I've been trying to use some POM juice to color my CP soap. I've used the juice in place of water for the lye solution and got the ugliest color soap ever. It was about the color of the brown tabs up above the page. Then I tried to add a little after trace and got this amber/caramel color. I was going for some kind of red hue. I have noticed that each time I try the juice I smell a burnt sugar smell. I'm thinking the natural sugars are reacting to either the lye or the heat (I tried to color it with the Hot process too with no luck). I've seen some beautiful pomegranate soap online so I know it is possible. Right now I'm rebatching (first attempt at rebatching ever) the amber/caramel batch hoping to achieve the color I'm looking for or at least something close. Any suggestions or tips?
Using Juice for Color
- Thread starter vikkime
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Actually it's not possible. Most juices go brown. There are a few natural ingredients you can use to get colour like different clays. French pink gives you a gorgeous colour and the strength of that colour will be determined by how much or how little you use. There's green, red, yellow and black clays that work well too. Then you can get into indigo, tomato paste, carrots, and my brain just died, either that or the mouse fell off the wheel, but either way I can't remember all the other botanicals that will colour your soaps naturally.
Do some research on for natural soap colourants. I know Amanda has some wonderful information on her blog addressing this very topic.
Do some research on for natural soap colourants. I know Amanda has some wonderful information on her blog addressing this very topic.
sudbubblez
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I have found the only way to get the fruit juice color to stick in soap, is to hot process the soap, then add the joice after the soap has gelled and does not zap anymore. I think this is an incredible pain in the butt. Or you could add the juice during rebatch; bigger pain in the butt. You could try rebatching the POM soap you already tried to make (after it doesn't zap anymore), and use more POM as your water... you might have to use a lot... it will get some color but it won't be vibrant. You can pack more color into the POM juice by simmering it down and concentrating it.
With one of my wine soaps, I didn't want to BS with hot process and "rustic" soap... so I cheated by blending different colored clays together to make a wine color. tehehehe. It still has wine in place of water but the color is coming from the clay.
With one of my wine soaps, I didn't want to BS with hot process and "rustic" soap... so I cheated by blending different colored clays together to make a wine color. tehehehe. It still has wine in place of water but the color is coming from the clay.
vikkime said:
I'd be careful about using chlorophyll. green soap (a member) has discussed using it and she wasn't happy with it. Here are links to a couple of topics where she mentioned it.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30656
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28553
Nettle will give you a nice green...
Natural juices do tend toward greying/tanning somewhat, but I find they do great if enhanced with just a titch of colorant (much , much less than you would use normally). My avocado puree/whole cucumber juice soap stays a beautiful shade of green with just a pinch of chromium hydroxide green and TD. I saved a bar from a batch I made over 4 years ago and it's still a lovely shade of green.
IrishLass
IrishLass
IrishLass said:Natural juices do tend toward greying/tanning somewhat, but I find they do great if enhanced with just a titch of colorant (much , much less than you would use normally). My avocado puree/whole cucumber juice soap stays a beautiful shade of green with just a pinch of chromium hydroxide green and TD. I saved a bar from a batch I made over 4 years ago and it's still a lovely shade of green.
IrishLass
Oh I love that! I would never have thought of that myself. So I have a customer that wants me to make berry soap using the berries from her farm as an ingredient. Do you think I could achieve that with the berries?
judymoody
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Lindy said:IrishLass said:Natural juices do tend toward greying/tanning somewhat, but I find they do great if enhanced with just a titch of colorant (much , much less than you would use normally). My avocado puree/whole cucumber juice soap stays a beautiful shade of green with just a pinch of chromium hydroxide green and TD. I saved a bar from a batch I made over 4 years ago and it's still a lovely shade of green.
IrishLass
Oh I love that! I would never have thought of that myself. So I have a customer that wants me to make berry soap using the berries from her farm as an ingredient. Do you think I could achieve that with the berries?
Doubtful, unless you HP the soap and add the juice after cook. In most cases, berry juice turns a lovely shade of brown in CP.
atkinscre8
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I also want to use pomegranate juice in my cp soap. I really don't mind a little of the brownish tint because I will be adding a little colorant to help destract. I want to start with water/juice and add the juice just before trace. Is there anyone who could recomend a persentage of water to juice? I was thinking 80/20 and hope it doesn't turn more than a camel color.
SoapAddict415
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Thanks for the info about most juices turning brown & adding colorant. I just found a recipe for a juice soap the other day. It said that I could use carrot, apple or any juice I wanted but it didn't say anything about color changes!
judymoody
Well-Known Member
SoapAddict415 said:
Carrot will stay orange, as will pumpkin and tomato.
SoapAddict415
Well-Known Member
Good to know, thanks! I love this forum! I learn something new every day!
Judy Moody that is what I was afraid of. I think I'll do it to look like Neapolitan Ice Cream so the part with the berries (brown) is still used for label appeal and have the fragrance in the brown and the red leaving the white unscented. :wink:
Hi,
Is it better to freeze the carrot juice and make the lye solution or add carrot juice at trace?? Which works best to get orange colour??? How much juice to add incase if I'm adding at trace?? Sorry for asking too many questions. I'm planning to make a carrot soap and wish to have a natural orange colour.
This thread is 11 years old and many of these people have left now. Better to start a new thread with your question. However, now that I'm here i will say that you can add your carrot juice as your water content and use it to make the lye solution. Frozen or very cold is good. It will probably not be orange though - more like a golden yellow. Maybe try adding some turmeric for added colour - but this too fades over time.
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