Teach Soap

I have some olive oil infused with alkanet root. I want to make a swirl in my soap. If I add some of the
infused olive oil to the portion I want to use for the swirl, will this affect the consistency of the swirl,
making it too soft with the extra olive oil? I appreciate your help. Thanks!
Kathy

Hi there! I have not used alkanet root in soap but I have heard that you can use 1 Tablespoon or less of your infused oil per cup of soap should be fine. Hopefully an expert on alkanet root will chime in here for you.

Let us know how it works for you with pictures!

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

You could replace some of the oil in your recipe with an equal amount of the infused olive oil. For example, you can make two separate batches of soap, one for the white portion, one for the swirl portion. If the swirl portion recipe calls for say, 16 oz. olive oil, add 8 (or whatever) to the recipe, and then add 8 of the infused olive oil to it, adding up to 16 oz. of olive oil in all. However, if you are subbing the olive oil in for a different kind of oil, you may have to run the recipe through a soap calc again, because replacing one oil with another could change how much lye you need.

I have never done this before, though, but have read it can be done. Someone who knows more could tell you better.

Hope that helps, and please do post a picture!!

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Olivia :)

Thanks for your help. I landed up not using the infused oil, but
rather taking out a portion of the lyed soap batter and mixing some
powdered alkanet root powder with that portion and using that for the
swirl. It came out quite nicely, though I was a little heavy handed with the
alkanet root powder. The color came out more of a brown purple and not
the bright color that you get with oxides or ultramarines.
I will save the infused olive oil for another recipe.
Thanks again
Kathy

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I recently experimented with alkanett root powder myself and was surprised with transition in color. I used what I thought was the lightest amount at 1 tsp. (I wanted to achieve the color in the Soap Crafting book). It wound up to be a slightly generous teaspoon, but what I got was a deep brownish purple. The next day when I cut it, it was a beautiful, albeit dark, purple with darker purple speck throughout. I was just relieved to see no brown. The next time I try it and want a lighter shade, I'm starting with 1/8 - 1/4 tsp. I wish I can show you a picture, but my iPhone camera doesn't shrink it enough to fit 25 kb.

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Cheryl H.

I recently used 2 natural colorants in soap ~ Tumeric and Cocoa Powder. Both turned out lovely and much subtler shades than micas, oxides and ultramarine colorants do; but I liked them! Will be trying more including alkanet root!

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

I'm new to this forum. So sorry with the late reply. I love using natural colorants in my soap. They're colors are very earth tone in nature. I've used Alkanet root,chamomile, Maddor root, sage, Tumeric and alfalfa. I forget which one it is but if u use too much of Alkanet or Maddor it can almost be black and a sage has it's natural scent so you have to use a strong EO or FO to cover it up.