A serendipitous feature that appeared in an earlier version of a soap I made with Jagua (from BB), led to an attempt to force glycerin rivers in a soap with indigo. I was ecstatic when I cut the new soap this morning! The indigo looked so grey yesterday, but the blue is perfect today. I hope it holds!
I did some research last night and discovered that indigo can be derived from many different species of plants and also from marine snails
. The kind I used, from Nuture, is also sold by BB. The official species name is Baphicacanthus cusia - (Nees) Bremek, while the traditional indigo plant is Indigofera tinctoria, or other species of the genus Indigofera. I think I read last night that at one point the scientific name of Baphicacanthus was different, but it was late, and I didn’t write down the source. That could lead to some confusion if you’re trying to source from Amazon. Woad (Isatis tinctoria) can also be used to make indigo dye. Most of the indigo in use now is synthetic. You can buy “pre-reduced” synthetic indigo at Dharma Trading. I buy my dyeing supplies there and am always satisfied with their products. More on indigo at SMF, here:
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/indigo-root-powder.68583/ (See post #4 about using the “pre-reduced” form)
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/indigo.58076/
I added my indigo to a small bit of oil per the instructions at Nuture. I adjusted the amount to get the color I thought I wanted, approx. 1 tsp ppo. Others have added the powder to water or lye-water. I first tried using water, but found that it is very difficult to get the powder to dissolve. I finally did that by adding a tiny bit (1 drop) of Dawn dish detergent to act as a surfactant. Amy Warden at Great Cakes Soapworks compared different brands (types?) of indigo powder at different concentrations and also different ways of adding it to the soap batter and was able to get a range of colors.
Here are the pics of my soap. They’re part of a series of marine/ocean-inspired soaps that I have been working on since I began making CP soap:
Check here for more links on using indigo, and pictures of my soap made with Jagua: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stormy-sea-soap.75082/
I did some research last night and discovered that indigo can be derived from many different species of plants and also from marine snails
. The kind I used, from Nuture, is also sold by BB. The official species name is Baphicacanthus cusia - (Nees) Bremek, while the traditional indigo plant is Indigofera tinctoria, or other species of the genus Indigofera. I think I read last night that at one point the scientific name of Baphicacanthus was different, but it was late, and I didn’t write down the source. That could lead to some confusion if you’re trying to source from Amazon. Woad (Isatis tinctoria) can also be used to make indigo dye. Most of the indigo in use now is synthetic. You can buy “pre-reduced” synthetic indigo at Dharma Trading. I buy my dyeing supplies there and am always satisfied with their products. More on indigo at SMF, here:https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/indigo-root-powder.68583/ (See post #4 about using the “pre-reduced” form)
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/indigo.58076/
I added my indigo to a small bit of oil per the instructions at Nuture. I adjusted the amount to get the color I thought I wanted, approx. 1 tsp ppo. Others have added the powder to water or lye-water. I first tried using water, but found that it is very difficult to get the powder to dissolve. I finally did that by adding a tiny bit (1 drop) of Dawn dish detergent to act as a surfactant. Amy Warden at Great Cakes Soapworks compared different brands (types?) of indigo powder at different concentrations and also different ways of adding it to the soap batter and was able to get a range of colors.
Here are the pics of my soap. They’re part of a series of marine/ocean-inspired soaps that I have been working on since I began making CP soap:
Check here for more links on using indigo, and pictures of my soap made with Jagua: https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/stormy-sea-soap.75082/
