help for my friend

[moonrose64]

My friend just started making CP soap.

Well she is having an awful time.

I told her I would ask the experts.

This is her problem exactly as she emailed me it.

I add the fo to the oils and then add coloring. It looks like the color I added but then when I add the lye water mix to it and use the stick blender, it changes colors.

Does anyone have any ideas I can pass on to her?

Thanks a bunch

[CareBear]

She's probably using the wrong type of colorant - they need to be lye stable (remember lye changes the pH dramatically) - or she needs to learn to predict how her colors will change!

I buy Select Shades colors from Tradewinds http://tradewinds.mainsecure.net/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15&zenid=fe889cbd19c2a12fd3cd790a9664ebdf but there are other options I know.

Tell her to join and read - there are tons of threads on this topic!

[myst25872002]

I'm not an expert but I will tell you I don't add FO or colorant until after I have added my lye water to my oils and mixed well, then if I am doing a swirl I pull out however much I need then add my colorant then the last thing I add is my FO. But part of the fun and challenge of doing CP soap is that you don't have a lot of control when it comes to the final color of your soap and swirls because some FO will cause it to darken, some of the oils can cause it to darken, so many factors can cause your color to morph. A surprise every time lol. HTH

I hope one of the experts jumps in here and gives you a better idea about it and some sugestions. Because you can't go by my methods I think everyone does it they're own way. But the best advice I can give is read read read and then when you have gone cross eyed read some more.

Donna

[TexasBrat]

Do tell her to join here and do some reading. It all depends one what colorants she is using, if it is a type of powder than it needs to mixed with some type of oil before being disbursed into soap. If it's a liquid than it may not be colorants for cp. There are bath and body colorants you can buy at hobby stores but more of those are geared to melt and pour soaps so they would not stand up to cp or cphp etc. Get more inforation from her or have her join and maybe we can help better.

[arkangel]

If she's using food coloring, the soap will change to the vibrant colorant color, however after the lye reacts to it, it will change a drab brown/khaki.

One of my early experiment failures....:embarasse

[Darwin]

I do not do CP but when I do HP I always add the coloing last. I find that it stayes truer to the "bottle color" if I add it last because it has less time to have a chemical reaciton with the lye.

[CareBear]

You CAN use non-lye stable colorants once you know what will happen to them. Sometimes you get lucky!

[Candybee]

I'm still experimenting with adding color to cp. I tend to add my colorant last after I have already added the lye water. But I do sometimes add my color before my lye water when a fragrance I am using is a fast mover. I have at least one or two that are so fast I don't have time to add color later so I add it with the soaping oils before the lye water.

[quietgirl2004]

I never add my fo to the oils first or the coloring. Tell her to let it come to almost thin trace, then add fo and color. For me personally my color is the last thing I add. I incorporate my color in a small amount of oil I have set aside then add to mixture. But thats just me.