How to Color Handmade Soap

If you are new to soap making and are wondering about the different types of colorants that you can use, you might want to check out the recent posting from The Soap Queen called How to Color Handmade Soap. Brambleberry carries quite a few colorants that are listed in this article, but you may have your favorite to purchase from.  Just know that Brambleberry is another option to consider.

Natural Soap Colorants in Cold Process Soap

Lovin' Soap posted this picture chart of colorants that she used in cold process soap.  If you would like to see this picture in more detail and seek our more resources, check out the recent posting called Natural Soap Colorants in Cold Process Soap.

Natural Colorants

In a Sunday Night Spotlight, The Soap Queen site has concentrated on Natural Colorants. In this post, The Soap Queen discusses the following natural colorants of rose clay, indigo powder and paprika.  On the Soap Queen blog there are several posts and resources on this subject.  In this posting there are several links on tutorials using natural colorants.  So if you are interested in this subject check out the tutorials and see how you can use natural in you want to use in your particular project.

Natural Colorants for Melt and Pour Soap

For those melt and pour soapmakers who would like to go a more "natural" route with coloring your soaps, but you do not know what you can use?  Here is an article on The Soap Queen site by Kat from Otion titled, Natural Colorants for Melt and Pour Soap which can direct you in the right direction on naturally coloring your melt and pour soap base.

Color Soap Naturally – Infusing oil with herbs and spices

With cold process soapmaking there are certain items that are normally used to color your soap. Some of the items you may be familiar with are mica powders. etc. Did you know that you can use infused oils to color your soaps? Well, guess what you can! Want to find out how? Then read this article from Lovin' Soap titled Color Soap Naturally – Infusing oil with herbs and spices and find out how.

Testing Natural Colorants in Soapmaking

Testing Natural Colorants for Use in Soap Making
By David Fisher, About.com

People have been using natural colorants in soap for years. But unless you've used this colorant before, or are followig some one else's recipe, it’s a very good idea to test them out for yourself. Yes, it takes a bit of time, but you’ll be spared of any surprises. Natural colors can sometimes do very odd things!

There are three tests for natural colorants:

(1) A lye test
(2) An oil test
(3) A final test in a small batch of soap

The Lye Test

To test how your colorant will react to the lye, dissolve about a tablespoon of lye into a half cup of water. Stir until the lye is completely dissolved and let it cool. Slowly add some of the plant material. You don’t need to use much – perhaps ¼ teaspoon of powdered colorant, or a few leaves of a fresh. TAKE NOTES!! In your notebook, jot down the amount of plant material used, and what color it turned. Check the solution again in a few hours. Then let it sit for about 24 hours and check again.

The Oil Test

Heat up about 4 ounces of oil. (I prefer to use coconut oil or lard so that I know that the oil is not imparting any color to the final results.) Add your colorant as before, and let it steep. Check back in a few hours and again after about 24. Again, TAKE NOTES!!

The Soap Test

After you’ve tested the colorant in both the lye and oil, you should be ready to try it in a small batch of soap. Depending on whether the colorant acted better in the lye or the oil will determine when you add it to the mix. Some plant materials work better when steeped in the lye solution, others work better when added at trace.

Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule for how much of each colorant to add to your soap. Different plants have stronger coloring abilities, as well as each person's tastes are different. When I’m testing out a recipe, I usually start with 1 tsp. of colorant for each pound of oils in my recipe. Then, based on those results, I’ll adjust the amount from there. If you're going to steep the colorant in the lye water, mix your lye-water first, then add the color. Let it steep for a few minutes - or a few hours if necessary. Then using this colored lye-water, make your soap.

If you're going to add the color to the oil, you can either add it at the beginning to the oils, or at the end, at trace. Either way seems to work about the same. As before, TAKE NOTES - how much of the colorant you used, when you added it, how it reacted in the soap. Your memory may be good now, but several months from now, when you want to duplicate your wonderful results, you'll be grateful for those notes.

