Natural Soap Colorant

So BUTTERFLY PEA was history. However, there is a myriad of natural soap colorant waiting to be explored. RED YEAST is pretty interesting because they were used as a red food coloring in local cuisine. In soaps, they turned out pastel peach.

Red Yeast

SESSILE JOYWEED which was supposedly pink did not have the same effect. TURMERIC left the soap all orangey.

And then, there were COMMERCIAL FOOD COLORING, some in liquid form, others powdered. Powdered Food coloring

Liquid Food Coloring

I was informed that food coloring were not pH stable and that some were wont to "morph". (whatever that meant) Furthermore, with the long curing period in cold process soap, will the colors keep? Still, I was at the experimental stage so I guess for now, it's anything goes.

Red Yeast / Food Coloring

Next, I experimented with some pretty expensive Australian NATURAL DYE. These colors were extracted from plants and minerals and came in a pack of four small vials. In the soap on the right, you will see a wavy band of purple cutting right across the middle ... if you ... like me, have any sense of imagination.

Purple Natural Dye

If brown is your color, you won't be short of natural browns. JAVANESE LULUR, COFFEE, COCOA, CINNAMON as soap additives made them brown. Even GREEN TEA had this effect, which was awkward because I had expected GREEN TEA to be ... well ... green! Green tea

Bon Coffee / Powdered Rice

BAMBOO CHARCOAL provided a deep contrast and is a dream to play around with.

Bamboo Charcoal

For natural green, my favorite colorants are MORINGA, MINT, KAFFIR LIME, SCREW PINE and SPIRULINA. Kaffir Lime

Spirulina OREGANO soaps were dirty green depending on how much of the herb went into the soap.

Screwpine / Powdered Goat Milk

Moringa

Meanwhile, the blues remained elusive. A little research was in order so I braced myself for the laborious enterprise. Oh bother! The blues had something to do with purple and both were linked to green by a chain of pH values.

A paradigm shift was in order. Purple is the new hot shot. Off to the grocery I jogged with a bunch of MANGOSTEENS in my head. They're purple, aren't they? I bought some, dehydrated the outer pulp and pounded them on a mortar. They were extremely hard and I did not want to snap my blender blade. After the pounding, they were grounded in a commercial blender. Finally, mangosteen powder in the jar. I know. That powder isn't purple but the pigment's in there somewhere.

Mangosteen

So I proceeded with the next batch of mangosteen soap.  They turned out pale brownish green. What went wrong, for crying out loud? Where did the purple go?

mangosteen

It was imperative to learn where the purple pigment was stored. From here I discovered that the outer husk of the mangosteen is called the Pericarp. This pericarp consists of the outer exocarp, the inner mesocarp and the innermost endocarp. Our purple pigment is stored in the exocarp. I'll need to seriously look into breaching the exocarp.

Not to be routed without a fight, I turned my next attention to RED CABBAGE, which as you know is purple instead of red. When you stir fry them with eggs, the eggs turn blue. (as in the blobs of blue on the right) So the red cabbage which is purple was peeled off, dehydrated and crushed into powder. I did not have enough in the blender so some parts were in chunks.

Red cabbage tossed with strips of omelette

Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage

I finally found my purple soap. Will you just look at that color on the right? It is unmistakably purple. If you look hard enough, you will see tiny streaks of green and blue. That is due to the pH factor.

Red Cabbage

I have never seen a more beautiful soap. It had only one fault. It stank to high heaven!

Little Duckies

Butterfly Pea

Butterfly Pea (aka Clitoria) produced a rich blue food coloring when it's flowers were immersed in hot boiling water. This natural food coloring is used exclusively in Nyonya cuisine. Butterfly pea is a creepy creeping creeper. (Nah ... Forget the creepy part. I just liked the way it sounded.) The peas in the pea pod are edible. I was captivated by this plant for two reasons: its potential as a soap additive. it's classification as a legume. And what is so cool about legumes? Here's something that caught my eye a couple of years ago.

Butterfly pea

The story began with an old farmer's gaze across his little farm. His wife (and soulmate) had died a few years prior. His son was a corporate lawyer in the city. The afternoon stretched its listless arm into the horizon. A solitary figure appeared like a speck of dirt bobbing in the distant mirage. The speck of dirt grew bigger at the old man's penetrating gaze and soon, a familiar face grinned boyishly in his direction. The old man's wrinkled face broke into a smile. Blessed be that speck of dirt for is that not his grandson? They spent many hours together, lazying in the sun, listening to the trees whisper their secrets to the wind, reminiscing and sharing quiet moments. "Legumes are a wonderful crop. They return the nitrates to the soil so if you plant any crop, be sure to rotate them with legumes." The old man whispered to his grandson that last evening when the sun's glow was sinking in the horizon.

Pea pod

On the following morning, the lad had to return to the city. Hugging his grandson dearly to his bosom, the old man mumbled, "Remember what I said about the legumes."

That was the last time they met. On the following week, they were informed that the old man had died. The farm was bequeathed to his grandson.

So, legumes are cool! They are good for your soil. God's gift to Mother Earth ... yada-yada-yada!

