MissMori

Do you have comfrey leaf or comfrey root? From "chunks" it sounds like root. By grinding the chunks, you will get more of the color out. I need to get a new camera. Mine won't focus for some reason.

I don't think it will keep it more vibrant. Alkanet is pH sensitive. It is a deep pink/red in infused oil, as soon as it hits the lye it turns violet/purple, depending on how much you use. Using citric acid to lower the pH is an attempt to keep the pink/red color. Other than that, it will "use up" some of the lye and the soap will have a higher superfat, but it will still be in the violet/purple range. You would have to add it after saponification and then I can see it lowering pH to retain the pink/red. But, I don't see it working in a cp process, you would have to hp. I haven't tried using citric in cp to lower pH, so an experiment may be in order. If you want to keep alkanet vibrant, for a while anyway, store in a cool, dark, dry place. The other thing I can think of, is perhaps trying an antioxidant or preservative like ROE or EDTA. I haven't found a UV inhibitor for CP yet. That would be the only other option I can think of.

It gives a lovely green color in soap. I've only done infused because I don't like the scratchy feel of flakes or even ground spices in soap. Here's what I do: 1 tbsp ground or powdered comfrey 4oz oil (doesn't really matter which oil you use, I use olive) You can double, triple, make as much as you want. Heat infusion: Place in mason jar and seal. Place jar either in pot of water on low heat (water even with height of oil) or place in a crock pot on low. If you are going to do it on the stove top, you HAVE to watch it and add water as it evaporates. I heat infuse for 6 to 8 hours, sometimes more, depending on the herb or spice I am infusing. After infusing, strain through a coffee filter into a clean jar. Cold Infusion: Place comfrey and oil in jar, shake up. Allow to sit 3 or 4 weeks, shaking jar often. More shaking is better than less. Strain through coffee filter into clean jar.. As far as usage, that really depends on the green you are going for. Darker, use more. I would start about about 15% of total oils. Too dark, use less, not dark enough, use more.

We are talking about soap here, not candles. How much experience do you actually have making soap? I see from your post above you've made 1 goat milk soap. After 12 years and thousands of batches of soap, I'm confident in telling someone that gelling soap will destroy/"burn off*" some of the more volatile components of essential oils and fragrance oils. And if you want to keep those components of the fragrance, try to do so by avoiding gel. *By the way "burn off" is used by soap makers to describe the volatile components of eos/fos vaporizing during the soap making process. Over the years I've seen post after post from soap makers wondering why their fragrances are weak, have lost "something," morphed, and don't last. They never bother to connect how they treat the fragrance in the soap making process with the final result.

When I get partial gel... I just live with it and make notes so that I force a full gel the next time I make the same soap. You will see a difference in color. The gelled part will be more vibrant and have a translucent quality, the non-gelled part will be creamier in color and more opaque. The difference can diminish with cure, but it won't go completely away. Not dumb questions.

Gel or no gel depends on what you are trying to achieve. Gel: Colors more vibrant, harder faster, translucent quality. Not to Gel: Milk soaps to prevent discoloration, eo/fo that can be burned off (those with a low flash point or highly volatile components), want a more creamy look/no translucence, want subdued/pastel colors. I think my gelled soaps feel smooth as glass when lathering, non-gelled soaps don't have the same glassy smoothness. Some additives (sugars/milks) will heat up the soap. Too much heat can cause problems as well (separation, lye bubbles or pockets, discoloration) so by putting those soaps in the refrigerator or freezer, the problems can be avoided.

How hard are you pulling on the mold to get the soap out? I just used my glossy rectangle mold for cp and the soaps came out fine. I just gently pull the mold away from the sides of the soap, turn the mold over and push out from the bottom.

Good karma or bad karma? I'm seeing a mood ring... black.. bad... blue... good.

Yep, that's cool video. I want to see what you did.

What soapbuddy said right above. I posted above that for white soaps I was making earlier in the week I ditched the pomace I normally use for a "light" olive oil, it was labeled as "light tasting" olive made by Bertolli. I did use TD to get it whiter, at about 3/4 tsp per pound oils. More bubbles... up your coconut to about 20%, reduce olive and palm equally. Substitute castor for the sweet almond oil. Check the ingredients in your vegetable shortening. The new Crisco is a mix of palm and soybean oils. Not my favorite to use. It may be better to use coconut, palm, olive, castor and shea butter. You know exactly what is in each and can control the qualities of the resulting soap more easily. If you have a scale that gives you the option of weighing in grams, you should switch over. By switching to grams, you will reduce your margin of error significantly.

Looking at your formula, I'm going to guess it's a combination of the olive, palm and grape seed. You have over 59% oils that are not white or colorless. Coconut isn't really white either, but much lighter in color than olive or grape seed, a bit lighter than palm. Are you using EVOO, pomace or a "light" olive oil? I was making ghosts this week and switched out my pomace for a light olive oil, because of the color... I too wanted a white soap. You can up your TD to 1 tsp per pound oils. I wouldn't do much more than that. Too much and your soap will be chalky. Does this soap get hard and lather? I ran it through SoapCalc, because I'm not going to do math either. It comes back at 36 for hardness and 10 for bubbly.

How off white is your cured soap base without any fragrances or TD? None of the oils you listed will give you a stark white soap. How much TD are you using? How much olive and palm are in your formula? Are you gelling? Is your TD stark white? Is it water or oil soluble? Are you 100% certain it is TD? I ask, because I recently had a supplier send me something that was mislabeled. If nothing works, it just won't work. You may have to reformulate your base using fats/oils that give a whiter soap and then give it the last push to bright white with TD.

Are they really going out of business, or is that a rumor? Which brings to mind the song... How do rumors get started... Shop around. You will find many suppliers carry essential oil blends. My favorite went out of business, so I feel your pain.

I haven't tried any fragrances from Moonworks. Seems like as good a time as any to give them a try. Loan Star has a peppermint bark that looks really appealing... could just be a craving for some chocolate though. Has anyone tried it in soap?

Babassu and coconut may be ok. Shea, depends on how refined. Olive and castor, probably not so much. But it comes down to how old the oils are and how they were stored. Was any type of preservative or antioxidant added? I have coconut that is over 6 years old and it is fine. It is supposed to have a 1 to 2 year shelf life, but it looks, smells and tastes fine. The soap I've made from it is fine as well. I recently got rid of some olive that was a bit over 1 year old, because it was rancid. The refining process has a lot to do with the shelf life of particular oils. Refined, deodorized and/or bleached oils/fats tend to have longer shelf lives. The unrefined/virgin oils (think hemp, walnut) have shorter shelf lives. When in doubt stick it in the refrigerator or freezer. If you make soap with oils that are rancid, they soap can have a rancid scent to it AND it can be more prone to getting dos.