Teach Soap

I always get mix a little of the powder with a little water or glycerin. How much is a little? Are there any actual measurements for doing this?

It depends how deep you want the color to be. Start out with a very small amount. I use just the tip of a knife. You can always add more, but you can't take away.

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

I sometimes mix mine with a little alcohol....or warm oil...

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Deb.....


If you blow in a dogs face he gets mad....take him for a car ride ..and he sticks his head out the window....

i mix mine with alcohol and it goes all clumpy and i pretty much just do a trial and error with the shade

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Watch out! I have discovered the magical world of CP

"Founding member of Facebook's "Australia & New Zealand Melt & Pour Soapers"

I like to work oxide powder into glycerin, under a warm lamp on a counter top. Using a putty knife, work the oxide and glycerin back and forth until you can spread it super thin without seeing any little 'dots' of color. How much to use depends on how strong you want the color to be (as soapbuddy said) and how much soap you are making. I don't really measure my volumes, I just 'by eye' a sort of 3:1 glycerin to powder ratio and that works fine.

When I am working with a fresh pigment for the first time, I start by adding one or several drops to gauge the strength of it. I have kept oxide mixes around for months on the shelf, as long as you mix all the stuff that settled on the bottom back into the liquid (maybe add a little glycerin if needed) it will work as well for you as the day you made it. Stay vigilant against using too much color, especially red, black or blue as they tend to bleed easily.

If I was smart I would buy a little hand mixer to do the job, something with a low rpm motor...

Anyways, hope that helps!

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To me it's just alot better to buy the oxides already mixed. They would always end up clumpy or something,so I just buy them in a liquid form on:www.tkbtrading.com.

i bought some oxides, and i just can't work with them yet, i ended up with spotty soap lol

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Stacey - Victoria,Australia.
Photo stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/msjuiicix/
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I mix my oxides with a tiny bit of oil.

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

I mix my oxides with a small amount of either the FO or alcohol when l have got it nearly all done l add a little hot base to it and have another quick mix.I mix all of mine in a small glass medicine glass so you can see l am only using small amounts.I haven't had any trouble with getting it to mix up properly.
Not too good at explaining things so hopefully you can understand my process.
Wish we could get Oxides already mixed but being in Australia we have to wait for years for things like this to get to us.Too few M & P soapers is the problem down here.

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Pauline
http://www.facebook.com/SudsandKissesSoaps
Founding member & admin of Melt & Pour Soap Crafters.

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Deb.....


If you blow in a dogs face he gets mad....take him for a car ride ..and he sticks his head out the window....

Aw man, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. When I first started soaping, my oxides were clumpy-- actually one of my friends used one of my "red" soaps and when soap dissolved, it looked like she was bleeding. Turns out the little clumps can actually come thru-- making your soap the color of the oxide.

My solution to this was to get a tiny bowl, mix some oxide with some alcohol (not too much, or the soap will smell alcohol-ey). I mixed with a popsicle sick! I do micas the same way-- they do not clump anywhere near as much as oxides do!

I hope this helps!

I had the same thing happen the first time I used an oxide. It seemed to be well-blended into the glycerin. I let it sit overnight, but it turned out to make lots of dark spots throughout the soap. It was purple too, so it wasn't a pretty site. The micas and liquids seem so much easier, but I would like to work with oxides again. I'm going to try the oil technique next time.

a mini frother will work to mix the oxides with either glycerin or oil works really well...Brambleberry carries them now.

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