My Colours

posted in: Birgit's Soap Bar, Soap | 0

All my colours are plant or clay based.

Woad

All my blues and greens have woad in them. It’s a traditional plant based blue dye. The Celts loved it so much they painted their whole body in it when they went into battle (allegedly).

Photo of flowering woad plant.
Turmeric

Plant based yellow dye, good enough to eat. It’s in my yellows and greens.

Photo of turmeric root, slices and powder.
Charcoal

It’s what you get when you burn wood in a fancy controlled way. Makes everything black.

Manjistha or Indian Madder

Similar to Rose Madder derived from the ground roots of the plant. Makes light pink to dark red burgundy soaps.

Beetroot Powder

Starts off the colour of red beetroot. The power of soap transformation makes it a lovely… beige.

Annatto Seeds

From the tropical parts of America used as a spice or food colouring. I soak them in my olive oil to make my soaps orange, sometimes real neon orange, depending on quality of seeds and length of infusion.

Coffee

I use coffee in varying strengths to get a brown colouring.

Filter coffee being made and weighed.
Cocoa Powder

Also makes lovely browns. Good enough to eat. But don’t!

Kaolin Clay

Only colour I use which isn’t plant based. Parrots and humans apparently eat it to settle upset stomachs. I use it to make my soap whiter. It’s actually China clay and you can make pots out of it as well.

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