Activated charcoal woes...

[Ech0s]

1 tablespoon ppo for activated charcoal is leaving a huge mess. It's goregous to look at and the perfect color- but get that sucker wet and it's black smears and streaks dripping everywhere. Same when I combine 1 teaspoon ac with 1 teaspoon oxide. Has anyone found a good cp usage rate that still gives a rich colorant? Is there possibly another alternative? **forgive the smudges- needs to harden a bit more**

 

[KiwiMoose]

Gorgeous soap! I made one identical a few years back, and while the lather was a bit grey, it wasn't as bad as you have described. I generally don't measure my colourants precisely - I just put in 'about what looks right' and so I'm not much help I'm afraid.

 

[Ech0s]

Well, on the plus side it will definitely work as a detox soap

 

[Blufuz]

The one time I tried, I used 2 tsp ppo and it still came out black, just not outer space black, and the wash off was gray but not outrageous.

Still, one piece of good advice I came across somewhere was to only use rich dark colors for a fraction of the soap, like a swirl or an embed, this way the amount that washes off is much less noticeable each time, but you still get to enjoy vivid colors.

 

[cerelife]

When I make a solid black soap I use (ppo) 1/2 tsp AC and 1/4 tsp Wicked mica from Mad Micas. It makes a lovely rich black soap with minimal grey lather.
If I just want black as an accent color, I use Wicked by itself. It's seriously the best black mica I've ever used.

 

[Ech0s]

Love mad micas! They have the best customer service

 

[Savage Daughter]

1 tablespoon ppo for activated charcoal is leaving a huge mess. It's goregous to look at and the perfect color- but get that sucker wet and it's black smears and streaks dripping everywhere. Same when I combine 1 teaspoon ac with 1 teaspoon oxide. Has anyone found a good cp usage rate that still gives a rich colorant? Is there possibly another alternative? **forgive the smudges- needs to harden a bit more**View attachment 74193

Holy that is some BLACK soap! Reminds me somewhat of my first forays into the world of indigo

I used to buy the odd bar of charcoal soap & have noticed at least some darker lather with them. Never bothered me as it doesn't stain. I have an indigo one at the moment which I used a touch too much of that colorant in & the suds become tinged slightly blue, but nothing serious, so I don't worry about it. People still buy it, but I've learned to lighten up on that stuff, which is difficult because it never looks like enough

REMOVED SUGGESTING TO BLACK OXIDE AS I SEEM TO HAVE SKIPPED OVER THAT PART....NEVAH MIND

Or what about less charcoal & add a bit of indigo powder - as opposed to an infusion - to darken things up? It can be VERY effective in doing that. I have actually managed to get black out of indigo in the past.

 

[Jorah]

It's goregous to look at and the perfect color- View attachment 74193

Wow! When the page first loaded I thought there was some topping magically floating a few inches above a black table! Gives a science-fictiony look, like the gateway stones in 2001, a Space Odyssey, or some sort of 'chunk of midnight' thing. Very interesting, and gorgeous as you say. I've only made one batch so far with charcoal, a pumice soap where I was using the charcoal as a cleanser, not as a colorant, so I wasn't going for the midnight effect, and used The Nerdy Farm Wife's charcoal chart Charcoal in Soap: Usage Rates, Photos & Tips to get a dark bar with a minimal color in the suds. I went with one teaspoon PPO. This has only a light gray in the lather. Perhaps you could experiment with that much charcoal blended with the dark indigo as @QuasiQuadrant suggested.



Edited to correct formatting of the phrase 'The Nerdy Farm Wife'

 

[Ech0s]

Wow! When the page first loaded I thought there was some topping magically floating a few inches above a black table! Gives a science-fictiony look, like the gateway stones in 2001, a Space Odyssey, or some sort of 'chunk of midnight' thing. Very interesting, and gorgeous as you say. I've only made one batch so far with charcoal, a pumice soap where I was using the charcoal as a cleanser, not as a colorant, so I wasn't going for the midnight effect, and used The Nerdy Farmwife's charcoal chart Charcoal in Soap: Usage Rates, Photos & Tips to get a dark bar with a minimal color in the suds. I went with one teaspoon PPO. This has only a light gray in the lather. Perhaps you could experiment with that much charcoal blended with the dark indigo as @QuasiQuadrant suggested.

It's the only place I can take a photo when the hubs is alseep- it's the oven with the microwave light above it . The Nerdy Farmwifes chart is great- thank you!

 

[dmcgee5034]

Wicked mica from Mad Micas. It makes a lovely rich black soap with minimal grey lather.
If I just want black as an accent color, I use Wicked by itself. It's seriously the best black mica I've ever used.

Immediately goes to Mad Micas and adds to cart ….
Thanks, @cerelife

 

[Savage Daughter]

I have a name for it....DARK MATTER Add a lighter swirl - which would really stand out against that black! - and it could become 'VENUTIAN VORTEX', although technically black is not the color of Venus, but you get my drift

I play a lot with product names

My local post office calls my boxes of supplies I order 'MORE DARK MATTER' when they come in

 

[Marie_with_an_e]

Activated charcoal at 1tsp ppo, and TD at same usage rate in the white part. It has a very slight grey lather, almost unnoticeable. And I love the glycerin rivers that appeared!

 

[Savage Daughter]

@Ech0s I found a charcoal soap I bought a couple of years ago from a company which I was purchasing from before I started making soap again & tested it out as I had forgotten how it performed.

This one is very black as well. And I do mean BLACK. I had forgotten how dark it was.

The lather is very dark. I had forgotten about that too as it has been quite some time since I used this company's soap.

Nonetheless, it's a decent soap, even though it bleeds like crazy. It never stopped me from using it in the past, but for anyone who is fastidious about having a spotless sink 100% of the time, they might not like this.

Your soap looks beautiful, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I have never found a soap which anyone makes that has a 100% positive rating. Everyone has their own likes & dislikes. If you're super concerned about it, I would still recommend cutting your charcoal back & using indigo as a booster to get a deep, rich black as the indigo bleeds far, far less, even when overused to the point that it will turn soap black

But it does depend on the indigo you're using as well. I find that Indigo Tinctora gives me a much more intense result than Indigo Naturalis.

Good luck

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Immediately goes to Mad Micas and adds to cart ….
Thanks, @cerelife

Yes, thank you @cerelife and @dmcgee5034 for the positive reinforcement. I just bought Wicked Black and Space Walk and Zero Gravity and Star Bits and Into the Mystic because I need them all for my Deep Space soap.

 

[cerelife]

@Mobjack Bay, i LOVE both Star Bits and Into the Mystic!! Space Walk and Zero Gravity are on my wish list at MM! Let us know what you think of them in CP.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Mobjack Bay, i LOVE both Star Bits and Into the Mystic!! Space Walk and Zero Gravity are on my wish list at MM! Let us know what you think of them in CP.

I can’t wait to give these micas a test run, plus it’s a good reason for me to post more deep space soap

 

[BWt]

Love mad micas! They have the best customer service

Agree @Ech0s. MadMicas is the best mica. They also have great dyes.