making natural soaps to have safe substances round the house and so if there's a doubt I'll probably just throw it in the bin,

Here some googled info relating to thisin a thread talking about comfrey saying alkanna contains some of the same substances:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=9944&p=222191#post222191 and this http://www.drugs.com/npp/alkanna-root.html and this excerpt from the soapmaker's companion.

Second question I have is: how do I strain out the very fine powder from the olive oil ? What to use ?

Thanks a lot

 

[Busyfingers]

Well I can't comment on the first part of your question but for the latter...
I use tea bags that you seal shut with an iron to infuse my powders.

 

[AKjulz]

Busyfingers, that's so brilliant and obvious at the same time. (Smacking palm to forehead, why didn't I think of that). Thanks so much for that tip! I always wondered about infusing powders, now I know what to do


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[Second Impression]

A coffee filter tied with string works great too.

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[rjalex]

Great ideas, but what about the powder I freely dispersed into the Olive Oli ? No way of straining that ? Should I start anew ?
Thanks !

 

[AKjulz]

For what it's worth, I do a swirl using alkanet powder. I just stir1/2 tsp or so to some reserved batter and swirl. The rest of the soap is plain (dried fireweed in it). I would guess you could just use your brew like any other liquid colorant. I really want to actually infuse it now to see what the color difference is. Hopefully someone with more experience will comment


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[kazmi]

I infuse mine in oil for several weeks (shaking every few days or whenever I look at it). When I'm ready to make my soap I make sure the powder/seeds are settled to the bottom of the jar. Then I stretch a new washed nylon (knee-hi's work great!) over the top of the jar and pour the oil thru the nylon. This will strain most if not all of the powder/seeds out of the oil so I don't get any exfoliants or spots in my soap. I get just the colored oil.

I've tried coffee filters (both white and unbleached) and the oil just doesn't flow thru as nicely as it does with the nylons and made a mess for me. I tried a fine gauge sieve too which didn't filter enough of the powder out.

 

[rjalex]

OK here is what happened. As kazmi said I had the powder settled on the glass bottom in a large single clump having it left undisturbed for the last day or so. My infusion was made of 3 grams of the powder in around 50 ml of OO. I poured the red oil without disturbing the clump and got around 35 ml of red OO.

I used it to colour my small batch of soap (I'm just beginning and therefore try with small batches that end up being approx. 1 liter of soap) and the colour came out a nice lavender blue.

Then I really goofed :-( I also wanted swirls and therefore poured around 25 ml of the red oil in my soap and stirred it to the blue lavender uniform colour and then I make what I think is a big mistake. I just poured the remaining 10 ml or so of red oil and swirled the OIL in my soap and poured. After I finished I slapped myself on the head and fear that this afternoon when I'll slice the soap I''ll find streaks of oily red stuff mixed with the soap :-( :-(

In case this turns out true is there any way to "save this" otherwise very nice soap ? Can I re-melt it in some way ? Thanks

 

[houseofwool]

My guess is that it will be okay. I had a soap that accelerated like crazy and ended up putting in some infused oil for a bit of color and the streaks cured just fine.

 

[kazmi]

It will be interesting to see what happens with your soap. Keep us posted.

 

[paillo]

If it doesn't work out, while it's still very fresh and on the soft side, you should be able to mash it into chunks, throw it into a crockpot and essentially hot process it.

 

[rjalex]

Any links on how to do this ? In a couple of hours I'll unmold and judge ... Thank you.

 

[Soapman Ryan]

Removing the seeds from olive oil, I fold cheesecloth over four times and pour the oil through. Works good for me, as my first batch before straining out the seeds felt really scratchy. Now all I get is color.

 

[rjalex]

Thanks Ryan.

 

[kharmon320]

If it turns out bad, you can always rebatch the soap.

 

[rjalex]

Thanks Kerrie,
luckily it seems the soap is becoming very nice. I'm using a softish piece now and like it while the rest cures for 4 wks.