Glycerin soaps offer potential at-home soap makers an easy access point to the craft that doesn’t involve the monetary and supply investments that cold-process soaps require. While glycerin bases are easy to melt in the microwave and pour into molds, you might have run into some issues the first time you tried to dye your glycerin using soap-approved colorants. Many tutorials tout how easy the dyeing process is, and yet many soap makers end up with streaky or lumpy colored creations.
There are a few key tips to mixing colorants into glycerin handmade soaps that are relatively easy and should work effectively every time. Make sure you use a clear base for the most vibrant results and measuring spoons to make sure you use the same amount of colorant each time.
Stick with Liquid Colorants – or Mix Your Own
Colorants come in two primary formats: powder or liquid. Liquid colorants are easier to mix into glycerin, since you don’t have to worry about clumps that can form when you use powder colorant. But what if the colorant you crave only comes in powder form?
You can mix your liquid colorant using the powdered pigment and diluted, liquid-form glycerin that you can find at most craft supply stores. Start with one measuring spoonful of the pigment into a small, empty dropper bottle. Slowly add in the liquid glycerin, stirring with the dropper as you go, until the pigment is fully and evenly suspended in the glycerin.
When it comes time to use the liquid colorant, many tutorials advise a certain number of drops, but that isn’t a scientific, easily replicated measurement. Place the drops instead into a small measuring spoon and then use the filled spoon to do your dyeing.
Dye a Test Batch First – Then Use the Test Batch.
Even perfectly-made liquid colorant can go in streaky or not true to the color you desired if you don’t have practice with the technique. Avoid ruining an entire batch of soap by first melting a small cup of glycerin and then using your liquid dye, measured out in the spoon, to tint that batch. Repeat the process until you get the desired result for the consistency of the color. If you’re trying to practice the hue, go a few shades darker than what you want.
Why darker? Once you successfully dye the test batch, you can stir the batch into the main batch of soap to use as a sort of larger-scale liquid colorant. You need to make sure that the test batch hasn’t started to solidify or reheat so that the test batch is about at the same temperature as the main batch. Otherwise, you will end up with lumps or swirls of color instead of a smooth, permeating color.