Teach Soap

Hi soapers!

Quick question - I read that some of you have added coffee grounds to your soaps. I want to try to make a coffee soap swirled with a white base. Do the coffee grounds bleed? I am thinking of adding the grounds to a brown layer, then swirling with plain white, OR adding grounds to the white layer..

Also, what about cocoa powder? If I used that as a colorant, would it bleed?

I know I could just try it, but I had a disastrous soaping day yesterday and I don't think my morale could take another failed experiment right now

Thanks in advance!

Both will bleed.

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

Thanks, soapbuddy! I think I will stay away from them, then. I hate bleeding!

If you don't mind, I have another question and I feel weird starting another thread so soon.

I was trying to make a deep red to make some strawberry soaps, and I could not get the color right! I used BB's clear mp base, then added tons (like 1/8 of the bottle for 8 oz soap) of non-bleeding red oxide (the bright one, not the brick red) and it would not get more than hot fuschia. So I added a drop of blue oxide to deepen the color, and no dice. Then I tried adding a tiny bit of white mp, but it just made it hot pink again.

I want to try to make rainbow soaps next, so I have to learn how to work with these non-bleeding colorants, but we just aren't getting along! Any ideas?

I would start with clear, then add just a tiny, tiny bit of white. That makes it look a little cloudy, but the color will show up better. For strawberry red, I would try mica; like this one from BrambleBerry. The pic doesn't do this color justice. http://www.brambleberry.com/Merlot-Spar ... P3064.aspx

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

Thank you again! I have that mica already, but haven't played around with it yet. I'll try what you suggested tomorrow.

I forgot to mention, I was trying to follow this tutorial for soapylove's Strawberry Shortcake loaf, and she used BB's non-bleeding red oxide, so I just can't figure out why I can't replicate it! I wish there was some kind of hard recipe for colorants, like x-amount of drops per oz. or something.

Is your MP base from BrambleBerry, or did you get it somewhere else?

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

Yup, everything I have (bases, colorants, molds) is from Bramble!

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

Mslala, the best I could ever achieve with the non-bleeding red was a pink color, too, even if I used a ton of it. I usually go for the Merlot Sparkle mica that soapbuddy linked to when I want a deep, bright red. BB has a red oxide that's more of a brick red, too. They also have a Red Jelly color but I've never used it, so I don't know how that one does.

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