Handmade Soap Making, Milling and Pouring using Melt & Pour Soap Bases has become very popular over the past several years. As the craft gains popularity, questions arise concerning how and when to add color.

Let's begin with the question about when. Soap is made through a process known as Saponification. Oils or fats, water and one of several lye products are used in a precise number of steps during which a soap base results. During this process, the combined ingredients are very coustic and will require several weeks, and in some cases, a number of months, for proper curing. But without these steps one cannot create soap at all. If properly done, the resulting soap offers many positive attributes and the process is well worth the doing.

During this curing time, no color, scents, herbs or other additives should be combined with the base. Once the soap base is fully cured, the lye has come inactive and the resulting soap base is safe and beneficial to use. It is at this time that the hand melling process will begin. The soap miller will decide what to add to the base to achieve a wide variety of soaps for all sorts of uses. Milling requires melting the base in a double boiler, microwave, melting pot or crock pot. The temperature must remain well below the boiling point. In most cases properly milled soap bases will not reach a temperature above 140 degrees. 

Once melt has been achieved, it is the right time to add color. So now the question of what sort of color will be addressed.

The most ideal color source to consider is the natural color that comes as a bonus when adding many different kinds of herbs. For example, when making Dill/Honey Gardener's Soap, the dill weed will bless the base with the most delightful green hue. It would be hard to imagine a better way to arrive at a more beautiful green soap color. And there are many other natural plants that will add color in a similar way.

Some millers have discovered that candle colorant works well in soap making. However, candle colorant contains wax and may not necessarily be the best choice for coloring soaps.

Others have tried tempera as a colorant. One positive aspect of using tempera is the non-staining nature found in it. However, tempera will also create a very opaque soap which may not necessarily be the desired result. This is especially true when working with clear bases.

Liquid soap colors are usually readily available and can be a good choice. The one thing to consider when deciding to use liquid color is the high water content and the intensity of the pigment. It is often necessary to use a large amount of liquid color in order to reach the depth of color desired. The miller must factor in the addtional water that is also added to the soap along with the color when liquid color is used.

Glycerin Colorant Chips are also readily available. Since they are made using very intense pigment combined with a glycerin base, they are often the best choice. They are fairly easy to measure by slicing off a small piece. The can not accidentally spill. Since they are made using glycerin, they will also melt and mix readily in most soap bases.

One quick tip when using either liquid color or glycerin colorant chips: In order to minimize the amount of color needed to tint the opaque white soap bases, blending the white base with an equal part of clear base will result in the same opaque appearance, but with the need of far less colorant to achieve the same color result. So using 1 pound of clear to one pound of white will yield excellent results while requiring the use of far less colorant.

I hope this information will be of some assistance when selecting the coloring method you use in your next soap milling session.

Enjoy!