Powdered Oxides in M&P

[Starr]

Has anyone does this successfully?

I tried Iron Oxide once for leather soap and it was a DISASTER! I still have some left that I didn't throw out figuring maybe I'd find a use for it elsewhere. I have a fair amount of Purple Oxide too (I think it's magnesium) that I haven't even bothered to try yet because of the horrible experience I had with the iron.

If you've pulled this off, can you give me a head's up on what you did/how you did it, I'd be more then grateful.

Thanks!

[yoyo]

I have great luck with oxides but it took alot of practice and now thats all I use. But the very best way I have found is to spray alittle alcohol in a cup and add a very little oxide at time until it dissolves. You may have to spray more alcohol and add a lttle more oxides to get it as deep as you want but then you can pour a little of your m&p in the cup mix well and add to the rest of your batch. No unsightly speckles. Again I can't stress enough just add a very little oxide at a time.

[Starr]

Ah! That I did not try. I tried doing a straight add into the base (HUGE MESS) and tried to mix it into oil (slightly smaller HUGE MESS) and neither worked. The alcohol doesn't dry out the soap any? Should I look at adding some extra water or carrier oil?

[Flicker]

The only true oxide I use is black but I've used it in M&P with good luck I blended mine with distilled water and glycerin (if you plan to do this and leave it in a bottle I'd recommend preserving it to prevent beasites! ) and then add just a small amount until you reach your desired color. It should blend in fine if you dissolve it first. If you don't dissolve it in something you will likely get specs. Alcohol like the other poster suggested will also work and the alcohol will evaporate in the soap

[yoyo]

No it doesn't dry out the soap, you don't use enough of it to do anything but dissolve the oxides.

[Starr]

So should i have a somewhat pasty consistency or something more watery?

[yoyo]

Watery works best for me. It seems to mix better with my little bit of m&p I add to the cup. Really don't give up, I practiced and practiced and wasted more soap than you can imagine but it is so worth it now.

[Starr]

Well, I had a bit (read: A LOT) of a restless night last night so I gave it a shot with some Jasmine FP that I didn't particularly like very much so that if i blew it again the waste would be minimal. I've got to run upstairs in the next little bit and see how it came out. I ended up going in the middle between watery and pasty, I'll let you know how it comes out.

[Starr]

Well, that was a slight bust. It seems that I didn't get all the oxide mixed into the alcohol and ended up with some powder that settled to the bottom. I was able to cut it off and remelt, luckly, this is mostly for me, I might let some of my testers give it a whirl. So we're going for attempt 2 with more alcohol and MORE MIXING.

Will check on it after I run to the store, it's still liquid and hot.

[Starr]

We're getting closer to success!

Attempt 2 yielded nearly perfect uniform color and just a couple of little speckles. The speckles aren't bothering me in the least, there's just a few of them and I think it gives the bar a very "handmade" sort of quality, I do wish I could get the color just a tiny bit more uniform. It seems that the top of the bar is a little more vibrant in color then the bottom.