Teach Soap

As I read on the brambleberry site, it saids you may or may not dilute your lab colors and you can aslo put them in the fridge. It also saids they recommend you diluting or esle you get spots in you mp soap, I bought a lot of colors and really don't want to buy 10 jars just to dilute them! So any suggestions on what I can do or what you guys do with your lab colors? Also other then lab colors what are other good coloring agents for melt and pour that I could try? I'm thinking about using micas maybe? !!

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I'm a bit odd but I use herbs as colorants in my soap. Just get them small with a mortal and pestle, then let them soak in olive oil or veggie oil. Before putting it in though, make sure to use some form of strainer to get the large pieces of herb out so you just get the color. You can skip that step and put a small amount of powder in straight, but some I have found make it a bit grainy. My personal favorite to use is nutmeg.

I use LabColors straight from the jar, Ellarose, & the only color that ever spots for me is True Black - I try to give it a really good shaking before I use it, & that seems to eliminate most of the spots. I've considered diluting a few of my colors so that I can get very pale effects in smaller batches, but using a plastic skewer to dip & dot the color is working well enough so far.

I absolutely ADORE using micas! Check out my shop link to see the different effects I get. I use them in both clear & white bases, & often blend two or more micas to get the color I want. I also do a lot of clear bars with LabColor AND a bit of mica. Good fun

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The nutmeg seems like the soap would just smell amazing besides color I think I will try that thank you!! Do you have a list of herbs that make certain colors?


Thank you I think I will just use from the bottle unless I decide to mix colors and your soaps r amazing I love the way they look I'm more interested in your luxuary bars and sugar scrubs I might just have to buy some things there!! I was so worried about the deposits at first thank you for your help, I think I will order the sample micas! Do u mix the micas when wet to make a difirent color or dry then wet them?

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Until recently I've been mixing micas as I need them, so a wee scoop of Mica A & a wee scoop of Mica B in a tiny puddle of isopropyl alcohol, just enough to color the batch.

Now, however, in the interest of sanity, I've started bulk-blending some of my colors - a tablespoon of A & a tablespoon of B in a clean dry container, enough for several batches. I'd love to try pre-wetting them in alcohol & storing the slurries in squeeze bottles, but I suspect some of the colors may morph. Something to try after the holidays...

The only thing I will caution you on with LabColors is that darker colored bars produce tinted lather - my Sweet 100s bar needs a TON of colorant to get that deep opaque red, & the lather is decidedly tomato-tinted. The Queen is Dead lathers up a rather gothic grey But my customers don't seem at all put off by this, so hey.

Thanks so much for your kind words

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Aw no problem and I don't mind for colored lather I think that's very cool actually! Haha
I had assumed micas would be so hard to use but I was very mistaken, I can't wait to use them, also what molds do you use? And what do u reccomend I like molds with many cavities so I can have pre shaped bars but i also want to make big blocks of soap as well.

Also since u don't dilute your LabColors do you still put them in the fridge?

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Yes, the nutmeg is delightful. I can try and make a list and post it up here later. I am technically at 'work'.

Use whatever molds you like I like the rounded edges of the one I use for the luxury bars (it's a heavy-duty mold available from several vendors), but a hand-cut slice has it's own charm - you can expose all kinds of lovely swirls/layering that way.

I don't store my LabColors in the fridge - I get through them fast enough, & our house is fairly cool, even in mid summer. Never had trouble with spoilage, unlike Vanilla Stabilizer, which seems to turn the minute I open the bottle

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Awe okay thank you, where can u buy the molders?


And yea I really like the shape of your luxuary bars I also like rectangle sadly the ones At bumbleberry were out of stock so instead I got ovals for now. I think I'll just play around with the molds I have or see around the house!!

I feel so much better with the labcolors now I was feeling so clueless, thank you once again!

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