The Color Purple

The color purple, naturally, is a difficult thing to get in Cold process soap.  At least for me it is.  In the past I was able to get a pretty dark purple.  This time I worked with 8% of my oils being alkanet root infused olive oil.  I think in a future post I will have to try alkanet again and compare this result to my next try. 

In some lights my freshly cut soap looks a little bit mauve but still has a purple tinge.  It's pretty but I'm wanting to find the perfect percentage and usage of alkanet root powder for the purple I desire for a lavender soap.  This soap was Ylang Ylang with some Palmarosa to cut the overly sweet scent.

It smells fantastic.  It will look awesome too once I trim and bevel the bars.  I'm really not a rustic look kind of soaper.  I like a bar that even at first use I can swirl it between my hands and it doesn't cut.  When I first started soaping I never beveled the edges.  Ouch!!!

My Ylang Ylang/Palmarosa soap above sits on top of my Lemongrass/Patchouli goats milks soap.  This purple color you see is more close to the actual color I see in the soap under most lighting situations.  The lemongrass soap turned out lovely.  I had a nice pour that was still pretty thin so the bars came out with no lumps or issues.

Some bars had some marring at the ends since I tweaked the silicone mold a little too much.  I just have to be careful how I remove it.  The soap stayed in the mold at least 48 hours before removal.  Additional time would be fine too, hardening the bars a bit may help with the marring issue.

Also note the dark yellow spots.  I just tossed my yellow oxide in the oils and stirred.  Lazy bum!  I really should have incorporated my yellow oxide into a small portion of the oils first then added to the rest.  The color is a bit dark too.  I should have used just one 1.25 cc scoop of the oxide.  Oh well.  I still think it looks nice and it smells amazing!

I'm trying to use up most of the fragrance and essential oils I have left before I order more.  There are favorite scents I'm dying to recreate but they will have to wait.  This weekend I intend to try another lotion; a smaller batch and perhaps just slightly less thick and finally get some bath bombs made.  Also if my order arrives in time I can try my hand at making my lip balms have a tint!  It's so much fun to get back into this hobby; but as the weather gets nicer I think I'll have less time for soap and more time for the pony.....such are my priorities!