herbal infusions for both colors and scents - recent results

[Soapsugoii]

WOW. Your colors are elegant and GORGEOUS. I am super, super impressed. Especially by the purples - the lavender and the bluish/purple are absolutely lovely. Great job!

 

[LauraHoosier]

I'm absolutely in awe of the colors you've gotten. Much as I want to try this I have to get past the worry about the % of herbal additive left behind being a problem for those using the soaps.

 

[Soapy Gurl]

Just love the colors! I am a big fan of soap balls too. It is great to see you can get such perfect results from all natural ingredients.

 

[fiddletree]

Thought I'd post here yesterday's experiment with using alkanet inflused OO to swirl my soap! I mixed at a 0% SF and then added in the oils (uncolored and colored) to reach an 8% SF. I was surprised at the lovely bluish purple I got, I thought it would end up being more grayish. Scented with lavender EO

 

[skyfarms]

Beautiful soap, fiddletree! That is a good idea about not superfatting so you could make the swirl with the oil infusion! Hadn't thought of that and now I'm very inspired

 

[Fragola]

You mean that the white area in your soap has 0% SF, while the colored part has 8% SF ?

 

[Lindy]

Very pretty but I would worry about the 0% SF in the white as well....

Love the colour you attained.

 

[LabWitch]

Great info here, thanks to all for sharing. I have a cupboard full of herbs of one kind or another, and now I have a head full of ideas!

Wonder what star anise would do ....?

 

[green soap]

I think both colors had the added 8% superfat, not just the part colored with alkanet.

Very nice looking soap!

 

[fiddletree]

I think both colors had the added 8% superfat, not just the part colored with alkanet.

Very nice looking soap!

Exactly . I added uncolored OO to the white part, and colored OO to the blueish part, in equal measure, enough to end up with a 8% SF.

I calculated the soap with soapcalc to have the 8% SF, multiplied entire oil amount by 8%, subtracted that oil amount from the OO, leaving me with an approximate (because of differing SAP values and not taking out a bit from each oil) 0% SF. Then took that amount that I had subtracted, divided in two (one colored, one not), and put in my soap pitchers. divided the soap into two after light trace and added to the 'extra' split OO. Used the SB to incorporate. Swirled. Voila! 8% SF w/natural colors! As long as one never forgets to add ALL of the OO back in to make the lye calculation correct, it's fine and pretty easy.

 

[tlm884]

I tried using beta carotene in one of my batchs to see what kind of color I could get. I used 30% Palm, 50% Olive, 5% Castor, 5% Walnut Oil, 5% Beta Carotene infused canola, and 5% beta carotene infused coconut. So 10% of the oils in the batch contained beta carotene. When I poured it, it reminded me of egg yolks. Here is a picture of the just poured soap.


IMG-20111115-00392 by taylorlg89, on Flickr

 

[fiddletree]

Cool! What did you infuse the beta carotene out of?

 

[tlm884]

A local business manufactures a line of popcorn products and two of their products are popcorn oils. They add the beta carotene into the oils for flavour and color so it was real simple for me for this project.

 

[fiddletree]

Lucky you! Italians don't eat popcorn, unfortunately, so I need to find myself another source....

What would happen if I infused oil with carrot pulp?

 

[tlm884]

I'm assuming that should work, or you could use carrot juice as the liquid portion of your soap.

 

[soapbuddy]

Looks good. I use unrefined palm to get natural yellow.

 

[Soaplady22]

Carrot juice should work - or do what I did recently, and put well blended carrot right into the soap!! I used 4 oz. to a 3# batch. I think you could use a bit more if you wanted.

 

[fiddletree]

Carrot juice, of course! That would just be too obvious for me

 

[tlm884]

I might give tomato juice a try. Tomato juice gets it red color from carotenoids and apparently they are fairly stable under the caustic conditions of lye so the color should stay!

 

[fiddletree]

Today I made my first attempt at soap cupcakes. And I used infused oils to color it. I'll post pics tomorrow, although I have to say I am ashamed of my 'icing'. I royally blow at piping on icing, whether made of sugar or soap.

BUT despite being sloppy looking (I really, REALLY suck. Aghhhh) the colors are beautiful. I used alkanet infused oil for the icing (using the same oil and split method I posted before), which turns blue-purple, and annatto infused oil for the base. The annatto infused OO, even at only 8% of the oils, turned a really vivid yellow. Like ball of sun egg yolk yellow. Probably too much for cup cakes, but it was a cool experiment anyhow. If anyone needs crazy super duper yellow, annatto is great!

ok, went ahead and took a pic.... colors aren't showing up on film so much, but gives you an idea. Here is the one that is not as ugly, but only on one side. If y'all want to laugh, I can post the really ugly ones...