Source: http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipstricks/qt/testnatcolor.htm

Infusing Herbs for Natural Soap Color

Many soapers love to infuse herbs for natural soap color for a lot of reasons. One obvious plus is that natural color goes well with products with a natural theme. Another benefit is that natural colors offer shades that other colorants cannot. Rich yellows, muted shades, and more can be achieved by infusing herbs and adding the infusion to cold process of hot process soaps.

Depending on the shade desired, you can add as little as 1/2 teaspoon of infusion per pound of soap and up to achieve the color effect desired. When using natural colorants in hot process soap, the color you add will stay true. However, with cold process soaps, colors can sometimes change during the saponifying process due to the reaction between the lye and fats. Sometimes a beautiful shade of red when you mix can turn into a blue-purple when the soap is ready to come out of the mold. With cold process soaps, test your colorant in a very small batch of soap to make sure that the color will stay the same after saponifying. Although it can be tricky with cold process soaps, the outcome is always worth the effort. When you get the color you desire, the result is a beautiful bar of soap.

In the following, you will find a basic guideline for infusing your herbs, and what colors they will produce. Always test in cold process soap, however, to make sure the color stays consistent after saponification and to make sure the color is as deep or as light as you want it to be.

Infusions

In the following, you will see the herb name and how much to infuse. These are basic measures. You can infuse more or less herbs to achieve your desired color effect. Infusing herbs for color is much different than infusing herbs for their benefits and scent. When infusing for color, you do not need to let the herbs steep for weeks. As a matter of fact, you only need a few minutes of time to infuse your herbs!

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What you will need:
Small coffee filter or cheesecloth
Small jar or bottle (microwave safe)
Herbs to be infused
Oil - Sweet almond oil and olive oil work very well. If using olive oil, any kind will do, virgin or otherwise.

Instructions:

Gather instructed amount of herbs and put into coffee filter or cheesecloth. If you can secure the top of the filter together with something, that is great. Then you won't have to strain the mixture if it doesn't get inside the jar. Pour your choice of infusing oil in the jar, and insert the coffee filter with the herbs into the oil, getting it nice and submerged.

Put your jar with oils and herbs into the microwave for 1 minute. Remove from microwave, and mix the filter around a bit, squeezing it a little to get the color out. Repeat putting it into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time for up to 3 minutes of total heating. If you are making a large batch of color, you may need to microwave longer. (If you prefer, you can also heat your herbs and oil on the stove for approximately 5 minutes.)

Once your herbs are done heating, remove the mixture from the microwave and let sit for 10-15 minutes to cool and further steep. Once this time has passed, remove the coffee filter with the herbs, squeeze well to get all of the color out, and throw the filter with the herbs away.

You can store your infusion in a tightly capped jar or bottle in a cool dark place for 3 months to one year, depending on the herbs. In the following, you will see a list of colors followed by the different herb combinations that can be used to achieve your desired shade.

Blue

2 teaspoons Indigo in 2 ounces oil
Need Blue without an infusion? Try these.
1/2-2 teaspoons Blue Chamomile essential oil at trace per pound of soap (WILL scent soap, depending on amount used)
1/2-2 teaspoons Blue Cypress essential oil at trace per pound of soap (WILL scent soap, depending on amount used)
1-3 tablespoons Blueberry puree per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons Purple Grape Juice per pound of soap

Brown

Brew a very strong fresh or instant coffee. Allow to cool, and substitute the water in your soap recipe for an equal amount of coffee.

1 1/2 tablespoons Comfrey root powder in two ounces oil.

1/4-1/2 cup Elderberries per pound of soap. Steep these in your lye/water solution before mixing with your oils.

Need Brown without an infusion? Try these.
1/4-1 teaspoon Cocoa powder per pound of soap
1/4-1 teaspoon Cinnamon powder per pound of soap
1/4-1 teaspoon ground Cloves per pound of soap
Substitute goat or cow's milk for water in lye solution. This will produce a very pretty tan/brown in finished soap.

