Deco Soap - Decorative Soap Craft

Well there are many substances that you can use to add colour to your soaps . There are two real choices natural dyes or man-made colourants.

Natural Dyes can be made using herbs and spices, plant substances, oils and oxides or minerals.

Herbs & Spices	Ingredient	Resulting Colour
	Paprika	Salmon to Red
	Turmeric	Golden Yellow
	Curry Powder**	Orange
	Coffee	Brown
	Cocoa*	Brown
	Cinnamon**	Brown
	Alkanet	Purple
	Logwood	Pink
	Parsley	Pale Green

	*can cause lather to be discoloured	** can cause skin sensitisation.

Plant Materials	Annatto Seeds	Orange
	Alkanet	Purple to Navy
	Avocado Oil	Pale Green
	Carrot Juice /Oil	Orange
	St John's Wort flowers	Pink
	Spirulina	Green
	Chlorophyll	Green
	Red Hibiscus Flowers	Slate Grey/Black (can stain)
	Rooibos Leaves	Golden Amber
Oxides & Minerals
	Black Oxide	Brown Oxide
	Red Oxide	Chromium Green Oxide
	Yellow Oxide	Ultramarine Pink
	Ultramarine Violet	Ultramarine Blue

Colour Blocks or chips are very easy to use indeed. They are generally made form heavily dyed soap. Shavings can be taken of the block or chips which are then added to the soap. Because they are small they melt easily and can be used for very precise colouring. Most people these days however use liquid cosmetic grade colours.

Liquid Colours are also ideal for melt and pour soap making. They are usually sold with a dropper and cap, allowing you to add small amounts at a time to your soap mixture until you have the required shade. I use the liquid colours for most of my soap making.

You can also use cosmetic grade mica or glitters to give a shimmery look to your finished bars.

The amount of colour you use is entirely personal, depending on whether you want deep and strong colours or more muted, pastel shades. Please keep in mind, however that some of these substances could irritate the skin, so be gentle with items such as Cinnamon and curry powder. Also, be aware the colours will fade with time, mostly the natural dyes in sunlight.

Never be afraid to play around with colour combinations. Be adventurous and throw in a bit of this with a squidge of that. You will soon find some favourite combinations.

*Always write down what you used, so that you can reproduce it once you find a winning combination.

You may be thinking to yourself - "Why are the bubbles always white, no matter what colour I make my soap?"

A bubble is actually just a film of water trapped between two layers of detergent. The colour is actually created by the diffraction and reflection of the light from the surface of the bubble. Bubbles scatter the light into rainbow colours and some white light is reflected no matter what colour the actual bar of soap is the bubbles look white.

You don't even need lots of expensive equipment, it melts very simply in a double boiler or in the microwave or a rice cooker.

Children can have great fun with this product (supervised), and can create their very own fun for the tub! It also makes a great project for group activities of all ages and abilities.

You can also use this soap for added interest in cold processed soaps - mixing the two together in a variety of ways for eyecatching effects!