Using Clay for Colorant

[Pug Mom]

How do you use clay for colorant. I have seen some fabulous pictures of people that have used clay, the pinks are incredible. I saw that BB sells clay, how do you use it in CP soap, and does the color morph to something else?

 

[fiddletree]

The colors stay pretty true to how they started, unless they have something in them that is not CP stable. I add 1 tsp PPO, to the lye water if I am making a one color soap, or make a slurry with a little bit of water and add to lightly traced soap if I want to swirl or layer.

 

[Pug Mom]

I will have to order some!!!

 

[IrishLass]

Ditto what fiddletree said.

Rose clay is my go-to pink color. It's far, far superior to UM Pink, which always turns to a light lavender in my soap, and I can use a lot less of the clay in comparison to get the pink I desire. I use 1 tsp ppo of the clay. You can also add a little TD to it to get a really nice pastel shade of baby pink.


IrishLass

 

[Pug Mom]

Now I am so excited to try it! Does it add anything else to the soap? I have a Plumeria FO that I want to make with a pink swirl, so maybe I will wait until I get the clay?

 

[IrishLass]

Clay adds a nice 'slip' to the lather, which makes it quite lovely for shaving. Also- as I recently found out- it can act as an anchor to your scents so that they last longer in your soap.


IrishLass

 

[fiddletree]

In theory it does something nice to the lather, but I can't really tell the difference. However, for a soapmaker, I am dreadful at telling the difference between most soaps in terms of lather! Castile is pretty obvious with it's snot-lather, and goats milk is pretty obvious with what it adds, but everything else is the same to me. I suppose it could also be purifying or detoxifying or whatever what I am of the school of thought where I don't really believe soap does anything other than clean.