I have been experimenting with alkanet, indigo, turkey rhubarb, and madder. The photo below shows combinations of each of these. I have had zero luck with this indigo from Bramble Berry. [ETA by zero success” I mean I’m getting dull gray, no fun blues.] I’m going to try a different brand. The alkanet and rhubarb came out much paler than when I have used it in the past. Not sure why. The madder is smooth bedstraw roots I dug and dried for the garden challenge. It was much pinker earlier and has faded to a peachy rose color.
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Also, in a big cleanup effort of my workspace I took a look at what I thought was distilled water and now see that it has magnesium sulfate, potassium bicarbonate and potassium chloride. It’s right there on the label, I obviously wasn’t paying careful attention.
I am not sure of the effect of these salts on my soap but I wonder if they contributed to trouble I was having with soda ash.
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