Wax and Bubbles

…..for that fresh drunken Irish clean feeling.

Glycerin soap, clear for a more transparent green or white for a more solid green color
Soap dye in green
Soap molds in shamrock shape or other St. Patrick’s Day shape
Microwave safe liquid measuring cup
Spoon
Popsicle stick or coffee stirrer
Knife

If using bars of soap, cut into three pieces. If using purchased glycerin blocks, cut off 2-3 pre-measured chunks. Place glycerin soap into a measuring cup, microwave for 20 seconds), then in 10-second intervals until melted. Add colors. Add a few drops and stir with a spoon. If you want the color darker, simply add more dye.

Slowly pour the liquid soap into the mold. Set aside to harden for 45 minutes to an hour.

After soap has cooled completely, pop them out of the molds.

*While you’re in the festive mood, why not make a St. Patrick’s Day Green Beer Candle:*

A glass beer mug
Candle gel
Standard paraffin wax
An appropriate wick length
Green candle coloring and fragrance if desired
A wire whisk
Standard candle making equipment

Take the wick, make it longer than you would need and tie it around a pencil. Place the pencil length-wise across the lip of the mug. Melt the gel over med HIGH heat on the stove or in a microwaveable-safe dish in the microwave. Once the gel is liquefied add green coloring and fragrance if using. Once fragrance and color is incorporated, pour directly into mug. You might want to hold the wick by the pencil straight up from the middle to keep it straight while pouring. Before starting the next step, allow the gel to fully harden.

Next step is to melt the paraffin wax in the same manor as above. Either way will work fine. While the paraffin is melting your need to whip the wax so as to add bubbles to the wax. Pour the whipped wax directly on the top of the gel in the mug. Be sure to hold the wick straight up and down do that it is even with the rest of the candle and won’t burn sideways. Let everything harden completely for a day or two before burning. Or use it for your St. Patrick’s Day decor while you party it up Irish-style this evening.

Here’s some basic recipes on how to make soaps. Most of the soap on the market contains chemicals and colors that aren’t good for your skin or your body. Making them at home is a great way to bypass all of those harmful ingredients.

• Cirtus Beeswax Soap:

4 ounces (114 grams) glycerin soap base (available at any healthfood store)
10 drops grapefruit essential oil
1 teaspoon beeswax

How to:

Melt glycerin over low heat in a double boiler or microwave. Add beeswax and remove from heat. Stir until wax is melted. Add essential oil. Stir and pour into mold.
The trick to glycerin when using melt and pour soaps is to keep the heat as low as possible. Too much heat will cause a mushy or beaded appearance after a very short storage time. Keep glycerin soaps sealed in plastic to keep the glycerin from attracting moisture from the air.

• Lavender Soap:

2 cups glycerin soap
1/2 cup dried lavender blooms (ground up in a food processor)
7 drops lavender essential oil

How to:

Melt glycerin in double boiler or slowly in microwave. Add lavender bloomks, stir until slightly cooled. Add essential oil. Pour into molds. Cool.

• Green Tea Chammomile Soap:

2 cups glycerin soap base
1 tablespoon powdered chamomile
1 tablespoon glycerin or aloe vera
3 tea bags of green tea

How to:

Melt glycerin base in double boiler on low heat. Blend the green tea, tear open the bag and combine with glycerin or aloe. Stir this mixture into melted glycerin. Pour into small tupperware style containers and leave uncovered until cool.

**Marlee Matlin To Guest-Star on Nip/Tuck and Robyn Charles over at Watching Showtime has the details. Read about it here.**
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WAX AND BUBBLES PRODUCT SHOWCASE:

General Wax & Candle Company has been providing quality candles since 1949. Their origins are in institutional sales such as restaurants and churches. These institutions burn millions of candles per year and always insist on the best quality. Many insist on using only General Wax candles. They pride themselves in creating the best burning candles in the industry.

Most of us, when we are in a rush, will grab a shower gel on the shelf of the super market. But, have you ever really taken the time to look at what you are lathering on your skin? Some products contain sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (soap) and dye. And, for your information, sodium laureth sulfate, isn’t really soap. It’s a foamer. Made mostly of man-derived chemical combinations that make a foamy, sort of soap texture. Most people expect their body washes, face washes, and even their toothpastes to foam-up when they are using them. So man has made a cheap and easy why to do this.

