Question on tecnique.. Might be sily

[isha]

Hi all

I ve got a very silly question in mind.... For those who use a lot of tecniques...n patterns .

How do u keep the batter in pourable state.
Lets see u do a geometrical pattern where u need to pour 1 color. Let it set a bit n do the next.. N so on.

During this wait time. How do u make sure the batter behaves or stays pourable..

While i piped last night. My mistake i added FO before the colours n the batter thicked up while i was mixing one after the other..also the main batch thickened

I did give it a good mix before i pour but it was too thick n i had to scrape it off to get them in mould..

So what do u do..
Step 1 mix coloura 1st at very thin trace...
Step 2 add fragrance to colors or leave it??

While u pour one colour .. How to make sure the other ia still fluid??

 

[shunt2011]

Not a silly question but the answer is practice and the recipe you use. High lard recipes tend to allow lots of working time. High liquid oils also. Palm can make it move a bit faster. Also, only blending until emulsification and stirring in my colorants/fragrances with maybe 1-2 short blasts with the stick blender. If doing multiple colors, I'll generally split the batter and then color. I'll add my fragrance by stirring in just before pouring. The right temperature can play a part too.

 

[dixiedragon]

I agree with shunt. another factor is, what sort of colors are you using? I've found that mixing the colors before hand into a little oil, water or glycerin is very helpful! You want your color totally blended and smooth - no lumps - so you can minimize the amount of stirring you have to do.

CAn you show us a pic of what you have in mind? Some soap designs are done with multiple pours.

 

[isha]

The piping i tried yesterday was with coconut oil. Palm ,rice bran castor, n shea

I soaped at room temp. N had mixed colors with little gylerine before adding to batter..

I used dual lye. Full water.
I found the temo to rise a little when at emulsion..

I also notices that the colors were not as vibrant as they should be..
My rice bran is dark coloured. May be tats the culprit..
Is there any way to keep the colours vibrant without changing the oils??
Im asking this question because i want to try piping again.

With this one ,my original idea was to have a dark brown sand with black stones.. Which i wanted to pipe after i poured tge brown base. But the batter got so thick .. I ended up poking a hole with the skewer and piped the black. As much as i could.

Also the original. Colors very bright n selected them to have contrastm but when in batter it turned dull.
Appreciate ur help

I agree with shunt. another factor is, what sort of colors are you using? I've found that mixing the colors before hand into a little oil, water or glycerin is very helpful! You want your color totally blended and smooth - no lumps - so you can minimize the amount of stirring you have to do.

CAn you show us a pic of what you have in mind? Some soap designs are done with multiple pours.

Oh im using mica n also have some noen pigments

 

[cmzaha]

Also cutting back castor oil to 2-3% will help if you use castor. It really is amazing what difference it can make when we usually think anything under 5% makes no noticable difference, but I have tested different percentages of castor in my slow trace recipe. I pretty much do the same as above^^^

 

[In My Soap Pot]

Adding to what everyone else has already suggested: use slow moving oils (I love using a Castile recipe for colour work), don’t use a water discount, soap at cool temperature, and check your fragrance doesn’t accelerate.

And work fast! Have everything prepared and ready!

 

[earlene]

I really like RBO also, but I have noticed that it subdues colors a lot. Even with TD, I can't seem to get a true white when I use RBO in the mix. I have just accepted that is what I get when I soap with RBO.

Even with very obvious gel, the colors that normally can be quite vibrant are very much subdued in my recipes with RBO.

But the ones in your photo look quite vibrant to me, at least on this screen. What is the percentage of RBO?

Here is an example of my colors with 32% RBO in this soap I made last June:

The micas used are normally (without RBO) much more vibrant in intensity, especially the purple and the TD is usually much whiter. At least the teal and coral orange came out bright. But the bodacious blue neon doesn't even resemble the intense color in another soap without RBO.