The rich blue coloring appeared when the flowers were immersed in hot boiling water. Pouring the blue liquid into my Bohemian crystal seemed like a good idea only if a squirt of honey entered the equation. In the picture on the right, the wine glass in the background is filled with the rich blue butterfly pea drink. A few drops of lime was added to the glass in the foreground. The drink turned purple. When more lime juice were added, the color became a nice pink.

Inspired by the above experiment, I was ready to use this plant as an additive in my cold process Marseille soap. Having cooled down the blue solution, I poured in the lye. Oh, Mother of Joy! To be at the fringe of a new discovery. How I held on to my breath and stilled my beating heart.

To my consternation and utter disbelief, the blue color ... so intense ... so rich, disappeared after a few swirls. What the - ! Dangit! What in the name of the dastardly insect of an amphibious maggot just happened? Where did the blues go? Oh, horror of horrors!

Yet, there were online stores selling rich blue butterfly pea soaps. How did they do it? 

Duly humbled by the dastardly lye, I gathered my scheming wits to contrive a devious plan. I'll get past the lye. I'll add the blue food coloring after the base and the oils are whisked to trace. It was as good a plan as any plan could be. And it was as bad a plan as any plan could get. The entire affair left me in ill humor.

With the Rule of Threes in mind, I could not conceivably give up this Fool's Errand so I thought about plant powder. I harvested more flower petals, dehydrate and made mincemeat out of them in a food blender. Behold, the blue powder!

They were added after the trace. I could see blue specks in the soap. Oh Mother of Jubilation! This is a success story waiting to be told.

Two days later, the soaps were unmolded and cut. Brown specks betrayed their ugly secrets.

In my list of Natural Soap Colorant, butterfly pea was quietly struck out.

Thieves in the garden.

There was a loud thud on the ground near me. One of my mangoes must have fallen, I thought, as I peered into the darkness. I heard leaves rustling above and, looking up saw something leap between the branches. It was too big to be a squirrel. Then it climbed up the utility pole. Against the dimming light, I could make out some animal which looked like a cat. I've never seen a cat climb up a utility pole and wondered if my eyes were deceiving me. 

It's tail was long and thin.

A civet cat, perhaps?

Second Workshop

So we organised a second workshop for me old school chums. These are the soaps that Shrik, Rad and Sal (not their real names)  made.

Bravo, Kiddos!

Don't Drop The Soap!

A little tongue in cheek, no doubt. It had no reference to the soaps in this post.

Sessile Joyweed Powder Citronella EO Red food coloring

Oats & Beetroot powder Lemongrass EO red food coloring

Lavender EO Bamboo charcoal

Leftovers

Kafir Lime

Top: Kafir Lime Bottom Left: Green tea Bottom Right: Myrrh EO / Turmeric

Nantucket Briar FO Cubes of green tea / kafir lime

Pain in finger joints

"Rheumatoid Arthritis," declared the expert at the online Medical Forum.

"Poor blood circulation," remarked Mrs Owl. (not her real name.) "Immerse your hands in hot water boiled with crushed ginger every night for about a month. The pain will disappear."

"Toxin!" cried Mrs Detox (not her real name) "You need to sign up for the Ayurveda Detox treatment."

I wish my troubles will go away...

Peranakan Jewelry

I noticed from statistics that quite a fair bit of readers were interested in Peranakan Jewelry as evidenced by the hits on that old post. This came as a surprise since I had only expected readership from my immediate social circle. In any case, I visited the Green Mansion late last month to see if I could pick up anything interesting.

The place was crowded with tourists.

Sitting majestically amongst the Peranakan antiquities were modern pieces. One of them stood out like a sore thumb. It was a platinum bracelet embedded with emeralds and diamonds. The price tag on that piece will make your heart go boom-boody-boom! What is a piece like that doing in a place like this, I wondered as I ogled at the magnificent piece.

The solitaire rings were all gone. So were some interesting wrist chain that once caught my eye. Business is good, said the lady at the counter. And to think I once had reservations about picking up antique pieces with dubious pasts.

Mind you, I've read many a wild story about dead people with strong attachments to their jewelry so the procurement of said pieces did come with a fair bit of misgivings. They're only stories, I know. But still ...

When I bought my first pieces, I hinted as much to the lady at the counter. She grasped my drift at once and laid my qualms to rest.

"Get a new ceramic bowl and fill it with water and a pinch of salt. Drop your jewelry into it and leave overnight. That'll take care of everything," said the good lady.

Now we did not deliberate on her "everything" for it wasn't polite to discourse at great length about the spooks. However, I am glad to report that after acquiring the pieces for close to two years, and having performed the "everything" ritual mentioned aforesaid, nothing of the spine-chilling blood-curdling variety had befallen my fellow shopper and me.

Batik Painting

Forget about hot liquid wax. Recently, I discovered Cold Liquid Wax which made batik painting quite the breeze it should be. The package came with three nozzle sizes, is inexpensive and easy to use.

A Little Bit of Jody.

Santa Jody at Christmas

And here's that frightful looking thing on that first day.