Blue #1 is White?!?

[MorpheusPA]

I made some soap last night using the below formula, with a standard CPOP (preheat to 170°, turn off, put soap inside, and leave in for 2 full hours because we needed the oven).

On mix, the overall color was brownish from the honey, without any note of blue or purple. I kept going because I've seen blue #1 do some weird warping before, including to bright red.

I've used the Blue #1 recently and it's worked fine, so it's not an age problem. The recipe showed no inclination to overheat, act funny, or do anything even faintly strange.

The current color is creamy white, with no hint of anything Blue #1 could possibly warp to.

The recipe is:

Super fat: 5%, Water 129 grams (I was a bit high), Lye 63 grams.

1 tsp sodium lactate
1 tsp honey
1/8th tsp Blue #1 Lake powder, dispersed in small amount of castor

Tallow (Beef) 70%, 317 grams
Coconut 15%, 68 grams
Fully Hydrogenated Soybean Wax 10%, 45 grams
Castor Oil 5%, 22 grams

Any ideas on why this is white, not the mid-range lavender I'd intended?

 

[Kittish]

No ideas, but maybe give it a week or so and see what the color does? I think we've all experienced soap doing weird and unexpected things.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Maybe you did not put enough of it? Was your recipe the same as before? Butters like shea, and hard oils like coconut or lard, are more white, and require a wee more to achieve the color from my experience.

 

[Millie]

Makes me think of Reckitt's Crown Blue and blue hair conditioners/rinses. Tried to post a link but it won't work so I'll just post a snippet from wikipedia:

"White fabrics acquire a slight color cast after use (usually grey or yellow). Since blue and yellow are complementary colors in the subtractive color model of color perception, adding a trace of blue color to the slightly off-white color of these fabrics makes them appear whiter"

 

[MorpheusPA]

Since I'd made a somewhat similar (softer and with a tallow/lard split, and no soy wax) immediately thereafter and used Blue #1, I'd wondered if I simply forgot it...but I checked it off on the sheet, and I don't do that unless I just put it in the pot.

I guess I didn't use enough for (very white) coconut. I do like the soap, it's an attractive slightly off-white, so I'm not really complaining.

I'm going to try another batch and see if it happens again!

I twinned the recipe and added Blue #1--a larger amount--and it turned lavender. So I'm thinking the amounts were too low, or I didn't disperse it well enough. Probably both.

Either way, the new soap looks great, and I'll keep those six guest soaps for use here. Speckling doesn't bother me!

 

[cmzaha]

Blue is used as a whitener. Think Mrs Stewart's Bluing. I am thinking maybe you did not use enough. I use Blue Food coloring at times for purple. I like to use it to watch the color morphing, which is usually about 3 different colors before it settles to purple but never blue

 

[MorpheusPA]

I've had the same experience! I made a purple with a burgundy ITP swirl and had the grand fun of watching the Blue #1 warp to a deep red. Which is very hard to distinguish from the burgundy you're swirling into it.

It all turned out well in the end, so I've now learned to swirl blind.

 

[SunRiseArts]

Since I'd made a somewhat similar (softer and with a tallow/lard split, and no soy wax) immediately thereafter and used Blue #1, I'd wondered if I simply forgot it...but I checked it off on the sheet, and I don't do that unless I just put it in the pot.

I guess I didn't use enough for (very white) coconut. I do like the soap, it's an attractive slightly off-white, so I'm not really complaining.

I'm going to try another batch and see if it happens again!

I twinned the recipe and added Blue #1--a larger amount--and it turned lavender. So I'm thinking the amounts were too low, or I didn't disperse it well enough. Probably both.

Either way, the new soap looks great, and I'll keep those six guest soaps for use here. Speckling doesn't bother me!

Yes try more color!

When I do a melt and pour and do not use a diamond clear base, but more like aloe or olive that has a opaque look to it. I add a drop of blue to make it more clear.

 

[psfred]

I used some food dye (blue #1) is a soap last night because the indigo I'd put in faded away (probably due to the BHT I used). Turned bright red, then yellow, then pink, and eventually sort of lilac (which is fine, the soap is scented with lilac/wisteria FO). Will see what happens as it cures.

I think I'll try micas for color, all the other things I've done so far are not exactly predictable.....

Indigo is sensitive to the oxidation/reduction state of the soap, it bleaches to a murky yellow/green when reduced, and in that state will dye fabrics. It was fun to try it, but I'll use something else in the future.

 

[SunRiseArts]

I would not use food dye in soap..... was it the wilton type paste? I specially would not use the water based.