Teach Soap

Glad I found this forum. I have had a few batches sieze...only 1 was so bad I had to throw it out. I see all these lovely batches of soap and I have no consistency when I color the soap. When I try for Blue, I get green or purple. I made the same batch, put the colorant in the lye got purple, added to my soap, I got green....each time I wanted blue.

I am using the powder soap colorant. Are there some tricks I need to learn? Thanks for all the help.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I don't use oxides or powders for the same reason. If you using exta virgin olive oil in your recipe that is dark green, it will throw your color off. Go to BB's website and you'll find a description on how to use and apply colorants. I use natural colorants but sometimes cheat and use lab colors because it's easier working with liquid colorants. Just keep in mind that the color of your oils will affect your outcome. Also, if you add colorants too early, they'll change. I'm no expert by any means. There are many others here who have a lot more experience than me who I'm sure will post and be happy to help you.

Welcome!
The lighter your oils and butters, the better the result. With that said, some FD&C colors do morph. FD&C Blue #1 usually ends up purple. If you want blue, I would try ultramarine blue.

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

Thanks....actually it's not just blue - all the colors are unpredictable...

I read recently not to fragrance your colors as the fragrances will change the colors.. I did a couple batches at Christmas that were Red and Green and they turned out perfectly...

Can you recommend soap colorants? I chose the powder oxides because I saw a write up about someone using the liquid dye and the color was weak and she had to use a lot to get her desired color...

I do use Olive Oil and Avocado Oil and a few others and noticed a big difference with the Avocado oil

thanks everyone for your help...

If your olive or your avocado oil has any green color to it, that will determine the final color of the colorants that you use. Oxides and ultramarines are usually pretty true.

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

I also use oxides and ultramarines which look really good if the soap doesn't gel (when I put soap in the freezer) but if the soap gels and gets darker then colors don't look that good they become dull & darker, don't know if anyone else has the same problem. I've read good reports about micas, I need to try them soon. I have experimented and used natural colorants such as annato, tumeric, spirulina etc, the colors they produce are pretty but softer and some of them start to fade rather quickly.

I only use extra light olive oil because I don't like the color some olive oils give the soap. If you buy lab colors brom Brambleberry and you are using olive oil lookk for the colors that are recommended for olive oil.
I have tried to get Anne-Marie to add a forum on colors but she doesn't think there is enough interest. Aside from my SEIZING problem, color is another big issue for me.