Black in CP soap weeps all over the bathroom

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Wendy90292

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Hello all,

I'm sort of intermediate as a soaper, don't do it commercially. However, I'm dogged by this issue: my friends and family have asked me to STOP using black as a colorant in all my soaps, because it smudges on their skins and weeps all over their bathrooms.

I've tried charcoal AND I've tried black oxide AND (some other kind of black colorant from Ann Marie). I tried a 1 T:1 t ratio with oil, same ratio with water, mixing the black colorant right into the soap, and deducting oil (pre-lye) from the soap to use as the oil:colorant mix. No matter what I do, my soap streaks humans with black!

What am I doing wrong, please? It looks so pretty! I followed Ann Marie's "clover swirl" 100% according to the recipe (several times now, with different kinds of black) and it STILL messes it up, just like black does in every other recipe (Taiwan swirl, bottle pour, etc.) that I've tried. I even tried a Dragon pour to see if it was a method instead of an ingregient thing! Help! Help!
 
I've used both Black Oxide and Activated Charcoal and have not had an issue with black streaks or weeping. Like @Obsidian, I'm guessing that you are using too much.

In the Clover Swirl recipe, she mixes 1 tea of Black Oxide into 1 tab of oil and then uses only 1 tea of the mixture (or 1/3 tea Black Oxide). What you have relayed, is that you are taking the tablespoon of oil (or water) from your base, mixing in 1 teaspoon of colorant, then adding the entire tablespoon back in.

From her recipe:

Color Prep: Then in separate containers, disperse 1 teaspoon of the Black Oxide..... into 1 tablespoon of lightweight liquid oil.

4. To the final container, add 1 teaspoon of dispersed black oxide.


It's an easy enough mistake to make. Some recipes and conventions say to use the water or oils from you ingredients so as to not add 'extra' water or oil and thus possibly increase cure time or SuperFat. This would be logical course of action if you were adding the entire amount of water or oil back in and/or you are using a lot of different colorants, but if you are only adding back in a portion...then you are in actuality, ending up with less water and/or oil. Not a huge deal, any more than using outside water or oils.

To decide what to do...break it down:

Disperse 2 tea TD into 2 tab oil - USE 1 tab

Disperse 1 tea Black Oxide into 1 tab oil - USE 1 tea

Disperse 1 tea Evergreen Mica into 1 tab oil - USE 2 tea

Disperse 2 tea Kermit Green Mica into 2 tab oil - USE 2 tab +1/2 tea TD

So total Oil used to disperse is 6 tablespoons, total oil used is approximate 4.1 tablespoons. Best case if I wanted to mess with it, is take the 5 tablespoons of oil from my batch for the TD and the two green mica since I am adding all or most back in, but not the black. But I like keeping things simple, so what I would do (in this case) is reduce my SuperFat from 5% to 4% and mix my colorants with outside oil.
 
I've used both Black Oxide and Activated Charcoal and have not had an issue with black streaks or weeping. Like @Obsidian, I'm guessing that you are using too much.

In the Clover Swirl recipe, she mixes 1 tea of Black Oxide into 1 tab of oil and then uses only 1 tea of the mixture (or 1/3 tea Black Oxide). What you have relayed, is that you are taking the tablespoon of oil (or water) from your base, mixing in 1 teaspoon of colorant, then adding the entire tablespoon back in.

From her recipe:

Color Prep: Then in separate containers, disperse 1 teaspoon of the Black Oxide..... into 1 tablespoon of lightweight liquid oil.

4. To the final container, add 1 teaspoon of dispersed black oxide.


It's an easy enough mistake to make. Some recipes and conventions say to use the water or oils from you ingredients so as to not add 'extra' water or oil and thus possibly increase cure time or SuperFat. This would be logical course of action if you were adding the entire amount of water or oil back in and/or you are using a lot of different colorants, but if you are only adding back in a portion...then you are in actuality, ending up with less water and/or oil. Not a huge deal, any more than using outside water or oils.

To decide what to do...break it down:

Disperse 2 tea TD into 2 tab oil - USE 1 tab

Disperse 1 tea Black Oxide into 1 tab oil - USE 1 tea

Disperse 1 tea Evergreen Mica into 1 tab oil - USE 2 tea

Disperse 2 tea Kermit Green Mica into 2 tab oil - USE 2 tab +1/2 tea TD

So total Oil used to disperse is 6 tablespoons, total oil used is approximate 4.1 tablespoons. Best case if I wanted to mess with it, is take the 5 tablespoons of oil from my batch for the TD and the two green mica since I am adding all or most back in, but not the black. But I like keeping things simple, so what I would do (in this case) is reduce my SuperFat from 5% to 4% and mix my colorants with outside oil.
Oh gee! THAT is what I needed to know! Thanks ever so much!
 
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