Things You'll Need:
- Lye soap mixture at light trace
- Additional oil or glycerin
- FD & C colorants
- Pigment-based colorant
- Alkanet
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Step 1
Prepare your favorite soap recipe. Work through the recipe as usual until your soap mixture reaches a light trace. Your soap mixture should have thickened until soap drizzled from the stirring spoon remains visible on top of the soap mixture.
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Step 2
Mix F, D and C dyes into a small amount of water. Avoid using chemical colorings not approved for use in cosmetics. A few drops is typically adequate to tint an entire recipe of soap, so add color drop by drop to your lye soap mixture when a light trace is achieved. Combine reds and blues to turn lye soap purple. You may find it helpful to experiment with various color combinations to achieve the exact purple you want.
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Step 3
Use natural pigments, like ultramarines, to create a dye that can turn lye soap purple. Ultramarine violet can be combined with ultramarine blue and black oxide pigments to create a purple color. Mix small amounts of the pigments into approximately 1 tbsp. of glycerin. Add up to 1 tsp. of pigment dye per lb. of soap at trace.
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Step 4
Stir powdered purple mica directly into your lye soap at trace to create purple soap. Cosmetic grade mica will create a glittery color and add a subtle sparkle to your soap. Add 1 tsp. at a time until you reach the desired color.
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Step 5
Infuse alkanet root into your soapmaking oil. Add 1 tsp of alkanet per cup of oil. Allow to sit in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3 days or longer. Replace 10 pecent of the oil in your recipe with the alkanet-infused oil to achieve a lovely natural lavender color.
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Step 6
Pour your soap into molds. Depending upon the colorant you have chosen, it may take several days to see the true color of your purple lye soap.
