Mixing mica colorants: what's your secret?

So I've been using mica colorants for a while now, which I like a lot because they can produce really vibrant colors, or really mild ones.

The problem I haven't solved is blending them, as they don't dissolve, and I can't seem to get them evenly mixed into the swill unless I stick-blend them, which generally (with my recipe) leads to early trace and failed swirls.

What I've been doing is measuring out the pigment into tubs, then after mixing lye/oils/essential oils and doing a little hand-stirring, I split the mix into my pigment tubs. This is where the trouble starts. It seems impossible to get the pigments off the bottom of the tubs, and mixed evenly into the swill. The results I've been getting are uneven pigment distribution (like attached - note some extra pale spots and some dark yellow spots in a generally pale yellow bar).


This batch was a soft-yellow & soft-white swirl. You can see the yellow and white are both uneven. And, while it's not horrible, I would like to be able to create a more even color mix

Who has figured out a better system for mixing micas?
All tips much appreciated!
Todd

Are you mixing the micas into an oil first? Or just dumping soap on top of them in your cups? Are there other ingredients in your micas besides mica?

From the sounds of it, try mixing your micas with some of your oils first, then add the soap batter.

Edit -- this is post #2... or I'm just a time traveler.

Hey Charm,
Thanks for the idea!
I have tried mixing the micas into oils before I blend them in, but this batch I didn't do that because:
1. if I mix the colors first, then by the time I get back to using them they've separated again!, and
2. that means I have to take some oils out of my recipe to mix in with the micas, which makes me a little nervous. This especially if I have a genius plan like 3 parts blue mix to 1 part yellow mix. If I don't take 3 parts oil for the blue to be proportionate to 1 part oil for the yellow, then when I finally blend the colors back into their respective color-tubs, one of the tubs will be 'oil-poor' compared to the other.

Now I feel like I'm over-thinking this.
?


Edit: there's something goofy with the time stamping tonight. Original post shows 11:45. I'm making this edit at 11:24!

Todd_in_Minnesota said:

Hey Charm,
Thanks for the idea!
I have tried mixing the micas into oils before I blend them in, but this batch I didn't do that because:
1. if I mix the colors first, then by the time I get back to using them they've separated again!, and
2. that means I have to take some oils out of my recipe to mix in with the micas, which makes me a little nervous. This especially if I have a genius plan like 3 parts blue mix to 1 part yellow mix. If I don't take 3 parts oil for the blue to be proportionate to 1 part oil for the yellow, then when I finally blend the colors back into their respective color-tubs, one of the tubs will be 'oil-poor' compared to the other.

Now I feel like I'm over-thinking this.
?


Edit: there's something goofy with the time stamping tonight. Original post shows 11:45. I'm making this edit at 11:24!

Click to expand...

That's interesting that it separates again! I'll admit I don't use many micas. However, when I use them, I just dump the powder on top of the soap batter that I want colored and stick blend. It sounds like your batter is thickening too quickly for you to do that, though. Do you need more water or soft oils to slow down trace? Are you waiting too late to add the color?

For your second point, I'm no expert, but I think the lye will find all the oils. http://www.soapmakingforum.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

I get all my oils measured and into my mixing bowl..then I take about a tablespoon of oil out {for each color}and put it into a little plastic cup/s {they are actually jello shot cups} then I add my mica's in there and mix..then I add my lye water to my main oil batch and mix to emulsification, then pour off the batter into separate mixing cups {I use plastic measuring cups} then I add my premixed micas into each measuring cup then SB each..then pour into the mold, the swirl or whatever comes last.

I pretty much do what Jstar does, only I don't often use my batch oils to mix the micas, but mostly use a little glycerin instead, or just a little of my water amount. The amounts of oil or glycerin or water that I use are so little in comparison to the greater scheme of things that I don't sweat it if they are not equal amounts evenly divided amongst each colorant.

I measure out my powdered micas into little glass prep-bowls, add a little oil, or vegetable glycerin, or water to them, and then stir things up to mix with either a flat-type wooden toothpick or a mini-whisk (it's so cute and wee- like a baby whisk. I bought if from BB), or a battery-powered mini-frother (also from BB).

