My Color and Scent Test Cups

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SunWolf

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First I would like to thank you fine folks for all your wonderful advice to the many who have asked. I've only been soaping for a few months and I'm already hooked. I don't post often because every question I have had, I have been able to find someone else had already asked my question and you all had answered in such detail that I didn't need to ask again...:thumbup:

So since I have learned so much from you folks, I thought I would share what I did today, just to feel a little less like such a lurker. :-D

As a new soaper, you know you gather colors and scents at every opportunity...yeah, I have acquired enough already to start to get confused as to what oils discolor and the actual color of the colorants.

Well, today I started a collection of "test samples" of each colorant and EO/FO I have. This picture is just a few of those I've gathered already.
IMG_0773.JPG

I just made a plain, uncolored, unscented base soap, and spooned it into small dixie type cups one at a time. Each cup got a color or a scent and the name is written on the cup with a sharpie.

IMG_0777.JPG

IMG_0778.JPG

I will be able to watch them as they cure and see in person how each one changes over time. I figure I can easily make test cups for new colors/scents as I collect them. I hope to have quite a reference library build soon!!

Anyone done anything similar??
 
Great work! I am sure you will find you results invaluable. It is nice to not have to rely on reviews and guess work
I often will do something similar when I get new goodies. I will take a small portion of a previously planned soap after I bring to trace I will do little test bars of colors, fo, or additives. I love knowing what each thing I test will likely do in my recipe. I keep fo tests for quite a while so I can observe how it holds up fading or morphing. excellent work!
 
I think other experienced soapers in the past have done this, so I think as a new soaper that doing this early on gives you an idea of what happens over time and gives you a better understanding how things change. Let us know how it goes. Glad you are finding the answers to your questions.
 
Good work SunWolf! (see smiley looking very happy here! - limitation on pics)
You will be grateful to yourself one day.

Yep I did something similar for the colours once :

Foto-XENM4HLI-G.jpg


Since I've done some testing on how micas perform in CP soap (for suppliers in the Netherlands).

Nowadays I check out new mica suppliers, buy their stuff and do extensive testing.
I post the result om my own Dutch soap forum and on the Dish.
There doesn't seem too much animo here for a dedicated CP soap colour forum. (wink emo)
Perhaps members are spread around the world too much.

Regarding FO's I'm a PITA: always searching for fragrances that perform impeccable.

IME the dixie-cup size testers are working good if you look at discolouring.
For Accelleration they show only the super fast movers. Stirring in the FO usually goes well enough,
but if you leave the cup alone for a minute after stirring, you may find that the soap has set-up already.

In practice this means that - after you have added the FO to your batch and poured into separate containers -
while you've managed to mix in one colour, the rest of the batch might already have solidified.
Same thing if you colour first and then add the FO.

That's the reason why I devide the soap over a certain amount of containers, then mix in the different fragrances
one by one, and then pour the soap into single moulds (even small ones like the dixie cups); this method simulates
the real life working situation.

I found it is important to check on the poured soaps frequently: checking changes in temperature, separation, discolouring , morphing scent etc.
Make notes!

Colour testing - using MP to show the mica as is.
Foto-XJAOPPJS-G.jpg


Foto-Q4Y7KICO-G.jpg


Fragrance testing:
Foto-QG6KWABM-G.jpg


Keep up the good work!
 
You're doing some great research there that will save you lots of time and frustration down the road. Good for you!
 
Congratulations on your diligence in testing. Wish I was so organized, I mix and keep my fingers crossed :). Although to test a new questionable fo I add in a little lye solution in a vial and add a few drops of the fo. If it thickens almost instantly I know it is a troublemaker. That is about as far as I go with testing fo, unless I happen to have a bunch of new ones I am testing for a friend. Then I make little 1lb batches I can cut and sell as travel soaps.

In my opinion is it best to test colorants after you have come up with a base you like working with. Although we all tend to tweak if large changes are not made with the base you can test each color, no fo added, and make a label or card stating the soap base recipe and the color. I know one person that has actually framed her soap colorant samples with all information pertaining to each color sample. It was fantastic and made a nice wall decoration. This is a person that is meticulous in her soapmaking and coloring. I am not sure but I think she did similar with fo samples.
 

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