Teach Soap

Hello,

I am working on a project that requires a "substance" that has some strange properties. I am thinking that soap is the closest thing I can find so far. It needs to do the following:

1) Come out of clothing, i.e. non-staining
2) Be able to be colored or tinted
3) Be a liquid similar to castille soap or vegetable oil
4) Be unscented
5) Not lather in water or when stirred

After doing some research I came across an unscented castille base soap (and the whole soapmaking world for that matter!) but it was a bit thick. I added water to dilute it, but now it foams when I mix it. Does anyone know of a recipe or ingredient (however crazy or chemical) that can prevent lathering?

Are there ways of coloring soap that doesn't stain? I need a very very dark color (purple) and if I add that much soap dye it stains your skin a bit.

Thank you so much for your help. I am way out of my element here!

Ryan
Cambridge, MA

I am no expert but the first batch I made has very little lather,,, to me this was a disappointment.
It was from melinda Cross's book and used olive oil, bees wax, and kelp powder. I have to tell you not too many that have tried it for me have liked it. I'm sure others here will have more ideas for you. I do not color yet,,, too new at this.

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

i'm not sure soap is your best alternative. what is the purpose here? that might give me some ideas for a formula that would work for you.

my first thought was a dispersing bath oil, but it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish with it.

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You have me curious too.

I know with salt bars you have to work hard to MAKE lather... so perhaps adding a large amount of salt to your liquid castille soap will cut down on your lather?

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- Mickey!

possibly just turkey red, aka sulfonated castor oil, on its own. or murphy's oil soap for wood - that doesn't lather much.

both of those have a scent of their own, so they aren't "unscented" in that sense. liquid soap has it's own scent, too.

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What is this for? Because 100% vegetable glycerin does all of those things...just a thought:)
Mandi

Wonderfully helpful so far! Thanks guys.

I am working with a group that does some (strange) performances on stage. They are looking for a "bloodlike" substance they can use that won't stain their hands or clothes. This bloodlike substance goes into some pump machinery at times (again, the weirdness being the reason I left all of this out!) so the lather question is important. When I tried my other recipes they all foamed up in the pump.

I don't think I can use salt in the mixture as it will wreck the pumps over time.

So, something like vegetable glycerin or the like is more along the right path. I am trying to get the same consistency as blood (fun day job, eh?) but would prefer if it had a neutral smell. I have a castille base that smells, well, faintly soapy. I found some Dr. Bronner's baby castille that seemed to smell less.

I still haven't found a dye that will make the bases dark enough without staining. Maybe if I started with a glycerin base that was already dark? What is turkey red?

Thanks guys! This is awesome.

R

is this a good time to mention that my name comes from a former gig doing close up magic? srsly. i used to help set up the halloween seances at the magic castle in hollywood, too. i have some very interesting stories.

try a mix of corn syrup and glycerin. flows nicely. check with some of the costume shops and stage suppliers - there's a variety of colorant that's fine powder in suspension, so it washes out of clothes (iron oxide, if my brain is recalling things correctly). if you use food coloring, that's a dye and it's dissolved instead of suspended, so it's going to stain.

you can probably get the glycerin/syrup mix already colored. fake blood is a pretty common thing in the movie industry.

while i'm at it, here are a couple of video tutorials -

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I remember adding Hershey's cocoa powder to corn syrup for stage blood in high school. I'm sure there were some other things to push the color more toward red and to thin it down but as I recall the cocoa really added a touch of realism. However we never put it through a pump.

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- Mickey!