Coloring with herbs/plants - use powdered, infuse into oil or are there other ways?

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RogueRose

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I've been looking for ways to use various plants to color and I'm going to try parsley powder as that is the only thing available at the moment. Is the powder added directly to the batter or is it infused into the oil before adding the lye?

Also could fresh parsley be used somehow?
 
Rose I recently used parsley to color a batch and what I did was I used the dried parsley I had on hand, ground it in the coffee grinder to get it as fine as possible, then added it to a small amount of batter to get it incorporated thoroughly before adding that all to the bigger bowl I wanted colored. It came out really nice I think. I does have a very finely speckled look to the green, but I like it. I'm doing the same as you, learning about natural colorants, so I hope that helps.
As a side note, I want to make tester bars for all the natural colorants I have, using my base recipe, to allow me to see how each one come out using the different incorporation methods. I'm plotting out the plan so I can do it over the course of the next month. I'll use really small batches, split them and color each differently.

I don't know if this would work for you, but I think it will help me to have a photo reference for future use.

HTH :)
 
I love the color but it can be a bit of a pain to work with. It soaks up a lot of water and gets very lumpy so prepare it ahead of time. I have spirulina from two different sources and they are different colors, one is more of a bright green while the other makes more of a moss green. In powdered form one is bluish green while the other is just green, the bluish one makes the prettier bright green.

Oh, and it stinks while mixing but the scent doesn't carry over into the soap.
 
Wheatgrass powder is a very pretty green! Just add it at trace or to warm oils.

Check out Soap-making-resource.com for lots of info and tutorials on natural colorants

I use beet root powder it makes it like a brownish red be sure to sift the powder first and it will sink if not mixed well enough . Orange peel = light orange .
 
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It depends on which plant powder I'm working with. I add most at very light trace and stick blend. I've found that pre hydrating them can create a gloppy mess as they expand and absorb the water. However, I've found that it often works best for me to add my powders (indigo for example) to my lye water. It creates a more intense color in my experience. As long as it's thoroughly blended you shouldn't have a problem.
 
There are several colored clays that you can use, I know that BB has several, but I've seen them on other sites in various colors from beige to black.
Australian clay seem to be particularly vivid and varied, but for the most part I've found the colors are typically softer, more muted as you would expect clay to be.
Flowers unfortunately, as a rule, turn brown in soap, much as they do in a vase, so I would not rely on them for any kind of coloration. There may be exceptions to the rule, but I'm not well versed enough to say which these would be.
 
There are several colored clays that you can use, I know that BB has several, but I've seen them on other sites in various colors from beige to black.
Australian clay seem to be particularly vivid and varied, but for the most part I've found the colors are typically softer, more muted as you would expect clay to be.
Flowers unfortunately, as a rule, turn brown in soap, much as they do in a vase, so I would not rely on them for any kind of coloration. There may be exceptions to the rule, but I'm not well versed enough to say which these would be.

I got some backyard Rose pedals and put them into a small container of water. The Rose was a pink color. It colored the water a light pink, and it give off its scent too. So now I will do an oil and see what happens. The color is faint in the water, but I used only one small flower and like...2 oz of water.
 
you can dry out dandelion leaves and grind them to a powder and use them as a green colorant. It's not super smooth once they are in soap but it's pretty.
 
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