What an interesting brown I got with this soap, when I first took it out of the mould! Aiming for green... but I like this brown. The liquid in this soap is mostly stong Green Tea (steeped for 2 days) with a little goat milk at trace. I also used Olive & Castor Oils infused with Green Tea. I think the little white swirls/streaks on the top are the result of soap left unmixed at the bottom which gets scooped/ poured on top. This leads me to believe that the Essential Oils I added at trace also affected the colour. The strange thing about this soap is that it is OOOZING oils. All I did to the recipe was attempt to lower the coconut oil slightly and increase the liquid quantity slightly. Of course I adjusted the lye accordinly. I think my non-precision scale might have something to do with it. As I am working with such small quantities in my experimenting, even 2 grams can make a difference.
Here is another photo taken 24 hours later of the same soap... the initial pretty brown is gone and it has turned into a dark chocolate brown! Not bad but not the initial warm & intriguing brown...
Another strange thing - this time I used loose green tea leaves steeped in water. In the past, when I have used green tea before, I used green tea bags in a package bought from the local supermarket. It produced a completely different colour!
I must admit that I steeped it longer than usual this time.
Although I love experimenting, I do not want to get tired of 1 experiment as I did with Alkanet, so I may do a couple more Green Experiments, then put it on hold for a while and possibly switch colours.
Next experiment: Half water, half green tea
5 comments:
Hi Jen, what an interesting transformation! The colors look so different, it's like looking at two different batches. Have you considered infusing green tea leaves in the oil? I know that some of those who've successfully created a nice green color with green tea infuse the leaves in their oil first.
Hey Jen, I've never gotten any color but brown ranges when working with green tea so I'm very curious to follow this new experiment. Thanks for posting:)
Cada vez te salen mejor los jabones. estos últimos son preciosos. Enhorabuena Jen.
Very interesting, my "Mad Scientist" friend! I love that bottom soap with the white top...looks like dessert!
Between Friends - I am infusing Green Tea leaves now. I had used olive and castor oil infused for only a couple of days for this soap (at your suggestion from another of your comments!) but I am leaving it for another month or so and will try again.
Cocobong - Also usually get browns, but am getting nice browns! Will keep trying. Will try an infused oil soap in a month or so and will post.
Sergio - Muchas gracias
Soap Sister - This bottom soap was an older version of green tea... Glad you enjoyed the pix! xo Jen
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