Soap Makers Help!

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
Natural colorants also fade over time ..... with the exception of clays

I use oxides and ultra marines for colorant, as well as clays

 

[cheeptrick]

Quote:
Natural colorants also fade over time ..... with the exception of clays

I use oxides and ultra marines for colorant, as well as clays

True....also note that when you package your soaps with natural colorants the areas that are covered will stay darker and the areas that are exposed to the air will lighten. Mine do over time....definitely lighten...but not so bad that anyone ever notices. They use it up too quick!

I notice my non-gelled soaps retain the natural colorants better than the gelled soaps colored in the same way. WITH the exception of Liquid Chlorophyll...my botched batch a few weeks ago proved that the chlorophyll stayed stable and retained its bright green color thru 2 rebatchings!!

I've only used clays once...it was a very hard bar....folks just did not buy it.

 

[smom1976]

Quote:
Beet juice doesnt work!

There is a post on this thread about different colors corrisponding to different oils..

I have a new question too..

Ok so oils that I have used. Or oils rendered from meat (Im not sure if rendered is the right word, I am talking about browning a pound of hamburger and saving the grease. Is that redered?)


So anyway sometimes we will cook 15 lbs of hamburger at the church for dinner.. and we toss the grease.. can I use this for everyday soaps? Maybe even add some better oils to make up for some better soap..

What would I have to do to this grease?

You sure it does not work....I thought you poured it down the drain?

Mine comes out a brown with pink tones...NOT deep red of course...but it does color the soap a natural earthy color. You can also use Beet Root POWDER...that will give you a deeper red.

When using juices and natural colors....be expectant that the lye 'adjusts' the color.

If you desire pure bright primary colors....go with oxides. Many oxides are food grade also...used in chocolate making etc.

I poured the first lye beet juice mix down the drain. It was nasty smelling.. I did it again with just water taking out some of the water to add back in as beet juice at trace.. this did NOT work for a red color.. and the smell came back just a little bit. I didnt waste any oil because I made that decision before i mixed them together.

 

[cheeptrick]

Quote:
You sure it does not work....I thought you poured it down the drain?

Mine comes out a brown with pink tones...NOT deep red of course...but it does color the soap a natural earthy color. You can also use Beet Root POWDER...that will give you a deeper red.

When using juices and natural colors....be expectant that the lye 'adjusts' the color.

If you desire pure bright primary colors....go with oxides. Many oxides are food grade also...used in chocolate making etc.

I poured the first lye beet juice mix down the drain. It was nasty smelling.. I did it again with just water taking out some of the water to add back in as beet juice at trace.. this did NOT work for a red color.. and the smell came back just a little bit. I didnt waste any oil because I made that decision before i mixed them together.

Oh yes....I'd never add the beet juice at trace. I do add milks at trace....very nice!! The beet juice and powder are very good for your skin...and the lather does NOT turn at all which was surprising to me with how stained my counters get when I'm making beet juice. I've got some time off next week...I'll make a batch and post photos.

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
Try using the beet juice in it's frozen state, like you would milk. Have all your oils ready and waiting, add lye to frozen beet juice and add immediately to the waiting oils when the lye has dissolved. You should have better luck.

Actually, I use frozen liquid for all my lye solutions. The solution doesn't get time to heat up so there is less smell!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Well instead of selling the last six gift plates I had made I gave them to my lids teachers and teacher's assistants. I alreadt got a thank you note and a Christmas card from my youngest son's teachers. I figured since I waited to long and with the bad weather we have had that I would just give them away instead of trying to sell them. The kid's last day before winter break is tomorrow so I hurried up and dropped them off this morning. I really hope all of them like the soaps. I made sure to put my name just in case they would be interested in buying any later on lol. Give as a gift and use as an advertisment lol. I can't wait, my order from Camden-Grey is only two hours away from here

It better be here in the morning lol

 

[smom1976]

Quote:
Try using the beet juice in it's frozen state, like you would milk. Have all your oils ready and waiting, add lye to frozen beet juice and add immediately to the waiting oils when the lye has dissolved. You should have better luck.

Actually, I use frozen liquid for all my lye solutions. The solution doesn't get time to heat up so there is less smell!

so with this method you would not raise the temperature of the oils to be the same as the lye/liquid mix..

I have been raising the temps of my oils to around 90-95 degrees to *match* the temp of my lye/liquid...

 

[MullersLaneFarm]

Quote:
Try using the beet juice in it's frozen state, like you would milk. Have all your oils ready and waiting, add lye to frozen beet juice and add immediately to the waiting oils when the lye has dissolved. You should have better luck.

Actually, I use frozen liquid for all my lye solutions. The solution doesn't get time to heat up so there is less smell!

so with this method you would not raise the temperature of the oils to be the same as the lye/liquid mix..

I have been raising the temps of my oils to around 90-95 degrees to *match* the temp of my lye/liquid...

I weigh my master batch of oils and bring them up so they are all melted. I suppose they're about 110 degrees or so.

My lye solution is around 75 degrees F.

When I started soaping, the recommended temp was 125-130 degrees F. I'm not convinced it matters much that the oil/lye solution are the same temp. You just don't want the temps to be so low that your solid oils start to solidify again giving you a false trace.

 

[redhead83402]

~WOW ~ I just looked through all the posts I've missed! all of the gift baskets look just AWESOME! I am so inspired ~ I am going to be wrapping all of mine up tomorrow ( well, lol, that's the plan anyway) I have about 15 baskets I have to make up. My husband was wondering if we were ever going to go through *all of that dang SOAP* .... and guess what, it won't be hard at ALL~ ;-D Plus, what better excuse to make MORE! ;-D

Also, I am so excited, I just went to a craft show ( we have done them in the past, with my husbands chainsaw carvings & my dolls, but this was the first time ever with soaps!) I sold almost everything I took ( about 15 bars ea of 12 different soaps)... talk about FUN! And while there, I met a gal who runs a local health food store, and she wants me to put some soap in the shop.

I'm pretty excited about the prospect, but I am now wondering if I can make the soap cure any faster. I am guessing this is the water discount that the books mention? In my recipes, I am already using less than the full reccomended amount.. For instance, on MMS LYE calculator, if it says to use between 55 & 34 ounces of liquid, I use about 40 ounces. The soap tests out as having cured faster, but I am worried about going less than that.

Do any of you discount liquid to get a faster cure time, or is that not reccomended?
~Red

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

You have all inspired me - your soaps are gorgeous!!! But since lye scares me (read MP's warnings!) and I have no access to goat milk, I'm going to start out the easy/lazy way with glycerine soap and go from there. Since we have over 60 different scent oils from our candles and most are also soap safe, why not try!

I do have a question though - do you have to use the plastic molds with the glycerine soaps, or can you use a wooden box mold? Would the soaps be too soft to cut?

Thanks for any help and advice. Someday I hope to try some of your recipes!!