- also has some great info. I can't recall if she had a YouTube channel, although I know I did watch one video of her giving information as to how she infuses natural plant colorants. I seem to remember buying some natural colorant info sheets from her in the last year or so, though.
So I used some of my own plant material, a smidge of citric acid or vinegar (or both even), a pinch of salt, and enough distilled water to make a thick paste. I let this sit overnight, covered so it wouldn't dry out, and used the mix in soap the next day. I compared different concentrations & mixtures as well. This gave me quite nice results, and I didn't need to adjust my lye concentration for smaller batches. If I was doing a 16 pound batch this way, I would definitely recalculate to make up for the citric acid or vinegar. And yes, I DID weigh everything which went into these concoctions & made note of them. I also tried baking soda, which was useless in this case. Have fun 
Dibbles you are Divine to say this, made my day thank you so much
no worries at all @Savagedaughter• Safflower flowers will give you orange, or even yellow. I have a jar infusing on my shelf right now.
• Chlorella is something I use regularly for greens. It gives a very deep, intense green. You might be able to lighten that up using a more yellow color such as turmeric.
• Iolite clay - Holly uses it - also will give you orange.
• Mixing turmeric & a little bit of rhubarb root will also give you orange.
• Indigo or woad for various shades of blue.
• Madder root can give a nice orange. I have mixed it with rhubarb root before & gotten a very nice shade of it.
• Rhubarb root & kaolin clay - or just less rhubarb root - will give you a shade of pink.
• A little bit of indigo mixed with rhubarb root could give you a nicer purple than ratanjot or alkanet.
• Red palm oil infused with a strong turmeric infusion could give you a very nice, intense orange shade.
I'm giving you a lot of possibilities for orange LOL try mixing different natural colorants, play with them.
• I have tried indigo & chlorella to get a natural, muted teal but it didn't work as great as I had hoped.
__________
Recommendations for inspiration, in no specific order.
Holly's Soap Making: https://www.youtube.com/@hollysoapmaking
Check out SNIF Natural Soap Making on YouTube. I don't see any people sharing her videos in posts, but I LOVE her channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SNIFNaturalSoapmaking
Also, Chas from Wild Plantanica works exclusively with natural colorants: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmQfA0cETSSUDOenQIeAnJg
And yes, @curlycoat2 - I'm sorry I forgot your name
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I am beginning to experiment with mushrooms now, which is interesting. I thought this would be fun as I always have some kind of dried mushrooms in the house, for food or medicine.
I recently was experimenting with 'blooming' natural colorants overnight & then using them in soap to see if I could make them more vibrant, but without adding anything like micas, oxides or pigments. This is based on how people will drop a dilution of KOH (potassium hydroxide) I believe on wild mushrooms & check the color reaction as part of the steps used for identifying what type of mushroom it is. This then led me to thinking about how Original Peoples used so many natural substances for painting houses, masks, pieces of art, even their skin / hair / nails, mixing various substances, even ash or burned plant materials with other plant materials, clays & natural minerals to get specific colors. This stuff fascinates the #$@! out of me
A very lengthy answer to your simple post about easter egg soap
Thanks for bringing @curlycoat2 into the discussion
Thank you so much for the link to @curlycoat2's books on this topic, I'm very interested and will definitely use it@curlycoat2 your books on natural colorants are my absolute faves!
For those who are interested in purchasing one of her e-books, or her instructional video, they are here on her website.
The orange one is amazing, that's a real carrot
does it matter what rhubarb it is or does it have to be Rheum emodi?• Safflower flowers will give you orange, or even yellow. I have a jar infusing on my shelf right now.
• Chlorella is something I use regularly for greens. It gives a very deep, intense green. You might be able to lighten that up using a more yellow color such as turmeric.
• Iolite clay - Holly uses it - also will give you orange.
• Mixing turmeric & a little bit of rhubarb root will also give you orange.
• Indigo or woad for various shades of blue.
• Madder root can give a nice orange. I have mixed it with rhubarb root before & gotten a very nice shade of it.
• Rhubarb root & kaolin clay - or just less rhubarb root - will give you a shade of pink.
• A little bit of indigo mixed with rhubarb root could give you a nicer purple than ratanjot or alkanet.
