Teach Soap

Last night I discovered that my small bottle of BB Emerald lab color that I've had less than 6 months has solidified almost completely. It hasn't been exposed to any temperature extremes, and none of my other lab colors have done this. Anyone know if it's safe to reconstitute it and how I might be able to? I hate the thought of having to ship a single 1 ounce bottle but I need this color for my spring soaps, so if there's a SAFE way to save it please let me know!

I have a friend in Hawaii who has a brand new bottle purchased in January, of this very COLOR and it is clumpy and even when heated and shaken it isn't a usable product, and it leaves spots in her soap! This color is virtually impossible to use and is dollars down the drain.

She isn't a happy BB camper as she called twice and spoke to customer service and they say too bad you must not be doing this properly! Well she has used this very same color for over a year and suddenly it is not a good product anymore and she doesn't know how to use it? Come on, and now you are finding it difficult also? Curious. What is up with that?

mine is the same way, i have the little one from the CP sample pack. i just used it on friday and it was very clumped almost solid with a little liquid. i got out a small (tiny) amount and i mixed it in a splash of water before adding it to my soap. a few others in that pack were the same way.

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ASH

Well if mine isn't the only one to do this I'll pop it in the mail back to them and see what they think of it ...I've never had a problem of any kind with BB, i'll be pretty amazed if I don't get it replaced or refunded.

Green is always clumpy (as is purple). It's the nature of the raw material that goes into the product. As it is one of the more popular colors, we definitely get that question a lot. As you know, Labcolors are not meant to be used directly from the bottle or with small amounts mixed with water. They are designed to be fully mixed with water (10 mls into 8 oz, 20 mls into 16 oz).

With the Green, I always do the following to reconstitute it:

Heat up 8 or 16 ounces of distilled water on the stove until boiling
Pop the cap off the color
Heat the little bottle up in the microwave on 20 second bursts for 40-60 seconds.
Grab a papertowel to pick up the little bottle which is still extremely hot
Dump the color into the boiled (steaming) water
Take a dropper and draw off some of the hot water and swish it around in the little bottle until it's fully emptied out
Bonus, A+ points: use a little latte frother mixer to fully blend the water/green mixture
Allow to cool
Add preservative at 1% (for the 8 or 16 oz.)
Store in clean containers

I soap with the Labcolors most every week (though yesterday's batch was a fun infusion of alkanet and annatto - dual layer) and end up doing this process with the purples and greens probably every 6 months or so when I need to make up a new batch. It's not terribly fun but on the plus side, it saves you $7 in shipping because shipping water is silly AND it guarantees a fresh batch each and every time for you. =)

I find that spots happen when the original batch hasn't been fully and completely mixed OR if I skimp on the dilution rate (which I like to do because I like a stronger color ... and then with the purples and greens, I pay the price. With the yellows and reds, I can usually get away with it.) =)

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm always delighted to share my soaping experiences.

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

What would you use as a preservative?

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ASH

Sorry I didn't write back very quickly; today was exciting in the warehouse but extremely hectic. =)

Germaben II is my favorite but any water soluble preservative will do so long as it's an actual preservative with proven anti-microbial properties (so no GSE or Vitamin E) =)

_________________
Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Thanks for the info, but...but...but...what if you LIKED the color you got without diluting? I've never diluted my labcolors, I love the red, blue and green I get straight from the bottle. Is there an alternative that can give me that same translucent green?

You'll still get a translucent color when diluting but it's totally a personal preference to dilute or not dilute. The yellows and reds, I don't tend to dilute but the purples and greens, I dilute because of the "clumpage" factor. If you ever get clumps, definitely dilute that color. We recommend diluting them all because some of the colors clump and speckle and it is better to be safe than sorry (or stuck with dotty soap - LOL!). =)

So, a good rule of thumb with Labcolors is "Always dilute with any color and only make exceptions after you have some experience with that color under your belt." =)

_________________
Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Thanks!

What has changed from 6 months ago?

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Two pregnancies and the best time of my life the only time I felt really pretty! I hope you are enjoying this time also, I can tell in the most recent video that you have that glow about you too!

I'm sorry that post wasn't very clear, it isn't productive to be rushed is it. Has the formulation of the emerald lab color changed, are you using a different manufacturer, something changed? As the original bottle of emerald my friend used was perfect right out of the bottle and the new supply is lumpy clumpy and warming isn't helping it at all, She is so disappointed in this new emerald green and has given up.

spelling challenged edit

Total LOL! I do that rushing thing all the time. The other day, someone did a blog comment and I quickly dashed off a one line comment and then was like "Doh! That made no sense! And, it could be perceived as rude!" And, of course, I was on my phone so I couldn't fix it quickly.

Taking out human error, no nothing has changed in formula or colorant manufacturing or colorant raw materials. Human error could always be the issue though - batches are made fresh, typically by one specialist, but there are multiple people trained to manufacture the colors in a pinch. It could definitely be human error or perhaps a bottom of batch/top of batch thing? Just thinking off the top of my head ....

This has been an awesome post for me because it's really led me to look at how outdated our instructions are for Labcolors (where are the photos!?) and I just diluted down 20 colors on Friday so that I could work on a tutorial, with photos, on using Labcolors so I'm so thankful for this board and this post. I have a whole week of fun posts planned around Labcolors now for the blog (well, at least 4 days worth). =)

_________________
Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Oh Im really looking forward to that! I love tutorials and such!

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ASH

Thank you so much for the explanation! I appreciate and look forward to the updated information on lab colors!