The only thing big enough to hold the beast was the 8X8 silicone pan, but I didn't want to pour a lot of soap to make that one, so I made 3 more pterodactyls so I could have a pan of embedded soaps. The next step was to figure out how to make an amber coloured soap. I googled but didn't find anything that talked about a colour combination to make the colour I wanted, so I decided to experiment.
First lesson of 2014 in soap making: don't attempt anything new late at night, especially when the lighting in the room is less than ideal. I thought a combination of orange and yellow mica would make a good amber-ish colour, then a light switch went on in my head and said, how about turmeric? Turmeric is a beautiful colour and in the continuer, looks like the perfect colour. However, combined with everything else, it's a little dark.
Of the 4 soaps I liked this one the most. The top layer of soap didn't cover this one as much and the effect, I think is much better than say…
this one which looks like the dinosaur version of Alfred Hitchock's silhouette.
My next questions are, will the turmeric stain and make me look I went to a tanning salon of ill repute, and what the heck do I do with all the leftover pieces of orange-y soap? Wonder if the show, Orange is the New Black needs any soaps made for them.
Tanning salon of ill repute…hahahahaha!!! Why don't you try washing your hands with one of the bars and see? I could have sworn I'd read about other soapers using turmeric, so it must be okay. But I have no personal experience…since hubby cooks, I have never even handled it before.
ReplyDeleteYou know these seedy neighbourhoods in the 'burbs. ;) Actually you don't, but that's another story.
DeleteI think I've seen other soapers use turmeric as well, but usually in CP soaps, and I don't think they dumped in half their bottle of turmeric into the soap. But I did try a small sliver and nothing turned orange, so that was a good sign.
I'd go with Teresa suggestion and wash your hands with the soap! I've used turmeric before, but a small enough amount it didn't give me a rich color like I see in your soaps.
ReplyDeleteThe soaps are looking awesome!
I tried a small piece of the soap and it seemed to have washed without leaving any stains behind, which I'm happy about. I don't think most people would've used as much turmeric as I did Carrie, you'd think I was making a curry rather than soap, but I'm glad you like the colour.
DeleteOh, it's so dramatic-looking,the first one. I see his eye!
ReplyDeleteI don't believe turmeric will make you yellow, at least it doesn't in cp soap.
As usual, your humour is terrific, always fun to read you!
Thank you Maja, you are so sweet and supportive! There was just the right amount of orange soap in that first one to cover without hiding the entire dinosaur. I think you're right, I think he's giving us the evil eye. ;)
DeleteThe soap did stain my cloth that I was using to clean up the soap a bit, but at least it doesn't stay on the skin, so that's a good sign.
The first one looks great! It looks like it was frozen in time with mineralized ice.
ReplyDeleteI have used turmeric in cp soap and the suds didn't turn yellow. Did you put a lot?
You can chop up the excess orange soap and use them as embeds. I have been making a lot of embedded soaps because I have soaps that didn't quite make the cut in the looks department, so off to the chopping block.
Thanks Silvia. I like that term, mineralized ice, mind if I use it if I ever put this soap on my website?
DeleteI did put in a fair amount of turmeric, more so than I probably should've, but it's hard to tell what the colour is with poor lighting and bad eyes.
Good idea about the embeds, can you suggest another colour I should throw in as embeds to complement the orange?
By all means, please use the term mineralized ice. I don't even know if there is such a thing. When I saw your soap my imagination started turning. I was thinking of fossils preserved in ice but since your soap is orange, natural colored pools/lakes (like the ones in China that I saw in pictures) came to my head.
DeleteI don't feel I am good with color combinations, but I think orange can go with a wide range of colors-brown, lime or olive green, mustard, cream, indigo, to name a few.
Good luck with the embeds! :-)
We'll make mineralized ice a new term to be placed in the urban dictionary. :) That's a great thought about the coloured bodies of water, I don't' recall seeing them when we were in China, but I probably just wasn't paying attention.
DeleteI think you have great colour combination ideas, thanks for these ones!
Is the top soap colored with turmeric? It looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThey're actually both coloured with turmeric and orange and yellow mica Cee. The second picture, I just turned up the lighting so you could see the pterodactyl better.
DeleteI'm glad that you found a way to use the pterodactyl soap! I like the way it looks fossilized in amber. I haven't tried turmeric in soap, but I've heard of other soapmakers using it. Looks like it gives the soap a neat color!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny, I'm glad it worked out more or less. ;) It'll take a few more tries to get the right amount of soap to let the dinosaur show through a little more clearly. The turmeric definitely gives a nice colour to soap.
DeleteEmbedded soap is so fun to make! =)
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about that Anne-Marie, the possibilities are endless.
DeleteLovely colour you obtained using turmeric, Monica!
ReplyDeleteAnd such an interesting design! This would make a great soap for Halloween!
Thank you Nat! The turmeric definitely gives a very strong colour, and a little would've gone a long way. Great idea about making this for Hallowe'en!
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