Dandelion petals (dried)
For looks: specks in the soap, or scattered over the top. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
Opens the calculator’s starter recipe with this additive in it. Nobody has published what a spoonful weighs, so weigh it and enter the grams.
What it is
The petals of dandelion flowers. Faiola picks hers where nothing has been sprayed and stirs them in at trace, where they give a soft, mild texture and a burst of colour.
Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
How much
- 1.27–2.55 tbsp per pound of oils filled in (from a published recipe that adds it to one part of the batch: the lower figure over the whole batch, the higher within that part) Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
The calculator suggests 1.27 tbsp per pound of oils, but nobody has published what a spoonful weighs: weigh it and enter the grams.
When and how
- Usually: at light trace.
- Stir it in as it is.
Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
What it does to the recipe
- It changes neither the lye nor the water: it is only weight in the bar.
Worth knowing
- Caution: Pick dandelions where nothing has been sprayed, and rinse them well. Faiola, Pure Soapmaking primary source
- Caution: Use it thoroughly dried: moisture left in it can bleed brown into the soap, and damp plant matter can go mouldy. Cable, The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners primary source, Lovely Greens supplier or guide
Spoons and drops
- No source weighs a spoonful of it: weigh it.
INCI name
CosIng has no single INCI name for it: label it by what it contains.
Recipes that use it
Guides that discuss it
Sources
Anne-Marie Faiola, Pure Soapmaking (Storey Publishing, 2016), chapter 10, Dandelion Zebra Stripes, 25.1 oz of oils: "8.3 ounces dandelion infusion (10 ounces distilled water infused with 0.5 ounce whole dandelions)" as the whole lye liquid: "Combine ½ ounce whole dandelions (stems, leaves, and petals) with 10 ounces distilled water in a pot and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, or until the water takes on a yellow tint. Strain the dandelions out of the water ... Set aside to cool to room temperature"; "The lye will turn the water a bright orange/yellow color." "2 heaping tablespoons dandelion petals", 1 tablespoon in each of two of four equal parts of the batter at very thin trace: "The petals add a very soft, mild texture to the bars as well as giving a burst of color." "Pick dandelions from a spot that has not been sprayed with chemicals, and rinse them well before using them in the soap."
Kelly Cable, The Natural Soap Making Book for Beginners (Althea Press, 2017): "Replacing 25 percent of the water with juice gives the bar a more golden color without browning or causing sugar difficulties"; most juices "turn a dark color within the soap, typically brown"; juices frozen "to a slush" before the lye; "when adding purées, always remove the same weight in water"; 2 ounces of puréed strawberries at light trace for 33 oz of oils, all of it in half of the batch, where "the sugars from the purée can cause this soap to possibly overheat"; "Beet root powder starts off a pretty, bright pink, but when added to soap, it turns brown"; "most herbs turn brown when added at trace. If you want to avoid this, add them to the top of your soap right before it sets"; "Make sure your herbs are very dry before adding them to the soap, as moisture left within herbs can bleed into the soap over time, leaving a brown halo". "Green can be made with spirulina, comfrey leaf, and parsley leaf". Activated charcoal: "Add 1 teaspoon per pound of soap". Recipes, per 31–35 oz of oils: "2 tablespoons ground turmeric" blended into the whole batch (32 oz), and "3 teaspoons ground turmeric" in one of four equal parts (31 oz); "2 teaspoons woad powder" and "1 tablespoon white kaolin clay", each in one of three equal parts (34 oz); 1 tablespoon of dried nettle leaf, or 2 tablespoons; 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon; 1 tablespoon of dried peppermint flakes, "plus more to sprinkle on top"; 1 tablespoon of steeped chamomile flowers at light trace and 2 on top; comfrey, "1 heaping tablespoon comfrey leaf powder" infused in 8 ounces of olive oil, 3 ounces of that oil in the recipe.
Lovely Greens, herbs and dried flowers in soap: "I tend to use 1-3 tsp of plant material per pound (454 g) of soap. One teaspoon for dense material, like poppy seeds, and three teaspoons for fluffier herbs, like calendula petals"; "Calendula flower petals don’t discolor in soap recipes"; "rose petals will turn rusty brown wherever they touch soap, and almost every herb turns dark brown when mixed in"; lavender, "Inside the soap, the buds turn brown"; "most fruit and vegetable juices or purees will turn your soap brown or fade to an unexciting tan or yellow"; "Botanicals can soften, mold, and rot if kept in moist or humid places"; "Too many dried seeds or herbs stirred in can feel scratchy or stop the soap from lathering properly".