This recipe also included 5% shea, which is another non-white oil. The rest was OO & CO, which alone would have produced much brighter colors. I am not sure how low the percentage of RBO needs to be to change the soap batter enough to produce a white white with TD and get the vibrant colors back again, as I have not experimented to figure that out. It might be worth my while to spend a little time doing some test batches to see what the sweet spot is for RBO and color true-ness and intensity.

 

[dixiedragon]

Gelling can help your colors be more vibrant. But if you gel your piping will probably go flat. In order to have black stones, I would do a separate batch and add them as imbeds, to keep them a firm stone shape and so the black won't bleed or feather into the other colors. I assume the design you are going for is a garden with layers of soil? I am wondering if you might do better to have a layer that has a bunch of small black bits in it vs 1 or 2 large black stones.

 

[isha]

I really like RBO also, but I have noticed that it subdues colors a lot. Even with TD, I can't seem to get a true white when I use RBO in the mix. I have just accepted that is what I get when I soap with RBO.

Even with very obvious gel, the colors that normally can be quite vibrant are very much subdued in my recipes with RBO.

But the ones in your photo look quite vibrant to me, at least on this screen. What is the percentage of RBO?

Here is an example of my colors with 32% RBO in this soap I made last June:

The micas used are normally (without RBO) much more vibrant in intensity, especially the purple and the TD is usually much whiter. At least the teal and coral orange came out bright. But the bodacious blue neon doesn't even resemble the intense color in another soap without RBO.

This recipe also included 5% shea, which is another non-white oil. The rest was OO & CO, which alone would have produced much brighter colors. I am not sure how low the percentage of RBO needs to be to change the soap batter enough to produce a white white with TD and get the vibrant colors back again, as I have not experimented to figure that out. It might be worth my while to spend a little time doing some test batches to see what the sweet spot is for RBO and color true-ness and intensity.

My reciepe had 30% RBO as i was making only 100 gms of piping with so many colours. I used 1/4 tsp. But they didnt look very good or didnt look enuf. So i dusted a little more... The rose was suppose to be dark pink to magenta ... N came out as a sad tomato reddish orange..
The purple was a beautiful lavender colour n this is what i got

 

[isha]

Gelling can help your colors be more vibrant. But if you gel your piping will probably go flat. In order to have black stones, I would do a separate batch and add them as imbeds, to keep them a firm stone shape and so the black won't bleed or feather into the other colors. I assume the design you are going for is a garden with layers of soil? I am wondering if you might do better to have a layer that has a bunch of small black bits in it vs 1 or 2 large black stones.

Tat was the idea but my bade got hard.. N i cudnt stick the piping bag. Infact with a little pressure it busted open from sides.
So i had to remake the piping bag n had very little patience left so made some holes n filled with black

 

[In My Soap Pot]

Another trick to brighten your colours is to add a little titanium dioxide to it. I did it with my Jack Frost soap because I wanted the blue to be a pale blue and still be bright. And the blueberry soap needed it because the blue was full otherwise.

 

[dixiedragon]

InMySoapPot - cute labels!

Isha - where are you getting your colors?

 

[isha]

I got from china. Aliexpress

 

[shunt2011]

I got from china. Aliexpress

That could be a problem. Unless you know what's in them they may or may not be soap stable.

 

[isha]

That could be a problem. Unless you know what's in them they may or may not be soap stable.

Oh... Okay.. Mica is not available here.. Ive lots of local resellers. I guess they also buy from there.. Ill have a chexk n try another source

 

[In My Soap Pot]

Oh... Okay.. Mica is not available here.. Ive lots of local resellers. I guess they also buy from there.. Ill have a chexk n try another source

You can still use the micas from AliExpress, just test them in soap first, so you know what to expect.

(There is the issue of not knowing what they used to dye the micas with though)

 

[dixiedragon]

I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to contact some soap suppliers and ask if they can recommend somebody in India? It's a long shot, but I imagine that the soap supply world is pretty small.

 

[In My Soap Pot]

InMySoapPot - cute labels!

Thanks! <3