olive oi infused with alkanet

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CTAnton

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ok i've read that for some adding the askant to your lye solution is the way to go. nonetheless, i have a mason jar of infused olive oil ready to be used. of course it would be easiest to subtract out the amount of infused oil from the total olive oil amount in the recipe. i get that. but i'm wing my usual stubborn self and only want to remove a cup or 2 of soap batter to make a swirl in the soap. not knowing what i'll get in terms of color is whats preventing me from coloring the entire soap. it's been so long since the infusion was made i can't even tell you the source, whether it was the crystals or not. just looking to get any suggestions that wouldn't require calculus...
 
Make your batter without the olive oil and split it in two as if you were doing any other swirl. Add you olive oil portions as your colorants, half to each. Swirl to your hearts content.

I haven't gone down the natural colorant route and don't have any advice on how it might look/behave. This is just what seems to make sense to me.
 
i agree susie but the infusion is already made and i want to at least try using it. After looking at several threads on the subject i think i'll do an ombre soap. Less to go wrong. The infusion looks really strong so a couple of drops at a time in the batter is what I'm planning to do.
 
i agree susie but the infusion is already made and i want to at least try using it. After looking at several threads on the subject i think i'll do an ombre soap. Less to go wrong. The infusion looks really strong so a couple of drops at a time in the batter is what I'm planning to do.

Please let us know how it turns out and post photos! :)
 
Well the soap is in the oven (i'm thinking, "elvis has left the room"). hindsight is always 20/20. I haven't made CP soap in months. what I learnt was indeed more infused oil per layer was needed to make a noticeable difference. on the plus side i'm gelling the soap so hopefully the color will be intensified. it's going to be a learning experience an,who knows, maybe the soap fairy will pay my oven a visit...at least to keep away the gremlins!
 
made batch 2 this morning while the first batch sits in its mold too soft to be extricated.
I used a helluva lot more infused oil per layer this time around. I didn't count drops this time, just used a syringe to give somewhat equal amounts of infusion each time around.
my hindsight moment is this...I shouldn't brought the super fat down from 5% to something like 2% considering the volume of infused olive oil I added. Just another reason people embrace micas! Will post some pics when this latest experiment concludes....
 
If you add more oil to only part of your soap you will have a partially soft soap. If you put the infusion over a saucepan of simmering water it will infuse in an hour or two. Replace all your OO in that part of the soap you want coloured with the infused oil.
 
I'm on batch number 3 now..last batch i subtracted the 3 ounces of infused OO from the amount in the recipe. Could EASILY double that amount to color a 42 ounce loaf mold. It's nice but subtle in color.
 
Batch number 4 made tonight. This time I added sodium citrate and it seems the indigo is much more intensely colored than the other batches. Dramatically so. I love when things like this happen! Of course MY luck this will probably stain washcloths....When i first noticed the difference all I could think is," I'm sure DeeAnna knows what THIS is all about!!!" Thisis a high olive oil recipe with infused calendula, scented with lavender essential oil, hence the desire for a prple/ blue color. Stay tuned for the pics!
 
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