I’ve been in a very colorful place lately, starting with my textile printing work, and now bleeding into soapmaking.
That has led me to further refine my use of natural soap colorants. In the past I’ve often just dumped the herb/spice in at the last minute, resulting in less than impressive results.
Take a look at these gorgeous soaps!
These soaps were colored with herbs and or/spices. Leaving the ground herbs/spices in results in a grainy texture that I didn’t care for. Instead, I infused my liquid oils with the herbs to get the color then strained out the herbs using a coffee filter in a funnel. This resulted in a gorgeous vibrant color with no grains or streaks.
The purplish (almost denim) soap was colored with Alkanet root. Strangely, alkanet root is a deep burgundy color, but turns soap purple. I’m still on a hunt for a natural burgundy color.
For one pound of soap, I used 1 teaspoon of alkanet root. The peachy colored soap was colored with Paprika. For one pound of soap I used 1 teaspoon of paprika.
Next time I think I’ll bump up the concentration and see if the purple comes out any deeper. I made my soap in (soap dedicated) crock pot. Hence the rough appearance.
AfroMartha 
Rustic and beautiful soaps!! That orange color is so intense and perfect for a mango-papaya-orange soap!!! I was wondering, to achieve that color for how long did you leave the paprika infusing the oil?
I’m sorry that it has taken me this long to respond. Thank you for checking out my post! I sort of ‘fried’ the paprika in the oil for just a few minutes. Just long enough for the color to leech out. 5 mins tops. I hope this helps (even though I”m really late!)