tried rhubarb? in cp soaps
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surf girl
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I haven't used it, but have heard of doing so. I believe what was used was rhubarb root (stem?) powder. Can't recall if it was used directly or infused in oil. Gave some shade of red.
Wow, Rhubarb already?!? I guess NH is pretty far north though... ours isn't thick enough yet.
I have never soaped with rhubarb, sounds lovely though. *Now I must try* The stalks are deep red on some varieties. It can be quite stringy and sometimes woody if harvested late in the season. Perhaps straining would be in order? You could also stew some rhubarb and use that as an additive, it is a lovely pink color... **** good to eat too!
I have never soaped with rhubarb, sounds lovely though. *Now I must try* The stalks are deep red on some varieties. It can be quite stringy and sometimes woody if harvested late in the season. Perhaps straining would be in order? You could also stew some rhubarb and use that as an additive, it is a lovely pink color... **** good to eat too!
straining definately in order.....i don't know how this is going to work. the rhubarb is definately looking less red, but i don't know if the oil is looking more red....its kind of looking a muddy yellow right now. sigh. oh well, i'll let it sit a few hours and i don't know if i'll decide to use it or not....
OK here's the scoop
i realized that the FRESH rhubarb i was using would not be soluble in oil....because it is mostly water anyway (and an hour of soaking in warm olive oil was only making the olive oil look cloudy and yucky, but not with any additional coloring).
so i heated up some plain water and am brewing the finely minced rhubarb like a tea.....and almost immediately i'm seeing a pink color to the water...yeah!! so i think the conclusion to draw is that when you want to use fresh herbs or fruits or whatever they need to be infused into water. dried pigments, powders, seeds or whatever probably do better in oil..but i guess you just need to test first...
i realized that the FRESH rhubarb i was using would not be soluble in oil....because it is mostly water anyway (and an hour of soaking in warm olive oil was only making the olive oil look cloudy and yucky, but not with any additional coloring).
so i heated up some plain water and am brewing the finely minced rhubarb like a tea.....and almost immediately i'm seeing a pink color to the water...yeah!! so i think the conclusion to draw is that when you want to use fresh herbs or fruits or whatever they need to be infused into water. dried pigments, powders, seeds or whatever probably do better in oil..but i guess you just need to test first...
AK_Homesteaders
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Many fresh herbs do very well in oils. Just depends. I can see how rhubarb stems wouldn't do so well in the oils, though. They're very watery. Do you have any glycerin. That would probably work better than trying to infuse rhubarb stems in oil, wouldn't it? Maybe use it to make a pretty pink swirl? Hmmm. Dont' know if that would work or not.
When you finish, please post what you did, along with pictures!
Jenny
When you finish, please post what you did, along with pictures!
Jenny
G
Guest
I am very curious as to how this turns out .What a great experiment..
Kitn
Kitn
well, i made the rhubarb soap but it won't be soap until tomorrow 8 pmish.
i'm not sure how the color will end up though.....before i added the rhubarb water to the lye it was a beautiful pink color. i had to dilute the pink water somewhat as i didn't have enough. the minute the lye hit the water everything turned a terrible black/brown color. but then as i stirred, it seemed to lighten up a bit to be a kind of orange tan....
i used a recipe w/ coconut oil, sweet almond oil, shea butter, palm oil, jojoba oil and inplace of avocado oil i used olive oil as i didn't have any avocado oil. at trace i threw in a handful of some very nice dried lavender i had gotten and an ounce of lavender essential oil. (i ran the recipe thru a lye calculator (1st time to do this!!) and i think it's ok....it's a 8% superfatted soap....which i guess is ok.....it may take longer to gel because of this?)
the color looked to be more of a greyish lavendar rather than any kind of pink.....i guess i'm not suprised as i wouldn't think very many substances would survive the lye monster. i can't wait until it's soap....i may have to peak.....
:shock: gulp....i looked and it's been a bit shy of 4 hours post pour and the color is a very dark brownish....and it's very gel like, not hard at all.....i don't think i've ever peaked this early before, so is this normal....i don't know.....i hope so....i hope it works....would hate for it not to. i followed the recipe exactly except for the substitution of olive for avacado oil.....i'm not sure how that will effect things. guess i'll see tomorrow...fingers crossed...will post pix if there is anything to take a picture of.......
i'm not sure how the color will end up though.....before i added the rhubarb water to the lye it was a beautiful pink color. i had to dilute the pink water somewhat as i didn't have enough. the minute the lye hit the water everything turned a terrible black/brown color. but then as i stirred, it seemed to lighten up a bit to be a kind of orange tan....
i used a recipe w/ coconut oil, sweet almond oil, shea butter, palm oil, jojoba oil and inplace of avocado oil i used olive oil as i didn't have any avocado oil. at trace i threw in a handful of some very nice dried lavender i had gotten and an ounce of lavender essential oil. (i ran the recipe thru a lye calculator (1st time to do this!!) and i think it's ok....it's a 8% superfatted soap....which i guess is ok.....it may take longer to gel because of this?)
the color looked to be more of a greyish lavendar rather than any kind of pink.....i guess i'm not suprised as i wouldn't think very many substances would survive the lye monster. i can't wait until it's soap....i may have to peak.....
:shock: gulp....i looked and it's been a bit shy of 4 hours post pour and the color is a very dark brownish....and it's very gel like, not hard at all.....i don't think i've ever peaked this early before, so is this normal....i don't know.....i hope so....i hope it works....would hate for it not to. i followed the recipe exactly except for the substitution of olive for avacado oil.....i'm not sure how that will effect things. guess i'll see tomorrow...fingers crossed...will post pix if there is anything to take a picture of.......
