dixiedragon
Well-Known Member
How do you HP experts do it? I have found it difficult to blend in color after the cook. So I add my color to my oils. This of course means no swirls! :cry:
HP - adding color after cook?
- Thread starter dixiedragon
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If I'm doing a solid color, I just add it up front to the oils. If I want a swirl of color, after the cook I keep the soap in the pot and do an ITP by adding a few drops of color to different sections of the pot, and stirring each section with a spoon. Then I use a spatula and gently stir the entire pot clockwise two or three times. Here's a photo of an HP one-color swirl I did recently. The color is nettle leaf powder and the soap is fragranced with Spearmint and Lime EOs:
I always ended up adding mine in with the scent and any superfat after the cook, but then I didn't actually colour my soap very often
I only do a few HP because I cant get to creative, due to the HP process. I find it very limiting. I even tried cooking two pots at the same time:???:
I must be one of the lucky ones... I can, if I don't dilly-dally, do a 3 color itp swirl by taking out the batter I'd like colored, color it, put it back in in 3 different places, then stir it to swirl, and into the mold...if that makes any sense...lol...I seldom take pics as I go, but here's one...it's honeysuckle and berries scent.
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Very pretty! Looks like you know how to not overcook the soap so that its not too dry to work with.
I don't HP very often, but when I do, I use the following coloring technique that I learned from a fellow soaper named Brenda back in 2006 or so:
For a 2-color swirl, I put a cardboard divider wrapped in freezer paper (that I sized beforehand to fit snugly in my soaping pot) down the center of my pot to divide the cooked batter into 2 separate halves. Then I add a different colorant to each half, stirring well to combine thoroughly.
When done mixing the colorants in, I remove the divider and stir the different colored batters around with a spatula to get a good swirly look.
This method helps to eliminate the drying and hardening problems I use to experience when taking portions of my batter out of the pot to color individually before putting them back in the pot.
I've never done more than a 2-color swirl in HP, but If I remember rightly, Brenda used to do 3 or 4 colored swirls by adding extra dividers.
IrishLass
For a 2-color swirl, I put a cardboard divider wrapped in freezer paper (that I sized beforehand to fit snugly in my soaping pot) down the center of my pot to divide the cooked batter into 2 separate halves. Then I add a different colorant to each half, stirring well to combine thoroughly.
When done mixing the colorants in, I remove the divider and stir the different colored batters around with a spatula to get a good swirly look.
This method helps to eliminate the drying and hardening problems I use to experience when taking portions of my batter out of the pot to color individually before putting them back in the pot.
I've never done more than a 2-color swirl in HP, but If I remember rightly, Brenda used to do 3 or 4 colored swirls by adding extra dividers.
IrishLass
Thanks I try. I get zapped a lot along the way...lol...I'm kind of impatient, so I test too early about half the time.
I try. I get zapped a lot along the way...lol...I'm kind of impatient, so I test too early about half the time.
