What the heck?

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hozhed

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
143
Reaction score
64
Location
Maine
I use a lot of matte oxide colors in my soaps with good results. The other day I bought a new color, (violet) and gave it a go. Good thing I tried it on a small batch first. For some reason, it colors the soap a really ugly shade of green/brown. Kinda like something one would find in a diaper. I have tried it twice now, always the same. The powder in the package is a bright violet color, and quite attractive. I dont get it. The soap I was making is pretty run of the mill. Nothing weird. 60% lard,15 % CO,15% OO,5% 5% palm and 5% castor.

Any ideas???:idea:
 
Purples and blues are notorious for morphing in soap. What is the colorant made of?

Is it ultramarine purple? Because that should not morph. If you are getting morphing with a color that says it is ultramarine purple, you were given stuff that is not in fact ultramarine purple.
 
Purples and blues are notorious for morphing in soap. What is the colorant made of?

Is it ultramarine purple? Because that should not morph. If you are getting morphing with a color that says it is ultramarine purple, you were given stuff that is not in fact ultramarine purple.[/QUOT

Its Natures,matte oxide ,violet ...got it from Bulk apothacary.....or BB. I dont have any trouble with the other colors,even the blue,other than a bit of fade.

20150922_100743.jpg
 
Last edited:
It definitely looks like it's from BA. I have their oxides sample pack. Most of them are true colors but I think purples in general are quite finicky in soap. I tried the purple ones in a small test batch I scented with OT black star amethyst, it remains a yucky grey even after 10+ weeks, good thing though the artificial scent faded quite a bit, means I can use the soap.
 
I've had good luck with ultramarine purple (its the lavender looking one) and the CP stable micas that I get from a group buy on FB. The colors from those micas are bright, vibrant and so far haven't faded after 1 month.
 
My go-to purples are ultramarine violet and also Purple Vibrance mica from Nurture Soap Supplies. Neither one morph in my CP or HP. :thumbup:


IrishLas :)
 
With the Purple Vibrance from Nurture, I used 1 teaspoon ppo to get this beautiful purple:

IMG_3202TuscanFields640.JPG




With ultramarine violet, I'm all over the map, depending on what shade I want in how ever much of my batter. For the below pic, I colored my entire batch with TD, then I poured off 4 cups of my white batter and added just a smidge over 1/4 teaspoon of um violet to it in order to achieve this pastel lavender color:

IMG_2863CroppedLavender640.JPG





And to achieve the below deep purple swirl with um violet, I used 1/4 tsp. of the um violet and 1/32 tsp. of activated charcoal and mixed it with 1/3 cup of my soap batter:

IMG_0207PassionFruitGuava2011B640.JPG




I don't have a pic handy, but to get a lovely medium-deep purple that's just a notch or 2 lighter than the swirl above, I use the same amount of um violet and activated charcoal ppo.


HTH!
IrishLass :)
 
Wow.very cool soap. BTW, my girlfriend uses the term "smidge", I keep telling her its not a real engineering unit,but it does no good. Lol.
 
Was it manganese violet? That isn't cp stable as I found out through experience. You need ultramarine violet instead. It looks the same colour pretty much but it doesn't go yuck brown like the manganese.
 
Finding colors that stick without morphing can be a bit of a trial and error type thing. As said, be sure to read reviews posted by the folks that actually use them instead of the description from the seller.

Wow.very cool soap. BTW, my girlfriend uses the term "smidge", I keep telling her its not a real engineering unit,but it does no good. Lol.

A "smidge" may not be an engineering unit, but it is a "real" measurement...a smidgen is equal to 1/32 tsp. :lol:
 
I have never ever acquired a nice color with Violet Um or Violet Oxide. I always end up will all kinds of funky colors. Lavender Fields and purple micas do well for me along with Blue Food Coloring (Blue 1). I actually get beautiful purple with the blue food coloring. Maybe I will try Violet UM again with TD and use more violet ultramarine.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top