Teach Soap

Help! I'm starting the soaping craft fair season and looking for some help with good fall and winter non bleeding colors for my melt and pour. Can I use labcolors, can I use micas and what of the BB liquid colorants are non bleeding? Thanks

I would use micas. They shouldn't bleed.

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

I agree with using micas. =)

Lab Colors will definitely bleed. The liquid colorants that we sell at BB should say in the description if they are non-bleeding. Overall though, your best and safest with the micas.

Hi, SoapyAngel,

Have you tried any of BB's oxides (under "Pigments")? Unless I am mistaken (and someone please correct me if I am wrong!), oxides are non-bleeding. I know they can be tricky to use in M&P soap, but the pigment page has some instructions on how to use them. I like the idea of mixing the oxide with a bit of rubbing alcohol first to get the clumps out (or I suppose you could mix the oxide in with your fragrance oil if you don't want to add extra alcohol).

I have a list from BB's old website that lists non-bleeding colorants (and it looks like they're working on a similar page that's coming soon for the new website: http://www.brambleberry.com/Webpage.aspx?WebpageId=34) and it lists the following liquid colors as non-bleeding: pink, blue, yellow, white, red, and violet. The black, brown, and green are supposed to be non-bleeding, too. Don't know about the deep purple, although the description doesn't say anything about bleeding. Be careful of the liquid orange -- it is FD&C based, so it will bleed.

Most micas are non-bleeding, like Soapbuddy and Bramble Momma said. I poked around the mica page and saw only a few that are described as being bleeding colors: the blue mica (cellini lip safe), coral mica, and shamrock green mica are bleeding colors, according to BB's descriptions.

Good luck at your craft fairs this season!

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- Jenny -
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Since we're on this topic - I just bought my first Orange Mica and Green Chrome Oxide from BB - going with the fact that they are non-bleeding. I've used a local and respected colorant supplier near where I live (liquid non-bleeding) but decided to go this route since the liquid ones I have are of a more 'neon' nature.

So if I read the BB site correctly for my orange mica - I just put in a tiny bit into my melted soap? I guess it's as simple as the liquid until I achieve the color I want?

As for the Green Chrome Oxide - I'm a little uncertain about the instructions for this on the BB site. As Jrose says - is it also that simple? take a small bit add to some alcohol, mix, mix, mix then add to the melted glycerin base?

Thanks. I'm very excited to try this as it seems like I'll get more of a 'muted' tone (then 'neon') that I'm looking for as I come up with holiday ideas and ways to blend between mute/neon. I guess I"m going down a new path now that I'm confident of what I'm doing up to this point!

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Thanks for the advice all! I went to the soap bar today and picked up some oxides and some micas. We'll see over the weekend which I like better, although I can already say that the micas are MUCH easier to mix in!

SoapyAngel and Asliceofdelight,

Found this article on the Soap Queen blog about using oxides in melt and pour: http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/search?q ... sing+oxide.

Hope it helps!

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- Jenny -
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Powdered colorants are pretty simple. The only tricky thing can be that they sometimes like to clump (like pancake batter). You can mix the powdered colorant with some carrier oil, fragrance oil or alcohol first to get rid of the clumps and then add this liquid to your soap. =)

Micas work best for MP as they are water based... they can also morph in CP soap so you should do test batches first if you want to use them that way. They will work in CP they just are not totally stable.

Pigments work best in CP as they are oil based. Thet can be used in MP but require a little bit more work to get them incorporated all the way as they will clump. Mixing with a liquid like I said above is a must when using Pigments in MP.