These chemical combinations go down our drains and into out water systems. So instead of just brushing your teeth or washing off the summer sweat from mowing the lawn, or raking the leaves from the walk, we are actually going to end up drinking these “man-made” chemicals after they hit the water-treatment plant. How do we stop this? One way to acheive this is simple, stop buying products that contain these ingredients. If the market is down for the product the company will begin to suffer and eventually change their product ingredients. Of course this all in a perfect world.

Another way would be to use these products sparingly and to make our products that we use on a daily basis. One being a body cleanser. And here’s how:

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
1 cup fresh eucalyptus leaves
1 small cinnamon stick
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup mild liquid soap (can be found at health food stores nationwide)
1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin

Place the water and lemon juice on the stove and bring to a bowl. Place fresh herbs in a clean glass bowl. Pour the boiling water/lemon juice mixture over them, then allow mixture to steep for several hours until cool. Strain off liquid. Next, add the soap and glycerin and mix throughly. Store cleanser in a clena plastic container with a pour spout. To use, pour a dime-size amount of the gel onto an exfoliating sponge or wash cloth and gently massage your entire body. Rinse well with warm water, followed by a 30-second rinse-off of cool water. Do this routine especially in the morning during the winter months. It will not only wake you up but, but it will help keep your skin moist throughout the day during the winter months.

You can add fine grain sugar to this recipe as well and make your own body scrub. Or add salt and make a foot scrub. There is endless things you can add to this to make whatever you are needing for your specific body needs.

Don’t forget to ALWAYS label your products that you make.

**The new movie “Teeth” looks to be a kinky, fun thriller and over at Pop Culture Buzz you can watch the movie trailer posted by Keith on his article about the new movie. Read about “Teeth” and watch the movie trailer here.**

FUTURE POST LOOK-ON:

• Sore Muscle Soak

• Chocolate Facial Mask

• Herbal Facial Steam

• Herbal Massage Oil

• Antiseptic Mouth Wash

Make your own acne fighting soap. Can be used for troubled, oily skin as well. Here’s how:

You will need:

Sundried tomatoes (1/2 cup)
Clear Vegetable Glycerin (1 and 1/2 cups)
Pure Aloe (1/2 cup)
Pure peppermint essential oil (6 drops)
Stove or Microwave
Wooden Spoon
Stainless Steel Pot
Food Processor or the like
Ice trays or soap molds
Olive oil cooking spray
Wax paper
Butchers paper or plastic wrap
Marking pen or marker

*All of these ingredients can be found at any healthfood store.*

In a food processor you want to grind the tomatoes into a fine powder. Then sift them through a strainer to remove large chunks.

Heat the vegetable glycerin in the stainless steel pot and when melted add the aloe. Heat for 1 minute, stirring with the wooden spoon until heated through.

Add the ground tomatoes and the 6 drops of peppermint oil.

Heat again while stirring until well blended. Remove from heat promptly.

Spray ice cube trays or soap molds with olive oil spray. Pour mixture into the spouted measuring cup and then pour into trays or molds.

I like to stick mine in the refrigerator so they set faster, but you could leave them out at room tempurature as well. After soap sets and has cooled down, pop soaps out onto wax paper.

Let sit over night and then wrap in plastic wrap or butchers paper. Be sure and label your soap and what it does for the skin.

Makes roughly 2-3 medium sized soaps depending on your mold sizes. Smaller ones are great for traveling while the larger ones are great for home use. Make many and have them on hand.

If you are allergic to tomatoes, they can be replaced with dried grapefruit peel or orange peel. And chopped the same way.

**Do you have a Pet-Peeve? JM does over at Fiction Scribe with writters not wanting to use the word “said”. Read the whole story here and you might just agree.**

FUTURE POST LOOK-ON:

•Making decorative candles from things in your own yard.

•Coffee Wake-up scrub

•Sore muscle soak

•Candles made from soy

•How to make your own lip balm for this winter