Wax and Bubbles

Lifebuoy soap has been around since 1895, but it really became a household name for the later generation when the movie A Christmas Story came out in 1983 when Ralphie had to sit with it hugged between his lips for using swear words.

Lifebuoy Soap Company changed its name to Lifebuoy Health soap and the same company coined the term “B.O.” (Body Odor) for bad odor as part of their marketing company for the soap. Lever Brothers banked on that very phrase to help sell their soap. Tell consumers that “B.O.” is unsanitary and to rid yourself of it, you need Lifebuoy Soap.

Lifebuoy continues today as they have since they started their products to have a healthier, cleaner world to live in. In the 1930’s a campaign in the US encouraged the use of Lifebuoy soap to remove germs on hands that can cause health issues, with the slogan ‘Clean Hands Help Guard Health’. With this campaign, began the rise in Lifebuoy soap sales that continue in to today as well.

Lifebuoy soap is still available in the United States and can be found in many specialty shops nation wide. There is Lifebuoy soap collector’s items found through the world and many signs and postcards as well as magazine advertisements still contain the original logo that first coined the Lever Brothers with Lifebuoy soap. As the postcard below shows.

If you are interested in purchasing Lifebuoy soap for yourself or for a gift, you can find the soap at many specialty shops nationwide. Below is a list of many of the specialty stores that Lifebuoy Soap can be found out, you can even purchase the soap off the internet as well. You can buy body was, hand soap and the original Lifebuoy red soap on these sites as well.

1. Ayurvedic & Herbal Health Medicine: Carries the original Lifebuoy Red Soap as well as the Lifebuoy Clear skin Soap for under $3.

2. Zazzle: Carries Lifebuoy Soap merchandise, from bags to shirts to even Lifebuoy socks.

3. Soaps Gone By: Carries the original red, easy grip soap for under $3.

…..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.

Making Peppermint Soap:

40 oz Olive oil
20 oz Palm Kernel oil
20 oz Pam oil
20 oz Coconut oil
5 oz Jojoba oil (added at trace)
4 oz Lavender EO (added at trace)
2 oz Peppermint EO (added at trace)
6 oz Alcanet diffused in 8 oz olive oil (added at trace)
34 oz filtered water
14.5 oz lanolin
Combined oils and lanolin at 100 degrees F. Mixed with stick blender. Poured into loaf mold and covered with plastic wrap. Wrapped in blankets for 24 hrs and then cut into thick strips of soap and wrap in cloth or plastic wrap. Store in a cool, dry location.

Making Peppermint Lip Balm:

1½ oz beeswax pellets
1 oz cocoa butter
1½ oz shea butter
2 ozs. sweet almond oil
1-2 teaspoons peppermint essential oil
1 teaspoon vitamin E liquid

In a very small pan, add the beeswax and melt over the lowest setting.
Once melted add the cocoa butter chunks and shea butter, let melt, and
then add the sweet almond oil. Heat through. Add the Vitamin E oil.
Remove from stove and pour into a glass measuring cup for easy pouring
into lip balm containers.

Add the peppermint oil. Stir peppermint oil in
and pour into lip balm containers. If the mixture starts to harden, place in
the microwave for a few seconds to re-melt and then pour. Makes 6 oz.

Making Peppermint Lotion:

3 tbsp paraffin
1/2 cup shea butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp glycerin
10-15 drops peppermint essential oil

Slowly heat paraffin with the oils in a double boiler. Stir until blended. Add in the glycerin and remove from heat. Let cool before using.

Making Peppermint Scented Candles:

1/2 teaspoon peppermint essential oil
Wicks
Wick holder
1/2 pound beeswax
1/2 pound soy wax
Small paintbrush

1. In a double boiler, heat beeswax and soy wax until melted, about 180 degrees. Check temperature with a candy thermometer. Turn off the heat and add peppermint oil.

2. Cut 3 inches of wick; tie a knot at one end. Thread the loose end through a wick holder, and pull so the knot is secure under the holder.

3. Dip the wick and holder with wax until coated; this will stiffen and straighten the wick. Press the wick holder into the bottom of your candle holder to affix. Let the wick dry.

4. Pour the wax into the candle, and fill to the edge. Let the candle dry for about 4 hours.

• Homemade Grass Soap

What you’ll need:
Scissors
Wheatgrass
Blotter paper
Flower press
Glycerin soap
Sharp knife
Glass measuring cup
Grass fragrance
4-inch mini loaf pan
Spray bottle filled with
Rubbing alcohol
Waxed paper
Twine

Cut a 5-inch-square section from a flat of wheatgrass. Pull out individual blades with roots attached, and lay in a single layer on a sheet of blotter paper. Top with another piece of blotter paper. Sandwich between pages of a flower press. Let dry, two to three days. Cut glycerin soap (we used clear and white) into small pieces with a sharp knife. Fill measuring cup. Microwave on medium heat until melted. If desired, add a few drops of grass fragrance.

For a bar with long blades: Trim the dried grass to desired length, removing roots. Pour a thin layer of glycerin into a loaf pan. Lay five to seven blades on top, and let dry for 30 seconds. Spray with alcohol to eliminate bubbles, cover with more glycerin, and spray again with alcohol.

For a bar with chopped grass: Mix cut dried grass into glycerin, and pour into pan; spray with alcohol. Let harden, 2 hours. Freeze 20 minutes; release from pan. For gifts, wrap stacked bars in waxed paper, and secure with twine.

