Teach Soap

I have always wanted to make soap, and finally, finally got a Brambleberry beginners cold processing kit for Christmas . I have made 4 different batches, 3 using the brambleberry recipe and one was the shea butter combo from the Everything Soap Making Book (p 121) I have been experimenting adding colorant (lab color) and fragrances (fragrance oils from brambleberry and a lavendar essential oil) each batch has done something different. I take the soap to trace, take out about a third of the batch to color and then swirl the colored soap back into the non colored soap. The colorant immediately thickens the soap and the two batches don't swirl together well. The soap isn't hard, it's more like a finished pudding consistency. Am I adding too much colorant? Should I heat the colorant up to the temps of the soap? (about 110 degrees)
I have a flat plastic mold that produces 8 rectangular bars, and an additional mold that produces 4 oval bars. Twice the soap has stuck to the rectangle mold. (The soap gelled both times.) I did freeze the soap for about an hour and they come out, but they aren't pretty (I eventually want to sell pretty bars of soap.) Any recommendations? I am letting the soap set for about a day and a half before taking it out of the mold. Should I be waiting longer?
I have tons more questions, but won't innundate everyone with all of them now.
Thanks for having patience with a newbie, any input would be greatly appreciated.
(I have watched Anne Marie's CP Soap Queen tutorials and have 3 great soap making books (The Natural Soap Book, The Soapmakers Companion and The Everything Soap Making Book. They help alot but don't answer all my questions.)

It's the bringing everything to trace & then taking it out and adding colorant to it that's the problem. Since you are mixing the colorant in, you're actually taking that little part of the batter to heavy trace.

Try taking that little bit of batter out at signs of light trace instead.

Your molds, are they safe for CP soap?

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Genny

The molds I am using came with the CP kit, so I would assume they are safe for CP soap. The oval mold is a white, harder plastic, the Rectangle mold is a lighter clear plastic. I think I really need to get better at detecting light trace. I use a stick blender, and it seems to trace in about a minute. I pulse the stick blender using the low speed, but it really begins to thicken a lot faster than I expect. I figure that as I make more soap, I will get better at detecting trace. Anne Marie really makes it look so easy! (But she's been making soap for a long time)

Yes, those are safe. =)

My first couple of batches I was afraid of not reaching true trace and got it very thick! It will all come with time. There is a great pic here;

Thanks so much for your help. I was hoping I just needed some practice with trace. I'll keep trying, and maybe someday I'll post some "pretty" soap pictures:)