Mica powder, not just any colour, is what your soap needs to seem vibrant and lively. Mica powder can add brilliant, dazzling hues to melt-and-pour and cold-process soaps quickly and easily. Fortunately, an infinite range of mica colours is available, enabling you to produce vivid, eye-catching hues that complement the aroma of your bars.
Mica powder is simple to blend, eliminates colour blending, and prevents colour morphing. This article will discuss the ideal applications for mica powder in manufacturing soap.
What Are Mica Colorants?
Muscovite is used to create the colourful powder known as mica. Epoxy resin, soap, candles, cosmetics, and even translucent polymer clay are all made with this mineral to provide colour and sheen. While pigments are the actual colours, mica primarily provides a dazzling or glittering look, which sets it apart from pigment powder.
Best Ways To Use Mica Powder In Soap Making
Your products and handmade recipes look better and are more brilliant, colourful, and appealing when produced with mica powder. It also fights off merging, bleeding, and morphing. Check out the top applications for mica powder now.
Mica Powder In Melt And Pour Soap Making
Making soap can be difficult, so use the melt-and-pour method with mica powder if you want to produce soap but want to avoid the inconvenience of lye. Five hundred grams of soap can be made using this.
Ingredients List:
- Mica Powder - 1 Teaspoon
- Sweet Almond Oil - 2 Teaspoons
- Rubbing Alcohol - 1 Teaspoon
- Melt And Pour Base - 500 Grams
- Lavender Fragrance Oil - 10 Drops
- Rosehip Seed Oil - 10 Drops
- Dried Flower - 1 Teaspoon
Method:
Step 1: One teaspoon of rubbing alcohol should be combined with one teaspoon of mica powder. Another way to avoid air bubbles in the recipe is to add rubbing alcohol to the soap colourant mixture.
Step 2: Review the hue produced after stirring the mica powder, oil, or alcohol mixture.
Step 3: If you like the hue, keep going with the colouring steps; if not, change the colour by blending in a little more mica powder.
Step 4: If adding more mica powder makes the mixture too thick, thin it up by adding one more drop of carrier oil or rubbing alcohol.
Step 5: For every 500 grams of melted handmade soap, one teaspoon of mica powder solution should be added.
Step 6: To prepare the melt and pour for the soaps, cut it into cubes and microwave or double boiler it until melted.
Step 7: Add colour, dried flowers, aroma, and essential oils when the wax melts.
Step 8: Immediately after removing the melted soap base from the microwave or double boiler, add the teaspoon of mica powder solution for colour.
Step 9: Pour the soap solution into the moulds once everything has been completed.
Step 10: Wait 3–4 days before using the soap combination. Once the soaps have dried completely, remove them from the mould (they will pop out of it once ready).
Mica Powder In Cold Process Soap Making
Cold-process soap production with mica powder is the traditional method when creating soap. Only 500 grams of this cold process soap are intended to be produced; more components can be added in the same proportion to produce more soap using the same method.
Ingredients List:
- Virgin Coconut Oil - 6 Tablespoons
- Virgin Olive Oil - 10 Tablespoons
- Palm Oil - 8 Tablespoons
- Lye - 4 Tablespoons
- Distilled Water - 9 Tablespoons
- Mica Powder - 1 Teaspoon
- Sweet Almond Oil - 2 Teaspoons
- Rubbing Alcohol - 1 Teaspoon
- Vanilla Fragrance Oil - 8-10 Drops
- Vanilla Essential Oil - 8-10 Drops
- Dried Flower - 1 Teaspoon
Method:
Step 1: When the lye has completely dissolved, and the solution is clear, add the lye to the water slowly and carefully. Put aside for cooling.
Step 2: Combine the coconut, olive, and palm oils; properly melt and blend the entire jar of palm oil before dividing it into portions. Ideally, you want the lye water and the oils to drop to a temperature within 10 degrees of each other or below 55°C. The lye and oils for this recipe were both at or around 50°C.
Step 3: Sodium lactate can be added to the cooled lye water if you'd prefer a firmer bar of soap that comes out of the mould more quickly. Use one teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of the recipe's oils. About two tablespoons of sodium lactate would be needed for this recipe.
Step 4: Incorporate the oils with your stick blender. If any bubbles were caught by the stick blender head, gently tap the blender on the bottom of the bowl several times to release them.
Step 5: Pour the cooled lye water into the oils through the stick blender's shaft until bubbles are no longer visible on the surface of the oils.
Step 6: Pulse the stick blender many times after turning it on. Instantaneously, you'll notice the lye and oils combining to produce a creamy golden tint. Pulse the stick blender in between, stirring the contents with the stick blender. Check for traces after around 30 seconds.
Step 7: Add your essential oil, fragrance oil, and dried flowers during this stage.
Step 8: One teaspoon of mica powder and one tablespoon of 99 per cent rubbing alcohol should be combined for colour.
Step 9: Rubbish alcohol works far better to produce brilliant colour and can help decrease air bubbles than water, especially distilled water. However, both can be used.Step 10: Examine the shade you produced after combining the mica powder with the cold-process soap base.
Step 11: Add more mica powder in increments of 1/4 teaspoon if you desire a darker or more vivid colour. If your mixture becomes very thick, you may need to add more water or rubbing alcohol. Before adding more, add the additional liquid in a small amount, whisk it in completely, and check the colour and texture.
Step 12: Pour your soap into the mould until all of it is there after it reaches medium trace. To ensure you get every last particle of soap, scrape the bowl's sides.
Step 13: Tap the soap container on the counter hard once it has all been poured into the mould. Isopropyl alcohol 99% should be sprayed on the soap's top. Spend 3–4 days letting the soap cure in the mould. Unmold, then cut into bars. After 4-6 weeks of curing, the soap should be ready.
Conclusion
Ready to give these methods a go in your upcoming soap-making endeavor? For colouring melt-and-pour and cold process soaps, VedaOils provides a variety of vivid micas and glow-in-the-dark pigments. To try our mica powder for soap making, visit us at VedaOils.com and get exciting offers on your purchase. Join the family of market-leading manufacturers and distributors.