Mica causing separation?

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Stacyspy

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I'm so confused.
I was so excited to start fall soaps. I thought I'd start with the apple scents. I wasn't planning anything fancy, mostly drop swirls. Started with WSP's Hot Apple Pie, with Nurture's Satin Gold for the base color, and Wine Red for the swirl. Added scent, base was fine, red separated instantly, looking grainy. Stick blended into submission... I thought. Poured, and everything looked ok. Went back an hour later to check, and there were little rivers of oil with grainy looking red mica....sigh. And me, being me figured I screwed up somewhere. Tried again, Red Wine mica, Bronze Brown mica for the base, and WSP's Spiked Cider. Same thing...base color was fine, but no go with the red. Got irritated, stopped before I wasted any more stuff...
Any ideas? Helpful hints?
Recipe was just a basic lard, OO, CO.
Thanks all :)
 
I have had another red mica (Colorona Bordeaux from TKB) do the same, particularly if I used enough to get the color deep. I don't know what is in it that causes that, but the rest of the bar would be fine, except the red. It would sometimes also be softer than the rest of the bar. I learned to use it only for a very small portion of a soap.
 
Well, crud. Back to the drawing board...lol... I used it in about a third of my batter, a new plan must be thought up. Thanks!


I have had another red mica (Colorona Bordeaux from TKB) do the same, particularly if I used enough to get the color deep. I don't know what is in it that causes that, but the rest of the bar would be fine, except the red. It would sometimes also be softer than the rest of the bar. I learned to use it only for a very small portion of a soap.
 
Have you used that FO before? Spicey FOs are notoriously ill behaved.

Have you tried mixing your mica with glycerin? I've just recently started with that and I've found it works better than using water.
 
No, I haven't used either of them before. I read a lot of reviews, and no one mentioned any misbehaving. I did mix my micas with glycerin, I almost always do. At first, I thought it was the FO, and after a second mess with a different FO, I assumed it wasn't.


Have you used that FO before? Spicey FOs are notoriously ill behaved.

Have you tried mixing your mica with glycerin? I've just recently started with that and I've found it works better than using water.
 
I would assume if the FO were the culprit, all the batter would be misbehaving, not just the red. Have you tried Nurture's Really Red? You can deepen it with a touch of black to get a darker red and it behaves well.
 

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