Soap colors dyes, where and what?

[Natalie]

Where would I find different colors for soaps, like black or red?

What natural ingredents can color soap? I think candula will color soap yellow, what else is there?

 

[Lane]

I have an amazing Black Oxide. *swoon* Seems to be the only thing that does a TRUE black.

For reds I use LabColors from Bramble Berry.

 

[Guest]

I'm kicking myself for not including black mica in my recent order from TKB Trading. Could'a had it for only $1.50 more with my sampler kit.

Dunno about reds... Haven't tried my reds yet.

 

[Lane]

Made with Black Oxide from Bramble Berry

 

[Guest]

Stick a toothpick in me, I'm done! Those are beautiful!

I'm gonna order some of that black oxide ASAP.

In fact I have shipments coming in Monday and Tuesday, and if I don't buy something soon Santa will have no reason to drive his brown or red/white/blue truck to my house. I better get that credit card out and log on to Bramble Berry.

 

[Guest]

Lane, how do you achieve such good swirling, the wonderful fine details? ITM? ITP? Can you give this newbie some advice?

 

[Lane]

Lane, how do you achieve such good swirling, the wonderful fine details? ITM? ITP? Can you give this newbie some advice?

In the pot. I make 32 oz (32 oz oils, 10 oz water, 4.6 oz lye) batches... I do what I guess would be RTCP...

I mix my oils at 86 degrees and my lye at 120. I stir for about a minute and the oils melt all the way... I stick blend until I reach medium trace.... Next I take out a cup of the mixture & add it to a mixing cup that already has a tsp of oxides or colorants and I hit it with the mixer really quick, I hurry up and dump the colored mixture back into the pot and stir once and dump it super fast into my mold... I make a high pitched girl sound that my husband makes fun of... and that's it...


This first one I did at a light trace:

And this one I did at a thicker trace:

 

[Guest]

Oh wow Lane, you'll always be the gamine for me, particularly considering your avatar which I just love! ♥ ♥ ♥

Between Ian's URL and your personal instructions I've got two ways to pursue better swirls. I'll try both! His ITM and your ITP!

Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge and for not hoarding it!

Jeez, I think I'm out of luck making the "high pitched girly sound."

 

[Natalie]

Ohhh, those swirls are fabulous! Nice black color, too.

I've been using liquid colorants. It seems like I have to use a LOT to get really vibrant colors. That is in m&P opaque soap, in my CP soap the color has barely shown up.

Now mica, that's the same ingriedent as in make-up, right? I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff in powdered make-up, but is it possible to grind up some powdered eyeshadow or blush and color soap with it? Someone gave me a pallette thing with different eye shadows and blushes, I don't have any use for it and it's going to go to waste.

Both Bramble and TKB trading have lots of colors, wow! Too many to decide right now.

 

[Lane]

I've used MAC pigments (loose eyeshadow) to color MP. Works great! Esp. if you have a shimmer color. But don't use to much because it can sink to the bottom and stain...

 

[PrincessMommy]

OOh, I really like the brown, its almost like it is hidden in there. I also love the idea of using makeup to pigment. What a cool, girly idea and probably a lot cheaper too.

 

[Guest]

Both Bramble and TKB trading have lots of colors, wow! Too many to decide right now.

I bought the TKB pop and lake colorants. They seem to offer a wide gamut of colors in an easy to use and inexpensive form. I suggest you look at the sampler kits.

One thing I'll appreciate any suggestions. I've had a bit of a problem with the lakes spotting due to insufficiently complete mixing no matter how hard I try to mix it, and in spite of using a strainer although that got rid of the bigger spots.

Can anybody suggest something I can mix with the lakes (and the pops too) before I start soaping so that the color will already be in liquid form when I add soap to it? Could I use oil or water or what?

 

[Deda]

Can anybody suggest something I can mix with the lakes (and the pops too) before I start soaping so that the color will already be in liquid form when I add soap to it? Could I use oil or water or what?

I use a small amount of liquid glycerin when I use iron oxides or ultramarines. Seems to do the trick nicely.

 

[Guest]

Hey, good idea! I'll try it.

It's funny that I said water or oil. It should have been water, oil or alcohol.

 

[Lane]

Have you ever used LabColors (from Bramble) ? OMG, you can get the deepest, most vibrant colors! 10mL makes an 8 oz bottle (though I make 6 oz bottles) I've had the colors for over a year now and you can barely tell I've ever used 'um!

 

[Guest]

No but I'll put that on the list. I've got Select Shades from Tradewinds arriving Tuesday and I imagine it's a similar product although the SS website has a very nice table showing various colors and the proportions needed to achieve them.

My job as a newbie is to go out and experiment and find the best products to get good results for me, and I expect I'll probably try many of them, including LabColors. I'll make a note to try that in the near future. Thanks!

 

[Lane]

Oh wow Lane, you'll always be the gamine for me, particularly considering your avatar which I just love! ♥ ♥ ♥

I have a little slide show in my blog with a bunch of pictures of my ink...mostly older ones, but still good ones www.LuxuryLaneSoap.blogspot.com

 

[Guest]

OMG I didn't realize your avatar was actually a picture of you!!! I'm gonna have to start taking cold showers before surfing SMF! Really I'm not a great fan of tat art but yours look great! I just *LOVE* the avatar pic!

You really are a gamine!

 

[Lane]

Hahahahah! Yup. That's me. I've been a collector of fine art for about three years now.... I was VERY careful in my design choices. Thought about it for ten years before I actually made the jump into ink...

 

[digit]

[quote="LaneI make a high pitched girl sound that my husband makes fun of... and that's it...[/quote]

So THAT'S the secret. Thanks!! I'll give it try. I love your lt blue swirls.

Digit