The Elusive Green

I love the colour green.  Didn't realize it until quite recently, well, a few years back.  If asked I would have said red was my favorite colour.  I don't wear green much, but when we bought our home eleven years ago all the windows, doors, fences and roof were a dark green colour.  I guess that's when I discovered that I like the colour.  Then I bought green drapes for the bedroom.  Mostly because they were on sale and that was the only colour available.  And I like those green drapes in the bedroom.  They give a nice green glow into the bedroom in summer.  With the nights so light, it's an advantage to tone the bright light down to a calming green.

I thought I had found the solution to the problem of getting a green colour naturally in soaps.  It is one of the most difficult one to get from plants, both in soap and as a textile dye.  Which is counterintuitive since most plants are green, so what happens to all the green?  Well, it turns either yellow or brown because the Chlorophyll is not water-soluble and therefore can't be extracted in a water bath.  And furthermore, as I understand it, it does fade even if it is used in it's oil soluble form as a soap colour.  Apparently Chlorophyll is a combination of Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b and the a is a good dye and can be bought and used in soap.

I thought I had found a shortcut when I was given some very green tablets that were to be used as a nutritional supplement.  No way was I going to eat those pretty green things.  I had to try them in a soap.  Well, you've guessed it.  It really was a nice, nice green for a little while and then it faded.  I knew that!  Of course it faded.  I really knew that was going to happen.  It always does.  I just have to give up this naive hope that somehow I will find a perfect green that says green and doesn't turn olive and brown, or disappears.

But the soap was the Rosemary shampoo bar, slightly changed.

Olive oil         40%     280g / 9.9 oz
Coconut oil    30%    210g / 7.4 oz
Castor oil       20% 140g / 4.9 oz
Sunflower oil 10% 70g / 2.5 oz

Water 30% 210g / 7.4 oz
Lye 99g / 3.5 oz
3% SF.
 
I added a lot of Rosemary essential oil and shredded some soap on top to make it slightly more interesting, but it didn't really work.  I used too fine a grater and I like the look better without, but now I know that.  It has been curing for quite a while, actually 3 months now, but I finally tried it and it has a very strong and refreshing smell, a nice generous lather lather and my hair loved it.  I also really liked the first recipe, but this one may be an improvement, if only slight.  I probably needed more of the green tablets to give a strong lasting colour.  As it it the soap is a yellow green that's not really special.  But I'm getting ready to start dying yarn again.  I'm  going to do it very methodically this time and I'm starting with one of my favorite weeds, Rumex.