Has anyone been able to make blue soap?

[bluenote]

I just wanted to mention here that I found a reference for a much more reasonably priced indigo crystal (the blue kind) as opposed to the green powder, which hasn't worked properly (yet) for me.

Funnily enough it was 'green soap' who posted above!
The company is dharma trading co. This source is far more inexpensive than any other suppliers I've seen.

Here's the original thread if anyone is interested.
Thanks green soap!
http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27147&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

 

[Dennis]

I can't hold a candle to what you have seen above, but here's my blue.

 

[newbie]

Dennis, what did you use for that blue? It's a great sunny day sky color.

 

[green soap]

You are welcome bluenote! I bought enough indigo from them to last me the rest of my life.

I wish i could say the same of the madder root. A lot of that goes a little way, but i love the color (rose). I plan on ordering some seeds and growing madder but it takes two years to harvest the root for dye.

 

[Dennis]

Newbie,
It's Ultramarine Blue from Bramble Berry.

 

[dieSpinne]

For those using indigo, you may find it easier to get consistent color by dissolving the indigo into the lye solution.

This is the first step in getting indigo dye, but because we eschew the de-oxidation process, it never converts to indigo white and so will not stain the skin.

It all depends on what you are looking for in terms of effects.
Keeping the indigo in powder form and adding it at trace (or later) suspended in oil will give a nice grayish denim blue.
Adding it at very light trace or directly to the lye solution will give richer blues. Depending on your source for indigo(natural or synthetic) there may also be traces of indigo red, which will give a more purplish hue. Pure indigo red is also called Tyrolean Purple and can be an AMAZING color on silk... I wonder what it would look like in soap.

 

[foresthome]

Okay finally have pictures of what is happening

Crafter's Choice Blue Ultramarine with Brambleberry Moroccan Mint scent
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... nemint.jpg

New Directions labcolor Brilliant Blue and Crafter's Choice Lime Mint
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... uemint.jpg

And just in case it is the mint scent doing it

Crafters Choice Ocean Blue liquid dye and mix of Brambleberry's Christmas Forest and Crafter's Choice Dirt ( my own scent named Forest Floor)
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee4 ... uemint.jpg

Not a blue in the bunch. I received Brambleberry labcolors in the mail 2 days ago Sky Blue, Azure Blue High, and Royal Blue. I am trying at least one of them, probably sky blue, with a Rain scent this weekend. So any advice soon would be appreciated. I and my color at light trace.

 

[Fullamoon]

I've used Bramblebery's Ultramarine Blue in cold process. It's beautiful.

http://www.brambleberry.com/Ultramarine ... P4043.aspx

 

[dieSpinne]

OK... first things first...
To attempt the scientific method, we first have to have a Null Hypothesis which we are trying to disprove; perhaps something like, "I CAN get a true blue with this colorant in this soap recipe."

To start, we create a control batch with no color and no scent, but is the base of the recipe being used.
This control group will have 2 bars... one that is straight cold process and one that is either HP or rebatched.

If these control bars both turn out "not white" then you are unlikely to get a pure true blue with this recipe... but we can move on.

Now for the fun stuff....

No scent; color added to both versions... take pics and compare to control bars.

Scent; no color added to both versions ...take pics and compare to control bars.
Both scent and color added to both versions... take pics and compare to control bars AND to the previous experimental bars that have scent only or color only.

 

[Kleine Teufel]

If anyone does a test batch with Crafter's Choice and Bramble Berry's ultramarine blue, I'd be interested in the results. Crafter's Choice is much, much more inexpensive, and I'd rather stick with that if it's just the recipes that are changing colors.

 

[fiddletree]

Has anyone figured out how much indigo to add before the bubbles/water turn blue? I made an absolutely divine blue with indigo this week but it has a terrible case of blue bubble syndrome. It's pretty faint, but certainly there. And the water turns light blue, which I like even less.

greensoap??? You probably know the answer!

 

[dieSpinne]

fiddletree,

Because indigo is soluble in basic solutions, even a small amount will change the color of your water/lather... it's just a matter of whether or not the observer's eye can see it. That being said, because the indigotin is not adherent in its oxidized form, it will not stain skin, rag or other substances and washes out/off easily.

To get the indigo to stick to fibers, leather and wood we need to rob the solution it of its oxygen. IN the old days this was done with fermentation; nowadays we do it with chemistry. Either way, the deoxidized indigo goes clearish and has a pale straw color until it comes in contact with oxygen again. It is in this deoxidized state that the dye is adherent and will bond with with just about anything. if, in this state, it gets in your skin, you will be blue until those skin cells are shed or something bleaches out the dye.

Fortunately, we do not deoxidize our lye solutions (antioxidants are not deoxidizers... TOTALLY different), so there should be no risk of staining even though the bubbles are blue.

 

[green soap]

Has anyone figured out how much indigo to add before the bubbles/water turn blue? I made an absolutely divine blue with indigo this week but it has a terrible case of blue bubble syndrome. It's pretty faint, but certainly there. And the water turns light blue, which I like even less.

greensoap??? You probably know the answer!

natural colored embeds1 by rosetalleo, on Flickr

I have posted this image here before, but I'll re-post to compare with a couple more indigo concentrations. The dark royal blue strips were cut from a soap colored with 1/2 teaspoon indigo per kilogram of oils, dissolved in lye water (before adding lye). That one had blue lather. When I used it in soap embeds it was fine though.


soaps available nov2_2011 by rosetalleo, on Flickr

On the bottom row, right, the light aqua colored soap, the base part holding the embeds has 1/8 tsp indigo and a little beta carotene. Next to it is an unscented embedded soap and the base I got with 3/16 tsp indigo. All measurements are per kilogram of oils. Neither one of them bleeds color, they lather white.

I find it hard to reproduce these batch to batch because it is hard to measure such small amounts. It is part of the beauty of small batch soaping I suppose.

 

[seaturtle]

I also use ultramarine blue. Depending on the amount you use you can go from pastel blue to dark blue. I add the powdered pigment to my warmed oils to make sure it dissolves well.

 

[fiddletree]

gorgeous soaps, green soap! That was really helpful. I appreciate it! Indigo is a tricky beast to tame.