Experimenting with color in cold process soap is counfoundingly fun. There are many different colorant options, like pigments, LabColors and micas. One of my favorite parts of soapmaking is mixing various colorants together to create unique shades. Conversely, one of the toughest colors to achieve in cold process soap is red. Most colorants end up looking a little bit pink rather than a true, fire engine red. To find that “perfect red,” I did a lot of mixing and blending until I found that perfect shade. You can see my first round of testing on Instagram here; while all these red shades look great…they just weren’t quite perfect.
One of the reasons why it’s so hard to achieve a red color is because cold process soap batter is white, or cream colored. When you think about basic color theory, it makes sense; adding any color to a white base results in a more pastel shade. When you add colorant to cold process soap batter, it usually lightens up. To darken the color, you can add more colorant to the batter. Adding a red colorant to white soap base often lightens the colorant to a pink shade. To darken, you can add more colorant. Usually, once you add enough colorant to achieve a true red, the soap may have colored bubbles.
The CPOP Swirls tutorial features a classic red shade which is made brighter with a warm gel phase.
Because red is powerful primary color, it’s sad to write it off completely! In my soaping experience I’ve found that a mixture of one part Merlot Sparkle Mica to 2 parts Electric Bubble Gum Colorant creates a nice red hue. You can see an example of this color in the CPOP Swirls tutorial. In this project, the color is also affected by a hot extended gel phase. To learn more about how color is affected by gel phase, check out this blog post.
It’s important to keep in mind that with any color (and especially for red!) the hue may change slightly depending on several factors. One of these factors is the recipe. For example, if your recipe contains a large amount of olive oil, the batter will become more yellow. Any color that you add to the yellow base will have a slightly different hue than a soap with a cream or white base. Our recipe was 30% palm oil, 30% coconut oil, 30% sweet almond oil and 10% avocado oil. We used oils with more neutral hues to get a true red color.
Another factor is how the colorants are dispersed. I like to disperse my cold process soap colorants in a lightweight liquid oil at a ratio of 1 tablespoon oil to 1 teaspoon colorant. I find this makes the colorants easier to mix in. To learn how to disperse your cold process colorants, watch this Soap Queen TV video. If you disperse your colorants at a different ratio, you may need to add different amounts of dispersed colorants to your soap than I do to achieve the same color.
The last factor to keep in mind is temperature. The color of your cold process soap is greatly affected by gel phase. “Gelling” and “gel phasing” in cold process soap refers to a part of the saponification (soapmaking) process where the soap gets warm and gelatinous – up to 180 degrees. When cold process soap goes through gel phase and becomes hot, the colors become more vibrant. This is especially true for LabColors, learn more here.
Okay…now that all that is out of the way, let’s get to my red blends! Many of these blends turned out to be more of a berry shade, but I still wanted to share them with you because they are beautiful colors. There were also a few that were too pink, and too dark. Check out all my color swatches below. These shades were created with various combinations of Electric Bubble Gum Colorant, Merlot Sparkle Mica, Fizzy Lemonade Colorant, Tangerine Wow! Colorant and Brick Red Oxide. The color blends refers to the amount of color added per pound of soap. All of the colorants were mixed at a rate 1 teaspoon of color to 1 tablespoon of sweet almond oil. The measurements are dispersed colorant amounts. Yes…there is quite a bit of color in these shades. Some may lather color. All soaps went through gel phase.
Group A (Berry Tones) Shown above:
1.) 1/2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 1 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
2.) 4 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
3.) 3/4 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1/2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant+ 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
4.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Brick Red Oxide
5.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 1/4 tsp. Brick Red Oxide
6.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1/2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Group B (Orange Tones) Shown above:
7.) 1 1/2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
8.) 3 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 4 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
9.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 4 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
10.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant+ 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 1 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
11.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
12.) 2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 4 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant
Group C (Too Pink & Too Dark) Shown Above:
13.) 1 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 3 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant
14.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1/2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 1 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant+ 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
15.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Brick Red Oxide + 1 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
16.) 1 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow !Colorant + 3 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Do you have a favorite? My top three choices are below! I also threw in a spatula that is a bright, fire engine red for reference. Personally, my top choice is #8! Number 2 appears to be slightly more “berry” while number 9 is just slightly lighter. I’m so excited with #8…I think it looks amazing!
Favorites (Shown Above):
9.) 2 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 2 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 4 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
8.) 3 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 4 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
2.) 4 tsp. Electric Bubble Gum Colorant + 1 tsp. Merlot Sparkle Mica + 2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Colorant + 2 tsp. Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Have you found your perfect blend of red in cold process? I would love to hear if you’re willing to share =)
