Teach Soap

Hi ya'll! My name is Kay. I've been hooked on soaping for about a year but this is my first time posting here. I just got some gold sparkle mica and I wanted to use it with a red and green swirl for a Christmas soap. But I've been reading that it won't sparkle in cp soap since it's opaque. Has anyone used it in cp? How should I use it? Will it give me even a shiny look, or just disappear in the process? Maybe I should just sprinkle it on top or brush it on?
I'd really appreciate any advice on this
Thanks!

If you want to see the gold mica, you can use it as the swirl portion heavy handed on the mica, or just sprinkle some on top when you're done. If you don't use enough mica, yes, it can disappear.

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

Mine usually disappears but you could rub the gold on the tops of the soap when it is done , if it does vanish .

Thanks! I wasn't sure how heavy a hand you meant so I used about 1/2 oz in 8 oz of soap for a swirl. Maybe I could have use less but it does show up sparkly. I guess I traced it a little too thick because it was a sort of gloppy by the time I finished pouring and the last layer of gold stayed on top like sparkling golden icing. I think it still looks kind of pretty. I'll try to add a pic when I figure out how.

Sounds like it came through fine. Please post a pic if you can.

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

You can use almost all micas in cold process soap so long as they are stable (meaning, the colors won't morph in Cold Process Soap due to the harsh environment of the lye). However, micas require light to reflect and refract in the beautiful way that they do in clear soap. In cold process soap, they do provide color and they help to provide some luminosity but they don't shine brightly.

One way to get around this is to sprinkle the mica up on top.

This one has glitter sprinkled on top: http://twitpic.com/i41f4

This one is colored with merlot mica - great color, but not sparkly: http://twitpic.com/gcd90

This one has mica sprinkled on top: http://twitpic.com/m7h5o

I hope this helps! Welcome to a super fun hobby.

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Happy Soaping!

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

Here is the gold mica soap. You can't really tell from the pic but you can actually see a bit of sparkle! Next time I'll start with a thinner trace and maybe get more of a gold swirl then sprinkle the top. I love that sparkly violet! Every batch is a new adventure.
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That is beautiful soap.

Thanks LSG!

I love those colors together, great job!

Thank you!
I also got a jar of Deep Blue mica I want to try next but I read it morphs in cp. What color does it turn? Would it be best to sprinkle it on top instead of mixing it in?

Usually blues that morph either fade to a grey or turn purple..... the site doesn't say so I am going to check for you and will let you know soon.

Oh! Thanks, that would be great! Even if it does turn gray, that could be nice for some soaps.

Here's the color stability test on it:



You can see it's a nice yellow - definitely not a blue =)

I hope this helps.

_________________
Happy Soaping!

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

Wow! What a change! Pretty yellow but I would have never expected it from that bright blue mica. I'll keep using Labcolors for blue. It turns green when you first add it but turns out beautiful blue, my favorite color.
Thanks, that helps a lot!