Rebatching soap - colour

[beardguy]

Very simple question (I searched but could not find a specific answer). I made a few batches of soap early on that didn't turn out all that great appearance wise (huge drag marks, mica clumps, etc.). They all have micas and they all are of a different colour.

I want to rebatch the most offending bars and I was wondering if I could just melt them with some water, add activated charcoal suspensed in glycerin and expect the soap to turn black ?

 

[dixiedragon]

The quantity of black color you need to get BLACK soap (as opposed to grey soap) is enough to make grey lather and leave marks on a washcloth. I'm not sure if the charcoal will actually stain. I think with a bunch of different colors you are going to end up with brown unless you add a lot of black. What I do when I rebatch a bunch of scraps is to add coffee grounds and/or spices to give it an interested, speckled look and texture to break up the brownness.

 

[earlene]

Beardguy, you could try a variation on that theme where part of the soap is black and you cut up the different colored soaps into tiny bits and incorporate them into the new batter. Your soap ends up looking like granite or old fashioned linoleum tiles. The total soap is has less AC, so the lather isn't as dark as if you add it to all the soap. AC doesn't seem to stain, in my experience, but I stick with cotton linens so I can't be sure how it acts with synthetics.

Here is an example of soap I did that way:

And/or you could do some other color rebatches where you follow this theme with or without adding black. In the one below I added different colors to separated new batter, then mixed in the soap confetti & then layered them.

 

[beardguy]

The quantity of black color you need to get BLACK soap (as opposed to grey soap) is enough to make grey lather and leave marks on a washcloth. I'm not sure if the charcoal will actually stain. I think with a bunch of different colors you are going to end up with brown unless you add a lot of black. What I do when I rebatch a bunch of scraps is to add coffee grounds and/or spices to give it an interested, speckled look and texture to break up the brownness.

I don't use a washcloth in the shower, but I don't want to stain my face black either :mrgreen:

 

[beardguy]

Beardguy, you could try a variation on that theme where part of the soap is black and you cut up the different colored soaps into tiny bits and incorporate them into the new batter. Your soap ends up looking like granite or old fashioned linoleum tiles. The total soap is has less AC, so the lather isn't as dark as if you add it to all the soap. AC doesn't seem to stain, in my experience, but I stick with cotton linens so I can't be sure how it acts with synthetics.

Here is an example of soap I did that way:

And/or you could do some other color rebatches where you follow this theme with or without adding black. In the one below I added different colors to separated new batter, then mixed in the soap confetti & then layered them.

With this approach, you just grate/chop up the old soap and you add it to the new soap right ? You don't melt it, you just add it before the pour ?

 

[earlene]

You do want to get it wet and thoroughly incorporate it so as to prevent air pockets. You can do it in a bowl after you make the new soap. Or you can add it to a crockpot and heat them together. Either way works.

 

[beardguy]

Understood, thanks for the advice.

 

[dixiedragon]

We call that confetti soap. It is helpful to gel so the old soap will melt a bit and bond with the new soap.

 

[Seawolfe]

Embeds or confetti is a lot easier than rebatching and I really like the look. I just rinse or dip the soap bits briefly to wet them before mixing in with the batter. I think you don't want any more than 1/3 of the new soap to the old soap.