• Red palm oil infused with a strong turmeric infusion could give you a very nice, intense orange shade.
I'm giving you a lot of possibilities for orange LOL try mixing different natural colorants, play with them.
• I have tried indigo & chlorella to get a natural, muted teal but it didn't work as great as I had hoped.
__________
Recommendations for inspiration, in no specific order.
Holly's Soap Making: https://www.youtube.com/@hollysoapmaking
Check out SNIF Natural Soap Making on YouTube. I don't see any people sharing her videos in posts, but I LOVE her channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SNIFNaturalSoapmaking
Also, Chas from Wild Plantanica works exclusively with natural colorants: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmQfA0cETSSUDOenQIeAnJg
And yes, @curlycoat2 - I'm sorry I forgot your name
_________
I am beginning to experiment with mushrooms now, which is interesting. I thought this would be fun as I always have some kind of dried mushrooms in the house, for food or medicine.
I recently was experimenting with 'blooming' natural colorants overnight & then using them in soap to see if I could make them more vibrant, but without adding anything like micas, oxides or pigments. This is based on how people will drop a dilution of KOH (potassium hydroxide) I believe on wild mushrooms & check the color reaction as part of the steps used for identifying what type of mushroom it is. This then led me to thinking about how Original Peoples used so many natural substances for painting houses, masks, pieces of art, even their skin / hair / nails, mixing various substances, even ash or burned plant materials with other plant materials, clays & natural minerals to get specific colors. This stuff fascinates the #$@! out of me
A very lengthy answer to your simple post about easter egg soap
I am not very experienced in using natural colorants, but rheum emodi (Himalayan rhubarb) is what I have used for pink/coral/red. It is fun to watch the color change when the lye is added. I have also been able to get a pretty pink from indigo. Holly’s Soap Making on YouTube has an excellent video on that. I can’t check my notes as I am away from home on the indigo variety I used. I have two, and one worked better than the other.
How beautiful are soaps with natural dyes... Thank you for showing the colors as they look in soap.
Oh and I thought that was only in one's hippie phase.
I think if it's a 'phase', it ain't actually authentic, just playing around until a person goes back to the regularly programmed societal expectations...and I do my best to always remain authentic 
My gawd, they are BEAUTIFUL! I saw someone at a mushroom festival a few years back with her naturally dyed skeins of wool - using MUSHROOMS - & my mouth dropped open....STUNNING is an understatement 
The chaga, which is a very dark brown-black color when in its powdered form (chunk form is different) - turned a beautiful rust orange color.
I haven't tried Himalayan rhubarb, but I did dig up some rhubarb root from our garden and that root made a beautiful pink. It is brown or tan colored before the lye is added and the lye turns it pink. I have bars that are about 2 years old and when exposed to light they do fade.
I think either @Mobjack Bay or @dibbles may have originally posted a link to this in another thread, which I saw quite a while after I had begun playing with salt. Maybe go to Auntie Clara's blog & search it for mention of salt in soap.Oh that's good to know about the salt... I'll have to try it with the natural colors. I really loved the natural colors, but stopped using most after finding out I'm allergic to the ones I liked best.I noticed the fading issue with my first batch that I included rhubarb root in. That was before I began adding salt, however. I did this to test out whether I preferred sodium lactate or salt in my bars for added hardness. The addition of salt makes the bars harder AND more opaque. That 'opaqueness' is what bumps up the color intensity & keeps it more intense for a longer period of time. Think the difference between colored glass & colored plastic.
I did finally remember where I saw someone mention salt helping with the opaqueness of soap AND scent retention...Auntie Clara's website. She made a comment in response to something someone else asked....and you guessed it, I don't have a link to the blog post she made LOL
I also bought some of those specialty cardboard boxes which another person posted a photo of - was it @Ford ? - which I believe are meant to store collectible cards in. I store my soaps in these boxes now once they have fully cured to prevent color & scent loss before I am able to get them to retail customers. This is working very well so far & keeps them in pristine condition while greatly minimizing the space my cured soaps take up. It's also a great type of box to safely & securely transport my orders in. I will be buying more very shortly. They store flat until you need another one. I just assemble a new one as required.
