Yesterday I did the same with paprika infusion as I did with tumeric a few days earlier and got some weird results. I added my process for those who are interested, but marked it in italic, so it's easy to skip over.
I basically have 2 questions: is it possible for a colorless EO blend to affect the color of a soap?
Is it possible a soap gels different within a small layer of a layered soap?
Here's the process
I made some batter with 75% paprika infusion (in HO sunflower, other 25% CO) and some plain white batter with the same recipe, poured out 1/3rd of the colored batter, added white to make up the difference etc. to get layers of +-75-50-33-22-15-10% infusion. I attempted to do a straight line design by adding an accelerating fragrance (an EO blend called Highbrow with 15% clove) right before pouring.
Here's what the batter looked like:
75% in the mold, 50% in the small cup ready to be poured, 33% in the jug and white batter ready to refill the colored jug after pouring.
Halfway through pouring the second layer in the mold, I realized I'd forgotten to add my accelerating scent, so I added it to the remainder of the pour, which got me a weird effect. I also popped the mold into the oven which helped speed up things tremendously.
My loaf mold was left in the oven to gel and it looks like it gelled completely (except the weird color separation within the layers)
I had some leftover batter that I used for confetti soap and didn't gel.
Here's what it looks like cut:
As you can see, there's a divide in the 2nd layer from the bottom, where the unscented batter was squished by the scented batter that looks like a yolk. Weird enough, the unscented batter looks like it has more reddish tones (though some of it looks almost uncolored) I'm wondering if a pretty much colorless EO blend (clove, peppermint, eucalyptus, cedar) could have affected the color or if some weird gelling process happened.
I made soap with paprika twice before, once I got pink (unscented, spent time in oven, but not sure if it gelled, lots of hard oils/butters) and the other time I got bright orange (EO scented and gelled, lots of soft oils)
The upper layers that were made while speeding up things in the oven all seem to be darker/pinkish on the bottom. I'm wondering if maybe I didn't blend my eo in the batter properly before pouring (I think I did..) or if gel really went funky on me.
This is the top of the soap compared to an ungelled soap (both were poured with +-10% paprika infusion)
The gelled soap is intenser in color and seems to have more reddish/pinkish tones (it looks a bit more peachy/pink irl than on my screen)
In any case, the difference in color within the layers makes it difficult to distinguish whether a higher percentage of infusion in the batter gives a more intense color.
75% is a dark reddish orange that really sets itself apart, 50% (the part with eo) is tho color of orange juice, 33% seems to distinguish itself a little still, but 22%, 15% and 10% all seem to be a pretty similar peachy color.
So, based on this I guess with paprika infusion you'd need a very high percentage for a very intense color, but for a soft peach, 10% is just about as good as 20% and gel helps to make colors more intense. Does anyone have similar or very different experiences with paprika infusion?
I basically have 2 questions: is it possible for a colorless EO blend to affect the color of a soap?
Is it possible a soap gels different within a small layer of a layered soap?
Here's the process
I made some batter with 75% paprika infusion (in HO sunflower, other 25% CO) and some plain white batter with the same recipe, poured out 1/3rd of the colored batter, added white to make up the difference etc. to get layers of +-75-50-33-22-15-10% infusion. I attempted to do a straight line design by adding an accelerating fragrance (an EO blend called Highbrow with 15% clove) right before pouring.
Here's what the batter looked like:
75% in the mold, 50% in the small cup ready to be poured, 33% in the jug and white batter ready to refill the colored jug after pouring.
Halfway through pouring the second layer in the mold, I realized I'd forgotten to add my accelerating scent, so I added it to the remainder of the pour, which got me a weird effect. I also popped the mold into the oven which helped speed up things tremendously.
My loaf mold was left in the oven to gel and it looks like it gelled completely (except the weird color separation within the layers)
I had some leftover batter that I used for confetti soap and didn't gel.
Here's what it looks like cut:
As you can see, there's a divide in the 2nd layer from the bottom, where the unscented batter was squished by the scented batter that looks like a yolk. Weird enough, the unscented batter looks like it has more reddish tones (though some of it looks almost uncolored) I'm wondering if a pretty much colorless EO blend (clove, peppermint, eucalyptus, cedar) could have affected the color or if some weird gelling process happened.
I made soap with paprika twice before, once I got pink (unscented, spent time in oven, but not sure if it gelled, lots of hard oils/butters) and the other time I got bright orange (EO scented and gelled, lots of soft oils)
The upper layers that were made while speeding up things in the oven all seem to be darker/pinkish on the bottom. I'm wondering if maybe I didn't blend my eo in the batter properly before pouring (I think I did..) or if gel really went funky on me.
This is the top of the soap compared to an ungelled soap (both were poured with +-10% paprika infusion)
The gelled soap is intenser in color and seems to have more reddish/pinkish tones (it looks a bit more peachy/pink irl than on my screen)
In any case, the difference in color within the layers makes it difficult to distinguish whether a higher percentage of infusion in the batter gives a more intense color.
75% is a dark reddish orange that really sets itself apart, 50% (the part with eo) is tho color of orange juice, 33% seems to distinguish itself a little still, but 22%, 15% and 10% all seem to be a pretty similar peachy color.
So, based on this I guess with paprika infusion you'd need a very high percentage for a very intense color, but for a soft peach, 10% is just about as good as 20% and gel helps to make colors more intense. Does anyone have similar or very different experiences with paprika infusion?
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