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When using alkanet, I put about two ounces of alkanet in an glass pint canning jar (16oz jar) and then fill the jar the rest of the way with whatever liquid at room temperature oil I’m going to use in my recipe.  Carefully skake the jar and let it set for a week or until the oil is colored by the alkanet.  During the waiting period you can shake it ever now and then.   The longer you wait, the better the color.  Your mileage may vary.

When I get ready to make the soap I use about 8 ounces of this oil in a 3 pound recipe.   You will either want to pour the oil off the top of an undisturbed (unshaken or settled jar) or use a coffee filter or cheap paper towel to strain the oil bits of alkanet from the oil before you add the colored oil to your other oils in the recipe.   I usually use the cheap paper towel method.  LOL   The paper towel has two layers which I separate and just use one layer because it seems the oil drips thru that a little faster than it does two layers or the coffee filter.   Sometimes I run the alkanet colored oil through a layer of paper towels twice to be sure all the tiny bits of alkanet are removed.

The more colored oil you use in your recipe the darker the soap will be.  You may have heard that you can get blue from alkanet, the blue color has to do with pH.  Alkanet is sort of a pH indicator (but not really.)   I’ve hot processed or cooked an alkanet colored soap and during the cook at one point the soap is a beautiful blue color, but it doesn’t stay blue.  When the pH of the soap drops to a certain level then the alkanet colored soap turns a purplish color.  Blue is a very elusive color when you’re trying to color soap with herbs.  Most likely blue soap obtained by using alkanet is either not totally cured; perhaps even has a bit too much lye in it; or maybe you are just extremely lucky.  However, I would be willing to bet it is something other than luck.

After using the alkanet colored oil from the jar more oil can be added and the alkanet will color the oil again.  I’m not sure exactly how many times you can do this, but you can certainly use the alkanet more than once.  The soap may be a little lighter the next time, but you may not even notice it.  However, you may want to add a little extra alkanet powder to the jar.  If your oil is going to sit and infuse for some time between batches I wouldn’t worry about a color difference.

The same method can be used for annatto seeds.  You can use them over and over again.

You can find alkanet root powder and many other herbs at www.EllensEssentials.com

When it comes to fading, the simple truth is that you need to protect your products from UV rays.   Not only does the sun cause fading, but florescent lights also give off UV rays.  However, florescent lights are much slower acting than the sun. 

The sun is particularly cruel to both natural color additives and dyes.  So whether you are outside or inside, it’s possible that some fading may happen.  Your best bet is to protect your products with packaging. 

There are bottles and jars that are treated to resist UV rays, and then you have the good old brown paper bag approach to things.  Sometimes a decorative opaque container can be just as or even more attractive than a clear container.  It just depends on your marketing niche and how you want to present your products.

 
Aren’t they pretty?  They’re all colored with herbs too!  We had lots of fun experimenting.  Sometimes you never know what you’ll get when you color soaps with herbs.  Sometimes the result is quite surprising, especially when the resulting color of the soap looks nothing like the herb that was used.

You can view the results for the individual herbs used the soap swap HERE, along with the method used for coloring the soap.

If you’re wanting to try your hand at coloring with herbs, stop by Ellen’s Essentials.

NO, it’s not cheese, it’s soap.  But it looks delicious! 

This soap was made with annatto seeds for color.   Annatto is a natural color additive that is used by the cheese industry to get that wonderful golden cheddar color.  It’s also on the FDA’s approved color additive list for use cosmetics.

In our recipe (below) we infused 2 tablespoons of annatto seeds in 6 ounces of canola oil.   We added the seeds to the oil and let is sit for a week before we used it.  

This infusion can probably be sped up by adding the oil to a skillet and adding the seeds and heating it up a little bit to get the seeds to release the color, but we decided to let time work for us.  After the oil was infused we strained out the seeds.  We did not add the seeds to our soap. 

The great thing about annatto seeds is you can use them over and over again, several times.  Once the oil is strained out, add more oil, put it back on the shelf, and you’ll have oil ready to use next time.

At trace the soap looked like banana pudding.  But once the soap sat overnight in the mold and we cut into it, the color was even more spectacular. 

This is the test recipe we used.

4 oz. Coconut Oil
6 oz. Shortening
6 oz. Canola Oil (infused)

6 oz. water
2.2 oz. NaOH

 This isn’t the best recipe there is, but it’s a good test recipe.  We wanted a recipe with ingredients that could be found by most anyone at the grocery store.  This recipe has a nice lather, and it’s even better if you boost is some with a little castor oil.  Not everyone likes using these oils.  It all comes down to purpose and personal preference.  You can use what you like your own soap recipe.  If you use annatto seeds too, we’re positive you’ll love the color no mater what you use.

This annatto soap looks like sharp cheddar, but we’re thinking it would be nice with an orange or tangerine scent.  If you’d like to use fragrance oils, then maybe a mango fragrance or even a good peach if you can find one.  Don’t forget about floral scents, daffodil and rose would go really good with this color too!

Ellen’s Essentials Yahoo Group is hosting a Naturally Colored Soap Swap.  Each participant is using herbs to color their soaps.  It’s really going to be interesting to see all the different soaps colored with herbs.  As soon as the swap is complete I’ll post some pictures of the soaps and some information on the herbs used. 

In the mean time, feel free to come join Ellen’s Essentials Yahoo Group.  We’ve been posting about the swap over there.  Some of the herbs we’ve used in the swap presented some very interesting results.

Spirulina is a blue green algae.   It contains loads of protein, vitamins, minerals and amino acids.   Here it is used in a cold processed soap recipe which produces a white soap bar.   1/2 teaspoon of Spirulina was used per pound of oils in this soap recipe.  The soap is a bit dark, but the lather is still creamy and white. 

A hint of blue may be seen when the soap is first cut into bars, but that hint of blue quickly disappears.  What you end up with is green soap.  And the green color of the spirulina seems to last a very long time. 

Spirulina cost a little more than other herbs or plant material that produce a green in soap.  But considering the color you can get from a very small amount, and the length of time the color lasts, it’s well worth the price.  As you can see, a little Spirulina goes a long way.    

Recently a soap maker asked us how she could use mint
leaves in soap without getting those nasty brown areas around them in her
soap.

Here’s How:
Steep the mint leaves you intend to use in hot water (like making tea).
Then strain out the leaves.

Next spread the leaves on a paper towel and let them dry.

Once dry, you can use them in soap and you won’t have any brown spots.