Blue or coloured EO experience, please

[JoeyJ]

Well, my ultramarine blue was mixered by my junior apprentice into other mixering stuff.
I had very carefully dehydrated (only took a week!) and powdered some watermelon, and was steeping it in castor oil...
To that was added half of the powder I had left, and the remaining powder in the jar smelt very strongly of blue cypress oil...
The day before he'd appeared with the blue cypress saying he was shaving, and I was wondering what the blue was on his chin, but was rushing to another engagement...
Next day, I discovered it all
My fault anyway, my "young shaver" had destroyed my 'hard won' watermelon experiment, and I was left wondering what method to use to get back some blue!

Some of the very deep blue was mixed with water, so I put the lye into that ... it absolutely stunk, and went clear...

The rest of the blue I could salvage went in the soap...but it just went a dirty grey-blue, and a few pieces of powdered watermelon got in with it as well.

The bar was way overscented, and the pieces of watermelon crumb went brown...

So when I can associate blue cypress oil with a more pleasurable result...I'll post the results!!

 

[szaza]

Oh no, that's too bad.. I'm sorry you didn't get blue soap even with the addition of ultramarine.

 

[Vicki C]

Ultramarine blue used to be made from lapis lazuli, but I think most of it now is nature identical from a lab (at least that's what I found when I read up on ultramarines)
@Zany_in_CO you seem to imply that adding crayons to soap is a natural way to color soap. Powdered pigments can be many different things and though some are considered natural, many aren't. According to wikipedia the pigment Cerulean blue was discovered in 1789 by the Swiss chemist Albrecht Höpfner. Chances are the pigment in your blue crayon aren't from any kind of natural or even nature identical origin. As far as I'm aware, paraffin wax also isn't considered natural by most soapmakers.
I'm not saying you shouldn't use crayons in your soap, I think it's a fun idea. I just don't think there's any basis for calling it a natural way to color soap if that's indeed what you were implying.

Lastly, @JoeyJ what kind of white clay are you using? Bentonite is the one that's often cited as a fixative. I can't easily get it where I am and I've tried (green) kaolin instead which didn't help to fixate my EO's at all. Just to say.. not all clay is equal

I haven’t tried using crayons as colorants but this thread got me wondering if there are paraffin free crayons, and there are - both soy based and beeswax based. Might be fun to experiment with some of these. 7 Best Non-Toxic Crayons That Won’t Harm Your Toddler - Raising Them

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I haven’t tried using crayons as colorants but this thread got me wondering if there are paraffin free crayons, and there are - both soy based and beeswax based. Might be fun to experiment with some of these. 7 Best Non-Toxic Crayons That Won’t Harm Your Toddler - Raising Them

Hi Vicki, This is an old thread. Look at the date above your avatar and then at the date of the previous post. This thread is about using an essential oil to color soap blue. You make a good point but I think you would get more responses if you post it on the thread where we discuss crayons as colorants. Here's the link:

Crayolas to color CP/HP soap
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/crayolas-to-color-cp-hp-soap.74017/

 

[Vicki C]

Hi Vicki, This is an old thread. Look at the date above your avatar and then at the date of the previous post. This thread is about using an essential oil to color soap blue. You make a good point but I think you would get more responses if you post it on the thread where we discuss crayons as colorants. Here's the link:

Crayolas to color CP/HP soap
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/crayolas-to-color-cp-hp-soap.74017/

Ha, thank you! Me, wandering in the wilderness.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Just ran across this while searching for something else. The description says they can be infused in oil, but doesn't mention whether it can make soap blue. Curious.

BLUE CORNFLOWER PETALS

 

[earlene]

It will color yarn and cotton, but I don't know about soap. My guess is the lye would be too alkaline for the color to to survive, even though Bachelor Buttons/Cornflowers like an alkaline soil to grow.

 

[marehare]

Wauwsers, that's a very blue EO! Really cool

I only have experience with orange/yellow/brown/tan discoloration from essential oils, which seems to be relatively predictable. The resulting soap generally turns out a bit lighter than the pure EO.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a (pale) blue soap out of your fancy blue cypress EO. I think I remember reading about someone who used blue chamomile EO to make blue soap, but I can't remember the details.

According to my experience with blood Orange, the color may or may not fade when the scent fades (once it did, once it didn't and I don't know why), Fortunately, woody EO's generally stick pretty well, so I wouldn't be too worried about short term fading (fir and cedar stick for +-1 year in my soaps)

Hope this helps a bit.. sorry I don't have any real experience with your EO.

You can add orris root powder to your soap and it fixes the scent of your EO so it doesn't fade. My pink grapefruit soap I made last year still smells as fresh as it did when I made it and normally citrus scents are the first to lose their scents. Add it to your EO before you heat it and then to add to your oils/lye mixture.

 

[szaza]

You can add orris root powder to your soap and it fixes the scent of your EO so it doesn't fade. My pink grapefruit soap I made last year still smells as fresh as it did when I made it and normally citrus scents are the first to lose their scents. Add it to your EO before you heat it and then to add to your oils/lye mixture.

Thanks for the tip! I'll keep it in mind if I want to experiment with fixatives again