Teach Soap

I've been playing around with clays as a colorant. I find them harder to blend then oxide colors. Any suggestions as to how to blend them smoother? I made a batch with dark red clay and when I cut it, it had clay clumps here and there. I re batched it and tried to lighten the color up and now it looks like a meat loaf. Lol!!!!! Maybe I should design a meat line if soaps, I'm sure it's been done!!! Bacon.... Meat loaf..... Brisket..... Thanks!!!!!

When/how did you use the clays? Did you add them at trace or before you blended? Mix them in with water or oil, etc?

I have done both, mixed with water and oil but this batch was oil. I added it at trace. I think the water actually worked better. I did that with another batch with better results but my eagle eye still sees a speck or two in that batch that looked clumpy. Any suggestions?

Try mixing the clay with a small amount of glycerin and make a slurry.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi all. I need help to make a colorant using clay. I was told to mix 1 tsp of clay with 1tbsp of oil before hand and then add it at trace. Superfat will be 3%.

Two questions came up after this suggestion:
1. If I use additional oil that was not included in the recipe to make colorant, then my soap will be not as I intended.
Example: let's say 60 %canola, 20% coconut, and 20% Palm. So if I add additional oil to this recipe, it will change everything
2. If I reserve needed oil from original recipe for making colorant, then my superfat will stay at 3% which is very low for my purpose.

What am I missing here?

Please give me clear answer on how properly add clay.

Thank you

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

So if I use water, then what is the proper way to dissolve clay?
Will the water amount be an addition to the water in the recipe?
If water is not additional and a reserve then wouldn't I have less water to use for making lye water?
What are the proper proportions of water and clay for any given amount of soap to be made?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

What about amount of clay that I should use to make a slurry? Will it depend on the amount of water? Is there a ratio for it ?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you Irena. I will give it a try next time.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi Irena. I just want to get some clarification about mixing colorant. You said to mix 1 tsp of slurry per 1lb of soap. I never worked with colorant and want to make sure that this is enough colorant for this much soap.

Thank you.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you for thorough explanation.