choosing colorants

[Guest]

Andrew...the boy...had THE biggest box of crayola's I'd ever seen!

*MY* box of Crayolas is pretty big!

I've got every color Prismacolor pencil!!! All of 'em!

Seriously I got the SS basic 8 set all 8 oz sizes. It looked like a good system. I'm sure I'll be using it, in fact used it today on my Avocado #2 soap.

 

[digit]

Andrew...the boy...had THE biggest box of crayola's I'd ever seen! I was so envious and excited when he let me use some of HIS colors!!! I finally did get my own box....after alot of whining and promises of being good and all that LOL. Too funny!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

I hope they work well for you.

LOL. I only played with the boy next door because he had an electric train, thousands of crayons & markers, and a cool Hot Wheels track. Paid for it........he gave me my first black eye. :shock:

Digit

 

[Annmarie0407]

All Natural Pigments

I am a new CP soapmaker. I am looking for colors for my soaps that are all natural(not synthetic...no FD&C Colors).....any suggestions?

 

[cdwinsby]

Annemarie,

There are lots of natural ingredients you can use to add color to your soaps. Many you will already have.

Here is a link to a couple of pages I made that list many natural ingredients that you can use and how to use them.

http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/herbal-natural-soap-ingredients.html
http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/mineral-soap-ingredients.html

Some companies also have premade natural colors.

http://www.emporiumnaturals.com/ind...ath=22&zenid=656a5a326379f3b0a66f18e41d4258e5
http://cranberrylane.stores.yahoo.net/natsoapcol.html

 

[brian0523]

I can help you part way. I just bought Select Shades from Tradewinds, got it this previous week, and everything was in order. Tradewinds sent appropriate emails acknowledging my order and telling me when my order was shipped. The tracking wasn't in the email but was available from my account at the site. The package was delivered on the expected day by UPS, and the contents were packed appropriately. The only thing Tradewinds could have done better would be to put the tracking in the email for my convenience, but the rest of the service was absolutely perfect. I too had read the negative posts about Tradewinds but my experience contradicts the bad reports.

I've only used Select Shades twice but they appear to be okay. The liquids are nice because they are easy to mix with soap batter without the problem specks you can get with powders. The color gamut is limited, and for example you won't be able to make blue. Or brown. Visit SelectShades.com and look at the selection charts and if you like the colors then you might like the colorants. Be warned that a lot of their colors are just light, bit darker, more darker and darkest. They give the impression of being more colors than there really are. All in all I think Select Shades will be useful to me but will not be a "solves every problem" solution.

You should add another choice to your list: TKB Trading and their powdered pigments. Look at the pop and lake colors. If you're interested then order a sample kit or kits. The colors come out nice--I've used apple green and yellow to good effect although I've done some oranges that got specky due to my insufficient mixing. I think next time I'll hold back a teaspoon of base oil and mix the powder with that before glopping some of my batch into it for mixing and returning to the pot.

I think you should order at least two colorant options, maybe three, and possibly all four. You'll probably get at least some use from any set and more options are always better than fewer options. Oh and check out the powders at WSP too. I'm gonna order some of them tomorrow myself.

I would agree with everything Lovehound said about Tradewinds.

I'm still holding back on my opinion of the product however. I don't like the way they formulate each color, so that you have to use a certain tsp per pound. Makes getting accurate color in anything less than a pound of soap very hit-or-miss.