After I have divided out my emulsified soap batter into cups, I give my pre-mixed colorants that are sitting in their little bowl one last stir with one of those utensils mentioned above and then pour them into their respective portions of batter and hand-whisk them in. If things look like they need to be dispersed more thoroughly, I'll give things a whir or 2 with my stick-blender, and then finish it up by hand-stirring with the whisk again. That usually does the trick for me.


IrishLass

I have tried mixing the micas into oils before I blend them in, but this batch I didn't do that because:
1. if I mix the colors first, then by the time I get back to using them they've separated again!, and
2. that means I have to take some oils out of my recipe to mix in with the micas, which makes me a little nervous.

Click to expand...

Can you explain what you mean by separated? I mix my micas with a little oil and if I let it sit too long the mica will settle but a quick stir will fix it right up. No reason to add any more oil.
I also don't remove oil from my recipe. I use such a small amount for mixing, I don't worry about the extra.

I do the same as Obsidian. Once in a while, I might take a spoonful of oil from my batch to mix my micas, but most often I mix them with a little extra oil. I don't worry about the amount. I have tried mixing the colors directly into a small amount of soap, but I got a lot of speckles and spots.

Obsidian said:

Can you explain what you mean by separated? I mix my micas with a little oil and if I let it sit too long the mica will settle but a quick stir will fix it right up. No reason to add any more oil.
I also don't remove oil from my recipe. I use such a small amount for mixing, I don't worry about the extra.

Click to expand...

Hey Obsidian... and Charm too (sorry it took me so long to answer).
when I said 'separated' what I meant is what you're describing. When I let the mica sit too long it settles out of the oil and collects on the bottom of the tub.

From what I'm hearing, it seems I'm over-complicating things... but I'm really appreciating all the good ideas!

Thanks all.
Todd

I use coconut milk in my soaps. For the past two weeks I've been mixing the colorants into a couple of tablespoons of the milk and it's actually been working quite well. Seems to keep the powders suspended really well.

I'm with jstar and Irish. I'm sorta new to mica, but pre- mixed my last ones in glycerin and it worked great. Light oils like sunflower or avocado work well too. As an alternative, sometimes I pour a small amount of soap batter into my mica and pre-mix before adding it to the remainder of the total volume I intend to soap with that color. The worst idea seems to be adding the dry mica or oxide powder to the soap and depending hand mixing or even stick blending to emusify it. I find the mixing required to distribute the color advances the trace too much.

JustBeachy said:

I use coconut milk in my soaps. For the past two weeks I've been mixing the colorants into a couple of tablespoons of the milk and it's actually been working quite well. Seems to keep the powders suspended really well.

Click to expand...

I use coconut milk too. Love this idea! I'll definately have to try it for my next batch. Thanks for the tip!

Good ideas all!
And - today my insightful wife recommended small jars with tight lids.
Her idea is to add a bit of oil (I use avacado regularly, so that should be easy) and mica colorant, put the lid on, and shake it up.... then if/when I have to re-mix, I could just shake it again. No 'mixing' required. She's pretty smart, I'm thinking.

She also proposed premixing colorants and storing them in those jars until I decide to use one.

She's a keeper.

Todd

All are good ideas. I do pretty much what every one else does. I used to premix and keep micas in small bottles but it ended up being a pain to me because I can't keep track of bottles as well as I can of bags and I have a lot of colors. Too bulky to do the bottles/jars for me. It does work really well though.

I measure out my micas in small dixie cups which also allows for blending colors, then add a little olive or avocado oils to it. I cut straws in half and use them to stir every thing up so I don't mix the colors, the straws are light so don't tip over the cup, and I used them and rinsed them once already, so I'm getting two uses out of something that will end up in the garbage. Makes me feel greener. Then I can add the mica oil to whatever batter I want and I use the same straw to stir it in well. If I want all the colorant out, I will add a bit of batter to the mica dixie cup, stir it up and add it to the other colored part.

I made the mistake of adding my batch oils to the micas, but I use tallow and coconut and the oils would cool and become thick and kind of gunky. NOw I just use a bit of extra liquid oil.

I also use glycerin, and mix in those little Jello shot cups with covers. I sort of masterbatch them, and then just use what I need when I make my soap.