Teach Soap

So, do you guys prefer liquid colorants, or pigments? So far, I've only used pigment, but I can never seem to get the color that I want (at least, not without using A LOT of pigment). I see so many bright and bold soaps, and I'm never sure what they use, but mine never come out that bright. I'm trying to keep my soaps as natural as possible, and I just hate the idea of using the lab colors from BB.

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I'm interested in hearing others' opinions also! So far I, too, have only used the pigments and natural colorants, but find some of my soaps "bleed", so I need to cut back on the amount of powder I'm using. I'm kinda trying to steer clear of the lab colors also.

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

But your soaps are so beautiful keaton!!

What colors in particular are you having trouble with? What suppliers are you using? Have you looked at TKB Trading? They have a ton of pigments and recipes for blending to get the color you want, and you can get samples there for $1.50 (for 1-3 uses, depending) and very reasonable S&H, to try out colors before spending a ton of cash.

Here's a link:

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Laura<3

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

I'm no expert but from what I've seen the less natural alternatives are the ones that give you the most vibrant colors, like Fired-Up Fuchsia colorant or Flamingo Pink LabColor. You can get great colors from more natural sources like madder root or sea clay but they tend to be earthier tones. This seems to be especially true for CP soap.

Gladly, do the colors "pop" in CP when using the TKB Trading pigments? If so I want to try them.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

The ones I have tried so far are pretty great, (And yes, it is easy to get lost browsing there, haha!) as well as BB's neon pigments, love those! And like sudsy said, it is usually the more neon or flourescent colors that pop. That site lists all ingredients if it concerns you.

Here is a picture with a couple that I have used, Neon Green and Hydrated Chromium Green. They are a bit brighter than the photo shows as well (sorry all I have is an iphone camera and it was cloudy out). Maybe not quite so bright as the photos on the site. Sure it could be played with/blended more for different results.

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Laura<3

gladly, I love that soap. You do an excellent job with the setup! And your soap is so white, that also helps the colors 'pop'. I have not had good luck with the neons from BB, but then I have only used the blue and yellow (and my base is yellow to start with).

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

Do you put your soaps through gelphase? I know that makes a noticeable difference in colors a lot of times. Like the one I posted would've been much brighter probably if it had gelled. And I can tell a big difference in BB's Electric Bubblegum (neon pink) in my vertical wooden (always gels) and when I don't gel it. As far as the white goes, I got new darker Olive Oil, so I have been using a lot of TD.

And thank you.

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Laura<3

Gladly, your soaps are gorgeous! I love the hydrated chrome green. Hmm, guess I'll have to save up some soaping money and visit TKB. Thanks for the pics.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Thanks Sudsy, but I promise you for every cute soap I make, I make at least three that flop haha.

Hope you'll like TKB, I just ordered 5 color samples and a sieve, and with shipping it was only 15 bucks, so I don't feel as guilty shopping there.

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Laura<3

My 8 colour faux funnel swirl was a mixture of BBs neons and a bunch of micas from TKB.

TKB is great but don't expect wonderful customer service! Most of the time they don't even tell me my order has shipped, or give me a tracking number. And the email I got from them when I asked about a colour was mighty rude. Wish BB had all the same colourants!

For me the awesome colours outweigh the bad service. I have this thing for colours hehe

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I tested some new pigments and micas from TKB Trading and a couple I already had from BB, if you'd like to see how they turned out.

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Laura<3

Gladly, thank you for posting the link to your test results.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

No problem! Hope it helps I think most everyone knows how to use colorants already, but it's nice to see how ones you haven't used might turn out before you buy them!

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Laura<3

In my soap recipe the coral reef mica comes out a lot more blue than yours did

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist