strong natural green- how to do- pictues

[margarita]

I've tried dried, very finely ground nettle mixed with wheatgrass powder (I wanted a brighter green, since dried nettle is more of a dark forest green). Here's a pic - the lighter green is the wheatgrass/nettle, the darker is wheatgrass/nettle/charcoal. The photo was taken right after cutting. It has been a month and the bright green has faded to a brownish green. I'm suspecting the wheatgrass powder.

I'm going to try nettle powder on it's own. I think it'll stay green longer. Also, I wanted to try fresh pureed nettle, it should give a gorgeous shade of green, although I'm not sure how stable.

Oh, I just put my powder to my traced soap. I might try an infusion.

 

[paillo]

I got a super pretty green using sea clay in a facial soap recipe a couple of weeks ago (pics on my blog if you're curious). It's not "vibrant" but it's darker than French green clay would be I think. I haven't tried it yet but I don't think the cleansing factor was too high (i.e. drying).

HTH,
Karri

eeeeekkkk, this is what i got trying to look at your blog!

http://nakedprairie.com/

 

[paillo]

i've used nettle powder successfully, it hasn't browned on me in nearly a year...

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

a year of green is good enough for me!!! how did you with nettle???

I mixed the nettle right in with the soap. No infusion. It was kinda scratchy but not unpleasant. The green was a deeper green. when i get home I'll post pics of the before and after.

 

[Guest]

so far my soap is..... BROWNNNNN....

To reduce the herb's exposure to heat, add it in the last possible moment, before molding.

If you grind the herb youself, you can obtain a very fine powder using a flour sifter.

If the powder is very fine, it may form clumps when added to the soap (and depending on how hard your soap is, you may not be able to blend it in). It helps mixing the powder first with a small quantity of liquid (which can be alcohol, water, or your superfat oil - I am not sure which works better) and pour that into the soap.

 

[soapbuddy]

so far my soap is..... BROWNNNNN....

To reduce the herb's exposure to heat, add it in the last possible moment, before molding.

If you grind the herb youself, you can obtain a very fine powder using a flour sifter.

If the powder is very fine, it may form clumps when added to the soap (and depending on how hard your soap is, you may not be able to blend it in). It helps mixing the powder first with a small quantity of liquid (which can be alcohol, water, or your superfat oil - I am not sure which works better) and pour that into the soap.

Alcohol would make your CP soap seize.

 

[Guest]

From the original post, I got the impression this is HP, not CP.

 

[LauraHoosier]

I haven't tried it but it's on my list of things to do is to infuse Rosemary into my coconut oil, since it's clear, and it should turn green. Maybe try that with your superfatting oil that you add once the HP is done just before you mold it. You can infuse for up to a week in a sealed jar on your counter away from sunlight. Just how green I'm not sure.

You can also steep Rosemary in water, I usually do this for at least 24 hours, and use part that and part clear, distilled water (50/50 at first) to try and maintain its green-ness. Mix your lye with the clear water, let it cool, then add the rosemary water very slowly. I'm currently testing something similar to try and keep my teas from going brown. I've read you can do this process with many greens aka herbs so it might take experimentation to get you there. Just make sure if you use Rosemary to post a warning to pregnant women on the soap.

It might stand a chance of working if I stop forgetting to wait until the lye mixture cools *double facepalm* I'm not giving up and if I can get it to work I'll have to post up a progression line up of soaps.

 

[Guest]

I used crafters choice parsley powder from WSP & my soaps are beautiful sage green.

 

[FreeRabbit]

it DID end up being green!!! I cut it today and it is GREAT!!!

I ended up doing CP for not wanting to cook brown soap...
and since it was just a test batch I only made 500g so to make every chunk about 100g when I cut it they look pretty chubby I know
anyway here they are!!!!



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