Green

2 tablespoons Stevia powder in 2 ounces oil
1-2 tablespoons Spirulina powder in 2 ounces oil

Need Green without an infusion? Try these.
1-3 tablespoons French Green Clay per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons liquid Chlorophyll per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons Kelp or Seaweed powder per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons Spirulina Powder per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons ground fresh Spinach per pound of soap

Orange

2 teaspoons Paprika plus 2 teaspoons Turmeric in 2 ounces oil
1 tablespoon Mace Powder in 2 ounces oil
1/2 teaspoon Annatto seeds in 2 ounces oil (When infusing or adding it to your soap, less will give a pale yellow color, and more Annatto will give a more orange color.)
2 tablespoons Calendula powder in 2 ounces oil

Need Orange without an infusion? Try these.
1-3 tablespoons Pumpkin/Sweet Potato puree per pound of soap
1-3 tablespoons ground fresh or powdered Carrots per pound of soap

Red/Pink (use more or less concentration to produce reds or pinks in soap)

1 tablespoon Beet Root powder in 2 ounces oil
1-2 tablespoons Alkanet root powder in 2 ounces oil
2 teaspoons-1 tablespoon Madder Root powder in 2 ounces oil
1 teaspoon Rattanjot Powder in 2 ounces oil (will make a purple color)

Need Red/Pink without an infusion? Try these.
1-3 tablespoons Moroccan Red Clay per pound of soap (Will produce more of a rustic/brick red)
1-3 tablespoons Pink Clay per pound of soap

Yellow

1 tablespoon Calendula powder in 2 ounces oil
1/4 teaspoon Annatto seeds in 2 ounces oil (When infusing or adding it to your soap, less will give a pale yellow color, and more Annatto will give a more orange color.)
2 tablespoons Turmeric in 2 ounces oil

Need Yellow without an infusion? Try these.
1-3 teaspoons of Yellow Clay powder per pound of soap
1/4 cup Calendula petals per pound of soap at trace

Source: http://www.sudsandwicks.com/tutorials/soapinfusingcolor.shtml

Natural Additives for Colorants (Cold Process Soapmaking)

If you make your soap by the Cold Process Method, you may find that coloring your soaps can be unpredictable. If you want to use something other than pigments such as ultramarines and oxides, you may choose to go the natural root (no pun intended). Here are some suggestions:

Alfalfa Powder - light green color.

Alkanet Root - pink/blue/purple.

Annatto Seeds - yellow/orange color.

Beet Root – muted pink to red.

Calendula Petals retains their color in soap.

Chamomile Powder - yellow/gold color.

Chlorophyll (liquid) - light green color. You should know that the color will fade over time.

Cinnamon- beige/brown.

Clays will come in white, light green, beige, yellow, pink and red.

Cochineal powder– deep red

Comfrey Root - deep sage color.

Cocoa Powder - brown. For swirling effect add 2 teaspoons to 2 cups of soap.

Curry Powder - yellow/peach color.

Elderberries – steep in lye solution – light brown

Ginger Root Powder - yellow.

Hibiscus Powder - red/purple color.

Indigo Root Powder - blue. Make sure that you mix this powder in real well.

Madder Root - tomato red color.

Mustard Seed (ground) - yellow color.

Orange Peel Powder - orange.

Parsley Powder - medium green color.

Paprika - peach or salmon color.

Poppy Seeds - Blue-grey to light black specks

Pumice, ground - grey

Pumpkin, pureed - lovely deep orange

Rattanjot – lavender to purple

Rosehip seeds, ground - light tan to deep brown

Saffron - yellow. Very pricey spice.

Sage Powder - sage green or tan.

Sandlewood Powder - orange/red/maroon

Saffron - yellow. A very pricey spice.

Spirulina Powder - very fishy smell. This powder can be pricey. And it has been recommended that you only add this powder to strong scents such as Rosemary, Tea Tree, etc.

Titanium Dioxide- bright white

Tumeric Powder - gold/yellow. Will fade over time.


These are just a few additives that you can use to color your soaps. If cannot find what you are looking for then check out this link:

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/a/natcolors.htm
www.snowdriftfarm.com/naturalcolors.html
http://www.soapnaturally.org/naturalcolors.html

For more information on naturally coloring your soaps, check out these websites:

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/tipstricks/qt/testnatcolor.htm
http://www.cranberrylane.com/soap-techniques3.htm
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50548.asp
http://soapnuts.com/indexcolors.html
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/fruits-vegetables.shtml