# Color fading



## Rosesgoats (Apr 22, 2011)

Man, I have having a heck of a time with color fading in my soap! Is it normal for the color to be nice and rich at pouring but then fade to nothing at curing? That's what is happening. It looks great when I pour it but a few days later, it is very light. Some of the colors have faded completely, leaving me with lots of batches of "colored" bars that are just off white looking. Argh! What do I need to do to stop this? How much colorant do I need to use? Should I shoot for obnoxiously brightly colored soap when I pour so I have half a chance of getting color when I am done?


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

What are you using for your colorant? I use mostly ultra marines and micas and it doesn't fade. A few years ago I tried some liquid colors and they did fade.


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2011)

Same as Kathy, the liquid colorants fade alot... ultra marines and micas don't...


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## Rosesgoats (Apr 22, 2011)

Well, I had been using liquid LabColors from Brambleberry. Maybe that is my problem. I also tried 2 tblsp of cocoa powder last night to get a soap to be brown in color. It was a great chocolate brown color when I poured it and when I looked at it this morning it looked cream/tan. I am disappointed....

Where do you get your colors?


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

TKB Trading is where I get most of mine.


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## tlcnubians (Jan 21, 2011)

I get my oxides, ultramarines and micas from either Brambleberry or Majestic Mountain Sage. I have found that the different colorants may require different methods of dispersing; for example, I mix the green colorants with a bit of of the soaping oils and then with about 1/2 cup of traced soap before either pouring back into the soap pot if coloring the entire batch, or using it to swirl. Blues and pinks, on the other hand, seem to want to be mixed with water before being mixed with traced soap. Micas like oil best, regardless of the color, but they tend to give a more pastel color to goat milk soap.


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## [email protected] (Jun 1, 2011)

So, I got a sample kit of micas from Brambleberry and not knowing what I was doing I put the color, pink, in the whole batch at the end. Would I have better been able to tell the final color better had I put the mica in with the oils instead?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Michelle, micas are very expensive to try to use as a whole batch color. Most simply use them for swirling or in the pot marbling....of course because you are using more in a much smaller amount of soap to swirl, you get much more vivid colors also. Ultramarine and Oxides and if your careful, clays, are much better to use for whole color soap, and yes I add them into the pot and stick blend them in with the butters and oils, before the lye, only because they simply disperse completely.


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## eam (Aug 22, 2010)

I'm having the same problem with my tangerine pop mica. Here's a picture at pour:


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## eam (Aug 22, 2010)

...and here's a picture 36 hours later:




Any ideas?


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

I know that TKB discontinued the Pop micas (boo!) ....where did you get this? Maybe it's not soap stable?


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## eam (Aug 22, 2010)

I got it at TKB Trading, just before they were discontinued...not knowing that they were being discontinued. They're supposed to be soap stable; it was part of the sampler pack. The only one that I've tried that doesn't fade is the blueberry, and maybe the lemon but I haven't tried to get a vivid color from that.


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

For very bright colors, I have had good luck with these-
http://www.brambleberry.com/Neon-Colorant-Sampler-Pack-P4969.aspx


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## eam (Aug 22, 2010)

Thanks, Jennifer. Could you give me an idea of how much .2 oz is? And, about how much do you use PPO?

Thanks.
Elizabeth


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

.2 oz is not a lot. It is just enough to do a small batch (all color) or swirl a larger batch. For me, it was a inexpensive way to test them out before ordering larger amounts.

I am trying to think of a standard for color and can't. :/ I have gone overboard and feared my family was going to turn into smurfs because the soap color was so blue (thankfully it didn't happen, but it did lather blue) and I have had brown lavender because I didn't add enough purple. I think it varies a lot based on the color and the type of colorants used. Maybe, for a starting point, use one teaspoon per pound of oils for coloring the entire batch. I'd take out a cup of soap (or oils, depending on when you add your coloring) and mix that, then pour that back into your soap. I am still working on color consistency from batch to batch. For my batches, I print out my recipe from soap calc. I write the fo/ eo I used and the amounts of coloring additives. I also take notes on anything funky that goes on. After I unmold and the soap cures, I *try* to go back and update (scent/ color fades, etc). The idea is that I will refer back to these.... which I usually don't (lol, probably why I still struggle with color consistency). HTH


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I got some colorants from Ellens Essential, some mica colorants and also some peacock colorants and neither have ever faded, but it was trial and error getting the color completely dispersed into the soap. I've learned a lot since first starting with color but I'm still not all that good at it.....my "Blue Spruce" soap is a vivid, neon green...so I had to rename it "Evergreen"..


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

One other thing I thought of...

if your fo has vanilla it will make your soaps brown to dark brown unless you use a vanilla stabilizer.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

Anita Martin said:


> I got some colorants from Ellens Essential, some mica colorants and also some peacock colorants and neither have ever faded, but it was trial and error getting the color completely dispersed into the soap. I've learned a lot since first starting with color but I'm still not all that good at it.....my "Blue Spruce" soap is a vivid, neon green...so I had to rename it "Evergreen"..


LOL! I have a blue spruce, too. I'm still only using natural colorants so I used indigo and chlorophyll. I really overdosed the indigo, but the bar did come out a really deep blue/green. Of course, blue lather. I had made it last Christmas and a couple of people did comment on the lather, but I have two guys that want it back. I managed to find two bars from that one and only batch at home. The guy prepaid and I delivered to his house. I told him I would make more for the holidays. Surprisingly, the color hasn't faded one bit.


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## Sheryl (Oct 27, 2007)

I have not used the mica's or clays yet. Was wondering how the color holds up if the soap gets a little sun? The reason I ask this is because when I do outside markets, sometimes my soap gets in the sun, and it quickly fades any color I have on the soap. I use some liquid/paste colors, and have not tried the mica's yet. any ideas?

sheryl


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## Rosesgoats (Apr 22, 2011)

Thanks for the pictures! That is what my soap has done. I did another batch of red FD&C colored soap yesterday and it faded horribly. When I poured it the entire batch was a lovely red color. But when I took it out of the mold, the only part that had color was around the outside of the soap. Total bummer! This seems to be a problem isolated to the red and reddish FD&C (LabColor) dyes. The blues and greens don't have this fading problem. The yellows and oranges disappear as well but this might be due to competing with the already cream/yellow color of my soap.


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I use micas & ultramarines mostly... I'm not fond of the oxides (the shades are duller/earthier than I like)...

never had any fade...

never used a liquid colorant.

The only oxide I use now is my Dragons Blood... we color most of the soap black with activated charcoal & do a red swirl with the red oxide...

[[micas are very expensive to try to use as a whole batch color]]

Yeah... but I sure do love my Spearmint Eucalyptus... I use a green mica to color the whole batch with a darker green swirl... just love the shade for it.


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