Weight of colorants

[CLMP]

I'm feeling a little confused I bought a mini scale to weigh out very small amounts like ml for making perfumes and I thought why not weigh out my colorants for soap making. I usually use the standard tsp of colorants per pound of soap measuring it with a tsp. Well I thought why not weigh out my tsp of colorants to 5 ml. Well when I dumped a tsp of colorants on the scale it said almost 3 ml it was short by half the tsp. Shouldn't my tsp of colorants weigh 5 ml. Which means almost 2 tsp of colorant is weighing out to be 5 ml which is way to much colorant. I feel puzzled shouldn't 1 tsp of colorant equal 5 ml. Thanks much.

 

[AliOop]

I'm feeling a little confused I bought a mini scale to weigh out very small amounts like ml for making perfumes and I thought why not weigh out my colorants for soap making. I usually use the standard tsp of colorants per pound of soap measuring it with a tsp. Well I thought why not weigh out my tsp of colorants to 5 ml. Well when I dumped a tsp of colorants on the scale it said almost 3 ml it was short by half the tsp. Shouldn't my tsp of colorants weigh 5 ml. Which means almost 2 tsp of colorant is weighing out to be 5 ml which is way to much colorant. I feel puzzled shouldn't 1 tsp of colorant equal 5 ml. Thanks much.

I am confused; why do you believe that a tsp of a specific dry substance (in this case, mica) must equal 5ml?

Also, you seem to be confusing volume measurements (ml) with weight (which would be g or mg).

 

[CLMP]

I am confused; why do you believe that a tsp of a specific dry substance (in this case, mica) must equal 5ml?

Also, you seem to be confusing volume measurements (ml) with weight (which would be g or mg).

Thank you yes I'm very bad with math and still trying to figure out volume and weight ha ha I think I'm starting to get it. So would I weigh my mica in grams or should I just forget about weighing out my colorant and continue using my tsp.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

A scale would weigh in kg (kilogram), g (grams), oz (ounces). A volume measuring utensil measures in ml, liters, tsp, cup. Check your scale, it should have some sort of indicator to say whether it is reflecting g or oz.

You are correct that a teaspoon would almost equal 5 ml, but these measurements are volumes, not weights. Think of volume as how much space it takes and weight as how heavy it is. A scale measures weight, not space.

If your usage of colorant in volumes (tsp or ml) works well for you, no need to change. A teaspoon of one colorant is not necessarily going to weigh the same as another colorant.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmcgee5034]

I converted to weighing my colorants so I can get more consistent colors from one batch to another.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

I converted to weighing my colorants so I can get more consistent colors from one batch to another.

Do you have a typical amount and is your usage per pound of oil or some other approach?

 

[CLMP]

I found this info online I think I understand now. I was still feeling confused last night about it because my small scale weighs ml and I was thinking well how does my scale weigh volume so I asked google how this was possible lol. It told me it goes by the weight of water so it won't work on all ingredients unless they weigh the same as water so this makes more sense to me. I'm feeling a little brighter this morning LoL

 

[AliOop]

Great job researching, and yes, that is the issue. Liquid volume measurements are based on water, so if the item you are measuring isn't water-like, the ml measurements on your scale won't be accurate.