Trial by Fire red mica line?

[Zing]

Soapers, I have a design that calls for a red mica line. I love using Nurture Soap's Trial by Fire red mica to color batter BUT I'm wondering how it would look in a mica line. In the jar it looks really pink. Let me know if you have experience using it as a line. Thanks,

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Have not used that color. But its on my bucket list.

 

[Cat&Oak]

I love trial by fire. True red for me every single time. Give it a try!

 

[Zing]

I love trial by fire. True red for me every single time. Give it a try!

I love it too and I get a beautiful true red when I color my batter. But my question is using it as a mica line -- this is when you pour a layer of soap, and then sprinkle a super thin layer of mica.

 

[TheGecko]

Soapers, I have a design that calls for a red mica line. I love using Nurture Soap's Trial by Fire red mica to color batter BUT I'm wondering how it would look in a mica line. In the jar it looks really pink. Let me know if you have experience using it as a line.

You'll never know until you try. I'd do a test batch...maybe enough to fill a couple of small cavity molds?

 

[CatahoulaBubble]

If you use it as a mica line it's going to be messy, smear, and color your lather. Trial by fire is a mix of dye and mica so it won't react the way a normal mica.

 

[Zing]

If you use it as a mica line it's going to be messy, smear, and color your lather. Trial by fire is a mix of dye and mica so it won't react the way a normal mica.

I am so glad you told me this and I appreciate the tip! I tend to use micas more than any other colorant and am always forgetting to check the ingredients of certain "micas." Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Maybe you could get the same effect by finely grating or pulverizing red soap, I Dream in Soap does something like that to make tiny soap pieces for dark ”mica” lines. As I recall, her lines look a bit more chunky than the usual mica line. Now that I’ve written this, I think may try it with some leftover chunks of soap I have in other colors.

 

[violets2217]

Maybe you could get the same effect by finely grating or pulverizing red soap, I Dream in Soap does something like that to make tiny soap pieces for dark ”mica” lines. As I recall, her lines look a bit more chunky than the usual mica line. Now that I’ve written this, I think may try it with some leftover chunks of soap I have in other colors.

How fine do you think you could get soap if you used a coffee grinder? Would it just clump up? Do it in stages of grating to dry it out? Maybe make the colored soap with less water? Cool idea though!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I’ll add that not too terribly long ago I used a microplane grater to grate up a bunch of white soap that I plan to use as snow. The starting soap was about the consistency of parmesan. After some air drying, the little grated pieces were easy to crunch into smaller bits with my gloved hand. This is why I think it might be possible to turn finely grated soap into smaller, flattish bits that could pass as a mica line without looking like little chunks. When I blitzed fairly dry soap in a coffee grinder, I ended up with small chips of varying sizes and soap dust. I separated the chips out with a fine mesh strainer and used them to decorate the top of a new batch of soap. I didn’t try to use the dust for anything because it looked grey (original soap was multicolored), but it may have been a good size for a faux mica line.

 

[CreativeWeirdo]

Sounds like it's time for an experiment!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I’ll add that not too terribly long ago I used a microplane grater to grate up a bunch of white soap that I plan to use as snow. The starting soap was about the consistency of parmesan. After some air drying, the little grated pieces were easy to crunch into smaller bits with my gloved hand. This is why I think it might be possible to turn finely grated soap into smaller, flattish bits that could pass as a mica line without looking like little chunks. When I blitzed fairly dry soap in a coffee grinder, I ended up with small chips of varying sizes and soap dust. I separated the chips out with a fine mesh strainer and used them to decorate the top of a new batch of soap. I didn’t try to use the dust for anything because it looked grey (original soap was multicolored), but it may have been a good size for a faux mica line.

Still a cool idea for a design feature even if not a fine grind. I wanna try!
@Zing - yes it does look pink as a powder, and even though I don't know for sure, i would trust @CatahoulaBubble when she says it will smear and smudge. It's all over my kitchen, so I know this for a fact. Still finding bits of red stuff here and there.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Garlic grater with little pressure works reasonable too, as a first step. If the soap is hard enough to start with.

Bright colours shifting to pastels with milling grade is expected (due to extra surfaces), but it will go away when covered with new soap batter (less light scattering). Think of stones that get darker when wet.

 

[Cat&Oak]

If you use it as a mica line it's going to be messy, smear, and color your lather. Trial by fire is a mix of dye and mica so it won't react the way a normal mica.

I forgot about that! Good point!

 

[MommaSoaper]

Will trial by fire mica stain then? Shoot. Just made huge loaf with it and the lather is red. Followed the usage rate and everything.

 

[Catscankim]

Will trial by fire mica stain then? Shoot. Just made huge loaf with it and the lather is red. Followed the usage rate and everything.

I use it all the time and have had no issues.

 

[MommaSoaper]

I use it all the time and have had no issues.

Is it ok to sell it still if the lather is a bit colored? I'm so nervous and still rather new. Do customers complain? Thank you kindly!

 

[MelissaG]

I've never had trouble with Trial By Fire but I don't like it much. It's a very orange red so I don't consider it a true red.

 

[Catscankim]

I've never had trouble with Trial By Fire but I don't like it much. It's a very orange red so I don't consider it a true red.

I think it is quite pink as a powder. I have mixed in a little ac to give it some depth.

 

[MommaSoaper]

I think it is quite pink as a powder. I have mixed in a little ac to give it some depth.

Do have any issues with the lather being red? I'm concerned that some customers would be turned off by that...