Affordable and effcient colors?

[Intothewoods]

I was wondering what you more experienced soapers use to color your soaps. I have just been using melted crayons most of the time, a couple of times I have used powders or gel colors I ordered online, and I loved the gel colors but can't seem to find them anymore. Plus they were expensive and didn't color very many batches.
So I was wondering, where do you guys that make all these gorgeous color swirled soaps get your colors? And do you have to break the bank to do it? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Dragonkaz]

I buy colours that are suitable from CP soap online from soap suppliers. My favourite are the micas ... love them, especially the pop micas. Not all micas stand up to CP soap, so make sure you check that first.

I also have a few liquid soap colours. Again great colours that I buy online from soap suppliers.

Cocoa can be use ... but be careful if you don't want brown bubbles. There are many threads on this forum that list natural colourants ad what to expect. Products like parsley, paprika, tumeric, cinnamon etc.

Clays can be bought from soap suppliers and they add colour as well as other qualities to soap.

Good luck researching the colour question!

 

[Hazel]

I use mainly micas. I'm sure there are more but these are the only ones I can think of right now.

http://tkbtrading.com/
http://cart.candlesupply.com/Mica-Powders-c-670.html
http://www.brambleberry.com/Colorants-C181.aspx

Dragonkaz made a good point. You want to make sure the colors are stable in CP.

eta: you could check Sweet Cakes if you want gel colorants that aren't for CP.

http://www.sweetcakes.com/default.php?cPath=29

 

[judymoody]

TKB discontinued the pop micas but are offering other micas, not all of which are soap stable. You have to do your research.

You also can get micas and oxides through the conservatorie, Brambleberry, and Majestic Mountain Sage. The latter has just come out with a new line of "glitter" colors that are soap safe and vibrant. You can see soaped examples on their blog.

Labcolors (liquid) can be found at brambleberry. There's also something called celestial colors that I've not yet tried but are widely used by soapers. I think Tradewinds sells them.

Clays are available from a variety of vendors - NDA has a very wide selection. These tend to be more earthy tones.

I'd stay away from crayons - do you know what's in them or if they are FDA approved for skin contact?

 

[Hazel]

BCN's rainbow micas are the same as TKB's POP micas.

 

[Healinya]

If you want a balance between quality, variety and affordability, I think these are a great option...

http://tradewindsfragrance.net/index.ph ... ucts_id=83

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for posting the link. I'm interesting in trying these when I need more colorants. Have you used these before?

 

[Guest]

I also really like micas, oxides, and clays. Botanicals like alkanet, anise seed (ground), tumeric, and arrow root are all nice too.

 

[Stinkydancer]

BCN's rainbow micas are the same as TKB's POP micas.

Thank you Hazel!! I'm getting low on my Pops and was fretting!

I used Tradewinds once and never got my order just keep that in mind. I really did want to try Select shades too!

 

[Hazel]

You're welcome. I know several people on the forum have used them and liked them. I haven't tried them yet because I don't go through mica very quickly. I'm still using up what I have on hand.

 

[kharmon320]

OOoooo! It just dawned on me that I'm only about 15-20mins from Tradewinds. I wonder if they'll let me pick up. I did that about 12 years ago when they had FO's. I'll have to call them tomorrow, but I'll probably forget.

 

[Healinya]

Thanks for posting the link. I'm interesting in trying these when I need more colorants. Have you used these before?

Yes, I have had them for a few years.. I haven't tried all the colors, but from what I have used, I would call their color chart about 80% accurate (for my recipe, in my kitchen that is)

 

[debbism]

I've been using powdered "thool" colors which are amazing. Yellow, red, green and brown. The red and yellow yield me some pretty impressive pinks, yellows and peach colors more vibrant than the botanical infusions and gives a nice mottled look which is accentuated with swirling.

These colors are made with super concentrated botanical extracts like neem, basil, tumeric, moringa, false daisy etc...

I like them because you need so very little - for a 12lb batch, I use about 0.1g - 0.2g of powder and it costs about 1-3 cents per bar. when all is said and done - I supposed it could jump to 5-6 cents per bar for deeper colors.
I will post a pic of our "thool" colored soaps.

I also found a powdered oil soluble tumeric extract which I am going to test this thursday. I will post those results as well.

 

[Hazel]

Thanks for posting the link. I'm interesting in trying these when I need more colorants. Have you used these before?

Yes, I have had them for a few years.. I haven't tried all the colors, but from what I have used, I would call their color chart about 80% accurate (for my recipe, in my kitchen that is)

Thanks for replying. I'll have to check them out when I need more colorants.

TikiBarSoap -

I've used turmeric before and I just used a little in a batch last night. I've limited experience with herbal powders but I've liked the softer colors produced by the ones I have used.

debbism -

Please do post a pic. I'd like to see it.

 

[jadiebugs1]

BCN's rainbow micas are the same as TKB's POP micas.

What/where is BCN??

 

[Hazel]

BCN's rainbow micas are the same as TKB's POP micas.

What/where is BCN??

Bitter Creek North in Wisconsin

http://www.candlesupply.com/

There's also Bitter Creek South but I don't think they have the micas.

http://www.bittercreeksouth.com/

 

[Soapy Gurl]

debbism, where do you get your colors? I tried the links listed, thinking it was one of them, but I can find them. I love natural colors, I bought a packing from FNWL and had a lot of fun with it. Your sounds even better!

 

[soapbuddy]

BCN's rainbow micas are the same as TKB's POP micas.

What/where is BCN??

Google Bitter Creek North. They are online supplier.

 

[Maythorn]

I saw micas at Soap Supplies.net for $3.99 each but I don't know if all the colors work fine in cold process soap. I was interested in the Goldenrod. Brambleberry has some that morph and it says so next to them.

 

[debbism]

Top row...
green; red & yellow; green at a higher concentration

Bottom row....
red plus added a little blue gardenia fruit powder and anthocyan pink' yellow; red in a very light concentration.

By debbism at 2011-10-02

I doubt I can continue using them as while they are inexpensive per-use, you have to buy in such high quantities that it becomes price prohibitive. Only 0.1g to 0.2g is needed to color 12lbs soap - (about 1-2 cents per bar in cost.) which ends up costing about 40 cents. 40 cents for 0.2 grams - BUT you have to buy a whole kilogram - YIKES I would have to sell a lot of soap to afford these and no one is selling them by the ounce yet.

I am out of luck unless I hit the lotto or become a huge conglomerate.