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CTAnton

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my order of gromwell root just arrived. I'd like to do a swirl in a soap using it .My question is if it takes a considerable amount of oil to get my desired shade of purple do I go ahead and have the remainder of the soap at 0% discount to allow for the addition of the oil or am I subject to having to make 2 separate patches of soap , one with a normal soap calc proportion and the other calculating into the recipe the perceived amount of infused oil I'll require..
I would like to express my gratitude to all members for the content of this site...I am blown away at what I've learned! Many thanks!!
 
I'm a bit confused. You said it takes a lot of oil to get your shade of purple. Do you mean it takes a lot of mica? I typically use oil from my pot for colorants, or a little bit of carrier oil.
 
This is why I don't like using infused oil for color, its a pain to add it to only a portion of the soap. I'm not very good at explain things but I'll try to explain how I do it. For a 2 lb batch, I generally will use 2-3 ounces of infused oil but you might need to experiment to see how much you need to get your desired color.

I OO for infusing so if my batch calls for 12 ounces of OO and I want to use 2 ounces of colored, I need to discount my OO by 4 ounces. I'd measure out 8 ounces that will go with the other oils into my soap pot, then I'll measure 2 ounces to go into the not infused portion and 2 ounce of the infused OO.

Mix you soap up like normal, once it hits emulsion or light trace, divide it into 2 even portions. I like to use quart sized paint cups, they have measurements on the side. The you add your 2 ounce OO to each respective container and stick blend it in.
 
I saw a video recently where the soap maker made 2 batches, one where they added the infused oil, the other they added an equal amount of the same oil (with nothing infused). Seemed like a simple way to do it, as long as you know how much you'll need to add!
 
I just do it like Obsidian. Say I had a recipe for 12 oz of OO, and I had 3 infused oils I wanted to use, and 1/4 to remain un colored. Thats 4 parts, so I would keep 8 ounces of OO out of the soap batter at first - divide that soap batter into 4 even parts, put 2 oz plain OO into the uncolored part, and up to 2 oz of infused OO, or 1 oz infused and 1 oz plain OO in the other quarters. It helps if you organize and calculate well before hand :shifty:
 
Hey Shunt....I saw that information about gromwell root as well...I'm hoping that even with some fading it will be a valuable natural colorant....and I know all about fading over time...I've been doing it for years! But thanks for sharing!
 
Ohhh! (Smacks self in the head, and sees the light), now I see what you're saying! I'm too new at this. I've never made infusions. On my to do list. I will remember this post for the future...I hope.
Aging brain cells. Is there an infusion for that? :)
 
I recently just did my first 4 color, infusion swirl. Do you see any problems with it?

3oz oo infused with annatto
3oz oo infused with paprika
3oz oo wheat grass powder mixed in

These 9oz were subtracted from my total olive oil weight. Each colored oo was in its own mixing pitcher and I added approx 16oz soap batter to each color. Then, alternating with the plain batter and the 3 colors, I poured into mold.

I was worried about using 3oz per color being too much, but just went with it.
 
Since you've already made this soap, the horse is already out of the barn, and there's no use in worry whether the barn door is closed or not. So moving on -- do YOU see problems with the soap? Have you cut it? What does it look like? Are there soft spots or weeping? I'd say you're the best judge of whether there are problems.
 
All looks well! I haven't tested it with a hand wash. It was a salt bar too, to make it more complicated. Only 60% co and only 25% salt with a 15% SF. Now I'm even more anxious to try it.
 

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