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.

This is a fun project for kids and even some adults.

Materials for the Swiss Cheese Candles:
• Beeswax strips or pellets (Can be found at any craft store or healthfood store)
• Candle Wicks or Tappered Candle
• 2 Pint Milk Carton
• Crushed Ice

Instructions:

Cut off the top of the milk carton so that you have a “box” with one end open. Next, Melt wax over medium heat. Place one of the wicks into the milk carton and fill the carton with the ice. Be sure that the wick is centered and is as long as the carton. Next, pour the melted wax into the carton filling to the top. Let sit until hardened and the ice has melted, then carefully cut and peel away the carton from the candle. You will now have a candle. The ice in the carton caused the wax to quickly harden around the crushed ice. The result is a “swiss cheese” looking candle. Each one looks a little different! These must be handled carefully after because the swiss cheese nature of the candle makes it fragile.

You can use colored candles or colored crayons or wax to give it a different effect each time. These are particularly fun to make and use only about 2-or-3 crushed cubes and once they are done, put a ribbon through one of the Swiss Cheese holes and tie to a package along side the gifting bow. But have fun with it and be creative.

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• Spicy Mouthwash

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• More On Room Scents

The bottom line in candle making is patience. Next would come the equipment. If you have been wanting to make you own candles but just haven’t really know where to start, there is candle making kits avaliable almost everywhere, even Wal-Mart. The best candle making kit that I have run across is at Great Candle. They pretty much include in their kit everything you will need in order to get started right away. Their kits include:

• Votive Kit $28.00 - Perfect Kit to start with, Kit contains: 4 lbs of Soy/Blend votive wax, 8 votive molds, 32 wicks 4 - 1oz. bottles of fragrance, Honeydew Melon, Apples and Berries, Kiwi Strawberry, Cherry, approx 1/2 red color block, approx. 1/2 green color block, and complete instructions . Kit makes approx. 32 candles.

• Basic Soy Container Kit $28.00 - Perfect for the beginner. Kit contains: 5.25 lbs Southern Scentsations GW Soy, 12 Jelly jars, 12 Htp wicks, 3.95 oz’s of Southern Apple Pie, 3.95 oz’s of Love Spell fragrances, a Red Dye Block. Kit contains instructions, and Candle Making tips.

• Deluxe Soy Container Kit $75.99 - Kit includes all of the Basic Soy Kit: 5.25 lbs Southern Scentsations GW Soy, 12 Jelly jars, 12 Htp wicks, 3.95 oz’s of Southern Apple Pie, 3.95 oz’s of Love Spell fragrances, a Red Dye Block. Kit contains instructions, and Candle Making tips. Plus you get a Presto Pot for melting wax, A Pouring Pot, Thermometer, and a Ladle.

You can take any of these candle making recipes and supplies and add an essential oil to them and make them original and your own. You can even get a register from your own state and patent these candles for profit. Simple as that. The more you make the better you will get and the more you experiment with oils and floral scents the more you will learn about what scents last longer and what scents don’t.

More supplies you may need are as follows.

° Wicks

° Dye

° Containers

° Molds

° Scents

**Is Sara Sidle (aka Jorja Fox) leaving CSI Las Vegas for good? Over at Watching CSI, KD Griffin talks about what will happen on tonights show and whether that question will be answered or not. Read the whole story here.**

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• Sore Muscle Soak

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Fancy molds for candle and soap making come in almost every shape, size, and pattern you can imagine. Just try a Google search for “soap molds” and you’ll see what I mean! Molds are a great investment, since they can be used over and over again. Sometimes, though, everyday household items can turn into perfect soap and candle molds.

Things to Consider

The main thing to keep in mind when using recycled or “out of the box” molds is that the material of the mold itself has to be able to stand up to the heat of melted wax, soap base, or hot or cold process soap. Make sure the material is non-reactive, considering all of the ingredients that are going to be poured into it. Some essential oils will damage plastics, or react badly with metals.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, if you’re using caustic ingredients such as lye, you might not be able to use your mold again for its intended purpose. This is especially true for kitchen items, as mixing food with lye-soaked materials just isn’t safe no matter how well you wash things out.

Recycled Items

Before you throw away an old container, think about giving it a new life and purpose by using it as a mold. Milk and juice cartons are great for both soap and candles. Just wash them out and cut them down to the size you want, and make your crafts as usual. When the soap or candle has hardened, peel away the carton. This method works especially well when you want to make soap or wax chunks for other projects.

Other recycled things you can use are small yogurt containers, Pringles cans, small boxes lined with heavy duty waxed paper, plastic drawer liners, and even old drawers themselves can be turned into hot or cold process soap molds.

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