Colarant woes

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I've followed guidelines and a couple of my soaps do not care! They leave colored suds no matter what. The blue oxide and TD and activated charcoal have not, nor the copper sparkle mica and aqua mica. The green chrome oxide and yellow oxide both have left noticeable color suds. The yellow was only 1/3 the soap too. I did the green on two different soaps and it really isn't a lot, yet there it is green water. Do you find problems with colors running? I seriously do not understand how one can make a rainbow bright cake soap and not wind up with severely discolored water. Is it by manufacturers, some colors are more prone, user error, all of the above? Any insight welcome!
 
I simple do not worry about colored bubbles, after all soap is a washoff. What I do, is recommend to my customers not to use a $20 white wash cloth with handmade scented soap. Please keep in mind, fo's that turn dark will also create a soap that will leave color on the washcloth. If color is left on my wooden soap dish I just give it a short soak in bleach water. Blue's and purples are used as whiteners for many products such as laundry whitener and shampoos
 
I simple do not worry about colored bubbles, after all soap is a washoff. What I do, is recommend to my customers not to use a $20 white wash cloth with handmade scented soap. Please keep in mind, fo's that turn dark will also create a soap that will leave color on the washcloth. If color is left on my wooden soap dish I just give it a short soak in bleach water. Blue's and purples are used as whiteners for many products such as laundry whitener and shampoos


Yes!!! Relaxing by bb turned a rich brown, as did the water when I used it. I thought I messed up lol! Thx, I truly value your opinion.
 
I've just started using these bars. I obviously went a bit heavy on the color, and I'm getting a pale blue in the suds. Fortunately, I haven't noticed any staining. Like most, I premix my colors in oil, so where I want intense color and therefore have to emulsify more oxide, I obviously end up using more oil. Those colored areas of my soap sometimes feel oily even after several weeks of cure time. After 3-6 months it seems to have gone away, but who wants to wait that long to use soap? My thought is that I am superfatting pockets of my soap where I am pouring dark color to the point that not all of the oil is saponifying...or at least it's taking longer than the rest of the bar. I superfat my recipes at 5% anyway, so I try to use a portion of the lighter oils from total recipe (before melting solid oils) to premix my color.
 
Oh my goodness..I was just fixing to start a thread about this and cry to everyone..I'll sniffle here then :D

I couldn't stand it any longer, so I cut a chunk of one of my new CM bars...and lo and behold I have pale blue bubbles :cry:..I used about a tblsp of my oils to mix less than an 1/8 tsp of each color...granted this was going into my half pound tester mold..{new FO's, and new adds always go in half lb tester first} but I didn't think I had added too much...didn't see any pink bubbles tho....

I use the Vibrance Mica set from NSS..{they claim they are excellent for CP soap...} anyone have any ideas where I can get some colors that are vivid, but don't produce colored bubbles?
 
I have far fewer problems with mica coloring bubbles than with oxides and it seems less likely to happen after full cure. If you are trying early on, in the first week or so, there is more water in the bar and you get more soap dissolving when you lather up. Once it's dried and cured, less soap comes off per wash, depending on your recipe and you may get less color coming off inthe lather. I don't know if I explained that well.
 
Explained very well in fact..TY :)

I will wait a few more weeks and give it another shot and see if I get less colored bubbles.

On looking back at NSS, I see that the blue is an ultramarine..wonder if that has any effect on it?

There's an image over on NSS that has a pic of a soap from mamapearsons site..it has the most vivid colors in it..and the pink and purple vibrance colors are used..mine aren't anywhere near that vivid :(

Sorry for hijacking your thread lionprincess
 
I mostly use micas, which aren't as "strong" as oxides, so I use more. When I do use oxides, I sometimes forget that I don't need as much, and I end up with super-saturated, super-strong colors when I only wanted a hint of yellow or green or whatever.

For oxides & ultramarines, I would start with 1/2 tsp PPO, and might go as high as 1 tsp PPO. If you're only coloring part of the soap for swirling, that's not much colorant at all.
 
I mostly use micas, which aren't as "strong" as oxides, so I use more. When I do use oxides, I sometimes forget that I don't need as much, and I end up with super-saturated, super-strong colors when I only wanted a hint of yellow or green or whatever.

For oxides & ultramarines, I would start with 1/2 tsp PPO, and might go as high as 1 tsp PPO. If you're only coloring part of the soap for swirling, that's not much colorant at all.

Yea, I used less than an 1/8 in my half pound tester mold...but with an 1/8 tsp or a bit less, I figure I got wayyy too much in there for the amount of batter I had..

Ahh well, live n learn..Love it!

Thanx everyone :)
 
Mama Pearson does get some very vibrant colors. You can get this with micas but you have to add a fair amount. Lately I have had stearic streaking which causes the mica colorant of kind of clot which is super annoying, but you can get color that saturated with mica.

I am in love with this one of hers. Reminds me of Lotton glass.

http://www.pinterest.com/rachellagestee/lotton-glass/

Screen shot 2014-11-01 at 6.56.33 PM.jpg
 
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