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jwitte

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and I see that they add oil to mix with colorant and titanium dioxide. Is this just xtra oil or does it all have to mix with the lye and be calculated?
 
I take a little from my total oils before I add the lye. That way I don't risk throwing off the calculations.
Yea but if I color one part does it all come together with the right calculation.. in other words that part of the soap won’t mix with the other part of the soap so that to me would mess it up
 
Check your titanium dioxide as well, some are water soluble not oil soluble.

I personally don't worry too much about the extra oil used to mix micas, unless I'm doing lots of colours. For one or two, it's such a small amount of oil it hasn't really affected anything. Most of the time, unless its a troublesome mica or i'm playing with colours, I just add it right to the batter without premixing.
 
Yea but if I color one part does it all come together with the right calculation.. in other words that part of the soap won’t mix with the other part of the soap so that to me would mess it up

I pull the oil out BEFORE I add the lye, so all the oil is getting mixed with the lye. Then I take the soap batter and separate it out and add my colors. If it really concerns you, don't pre-mix them in oil. Just mix the oils and lye, separate out what you want to color, and add the mica directly to the soap batter. Just make sure you whisk it or SB it to mix it thoroughly.
 
I use very small amounts of oil when I premix colors - last night I used 1tsp oil to 1/2 tsp mica for three colors and the fourth color was 2 tsp oil to 1 tsp mica. I don't like to use the oils from my recipe because what if I don't use all the color? Then my recipe is short oil. Probably only a small amount, but oil is one thing I don't want to be short on. I soap with a low SF (3%) so I would rather have the tiniest amount over oil rather than under oil.
 
and I see that they add oil to mix with colorant and titanium dioxide. Is this just xtra oil or does it all have to mix with the lye and be calculated?
If you don't take the oils from your already measured out oils, it might, slightly increase your superfat by a half of a half of a half of a % unless you are using LARGE amounts of oil to mix your colorant.
Yea but if I color one part does it all come together with the right calculation.. in other words that part of the soap won’t mix with the other part of the soap so that to me would mess it up
No, it won't "mess it up" it would be the same as above.

Also, colorants don't HAVE to be mixed with oil, especially depending on the type of colorant. Some are only water soluble, some or only oil soluble, some people mix them with glycerin to disperse them into their batter. What it really boils down to, is what works for you and the results you want.
 
Like Amd, I never take the oils from my batch. I soap at 1-2% superfat so do not want to risk using batch oils in case I do not want all the color. For micas, I add them to my separated batter. With titanium dioxide, which I seldom use I mix with glycerin if it is oil soluble TD or with water for the water-soluble TD. Pigments are usually water-soluble and oxides oil soluble. Mica's oil or alcohol soluble. Dissolving Micas in alcohol works well for m&p but not so well in cp since alcohol can cause seizing in cp soap.
 
I also don't take oils from the batch. The few grams of oil needed to mix my micas haven't ever seemed to make a difference. I just mix in enough (usually sunflower) oil to make a pourable liquid. I've seen recommendations to mix something like 1 tsp mica with 2 or 3 tbsp of oil. You don't need nearly that much. It seems that about 2:1 oil:mica is usually what I need.
 
I use vegetable glycerin to mix TD and all my other colorants, whether they be water soluble or oil soluble. Glycerin is friendly to both types and I don't experience any problems mixing them right in.


IrishLass :)
 
and I see that they add oil to mix with colorant and titanium dioxide. Is this just xtra oil or does it all have to mix with the lye and be calculated?

I do disperse my TD, but not my clays, colorants or micas. And if I’m making single color soaps, I mix my micas with my oils and my clays/colorants with my lye solution.
 
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