• Striped Soaps

What you’ll need:
Glycerin soap
Peppermint oil
Plactic spoon
red food coloring or natural colors
Loaf pan
Fork
Knife
Cellophane
Tape
Twine

1. Melt the glycerin according to the package instructions, using 1/4 cup at a time.

2. Stir in a drop of peppermint oil (available at most health-food stores) with a plastic spoon; for the clear glycerin, add drops of red food coloring, stirring until you get the desired hue.

3. Pour the 1/4 cup of melted soap into the loaf pan. Let cool for 20 minutes.

4. Score the top with a fork. Repeat, alternating colors, until the pan is full.

5. Let set for 4 hours. Pop soap out of pan, and slice into bars.

6. Wrap each bar in cellophane; tape it shut, and tie with bakery string.

• Savon de Marseille

What you’ll need:
Tools and Materials
Double boiler
Olive oil-based soap
Essential oils
French green clay
Milk carton or mold
Knife
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 cup warm water

1. In a double boiler, completely melt a block of olive oil-based soap, but don’t let it boil. Meanwhile, add about a teaspoon of French green clay per pound of soap.

2. Once the soap is melted, add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon essential oil per pound of soap base.

3. Pour the melted soap mixture into a mold, filling it to about 1 1/2 inches from the top. Allow the soap to sit until it is cool and hard, at least 2 hours.

4. Once it’s hard, use a knife to slice the soap into 1 1/2-inch bars.

5. Combine about 1 tablespoon fine sea salt and 1 cup warm water. Wash the soap bars in this salt-water solution. Let soap dry completely, then rinse it in plain warm water. (Source: Martha Stewart Crafts)

Almost as appealing as the beautiful soaps themselves is how easily they can be made.

To get started, you’ll need:

• Clear glycerin soap
• Natural food coloring
• Coffee stirrers
• A clean milk or juice carton (to use as a mold)
• Cooking Spray
• Ice-cube trays as your molds
(If you want a certain scent added to the soap, just add your favorite essential oils to the melted soap base. 7-10 drops should do the trip per this batch.)

Glycerin is usually sold in large blocks at crafts stores; to melt it, cut it into small cubes that will fit in a microwavable bowl or measuring cup. Heat glycerin in a microwave on high, stirring at 15-second intervals, until it’s completely melted. Mix liquid food coloring into bowl with a coffee stirrer. (Food coloring is very strong, so use it sparingly.) Coat the inside of the milk carton with the cooking spray. Pour in melted glycerin. Let cool completely (about 2 hours).Tear away carton, and, using a bench scraper, slice block into individual bars. Or place the melted ice-cube trays and after the glycerin is completely dry and hardened pop them out just like you would regular ice.

If you are giving these soaps as a gift you can buy simple material and by using a scrapbooking (jagged) scissors, cut the material into small squares. Wrap the finished glycerin soaps in the material and tuck the ends under and tie off with cordinating small ribbon. It is a nice added touch to take a small piece of cardstock and punch a hole in the cardstock with a hole punch and feed the ribbon through the hole before you tie it around the soaps.

I like to give these in a gift basket, with about three material wrapped soaps stacked up and the ribbon and cardstock label around all the soaps. It’s anice added touch for someone that is in the hospital or has the flu (add eucalyptus essential oil to the soap blend) along with chicken soup.

For skin care, the tomato’s cooling and astringent properties are extremely useful, along with its vitamin C content that is helpful for acne and brightening dull skin. Of course, its antioxidant and acidic properties also help to fight free radicals and balance the skin.

Some Facts About The Tomato:

• In its early days in the United States, the tomato was considered an aphrodisiac.

• The heavist tomato weighing in at nearly 8 pounds.

• The “tomato tree” growing inside the Walt Disney World Resort’s experimental greenhouse is a Guinness World Record holder as the largest tomato plant in the world.

• Tomatoes belong to the same family as the deadly nighshade does.

• The French called the tomato “The Apple of Love”, and to the Germans, it was “The Apple of Paradise.”

Professional skin care products are indulging in the beenfits of this crimson fruit, including Eminence Organic Skin Care’s Garlic and Tomato Masque with anti-blemish, clarifying and healing capabilities. DermaConcept’s Environ Lonzyme C-Quence range contains lycopene for its anitoxidant benefits, and Yon-Ka Paris’ Le Baume Lèvres City and LeBaume Lèvres-SPF 10 are anti-aging phyto-repaing lip balms featuring tomato lycopene for its free radical fighting effects. (Source: Skin 2007)

Try this soap recipe and reap the benefits as well:

Ingredients:

• 14 oz tepid water
• 5.8 oz Lye
• 18 oz Coconut Oil
• 6 oz Palm Oil
• 12 oz Olive Oil
• 4 oz Jojoba Oil
• 1 oz Basil EO
• 1 oz dry-packed sun dried tomatoes finally chopped
• 2 TBS finely chopped basil leaves

1. Prepare Mold
2. Blend Water and Lye set aside to cool to 100 F
3. Melt Coconut and Palm Oils. Blend in Olive Oil and Jojoba Oil and either heat or cool so it reaches 100 F
4. Once Lye solution and Oil solutions are both 100 F, blend the lye solution into the oil solution.
5. Stire until it begins to trace and then add Basil EO, sun dried tomatoes and basil leaves. Stir thoroughly and pour into mold.
6. Set 12-18 hrs before cutting and cure 2-4 weeks.

**Heather Scoville, over at Country Music Herald has some Saturday song lyrics by Craig Morgan. Read the lyrics here and check out the rest of her blogging to find out the latest in the country music world.**

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

Bath salts are terrific, but they’re not all that conducive to showers. I mean you could throw some salts in your shower, but your feet are the only body parts that will benefit from that! If you want to take your bath salts and transform them into something shower-friendly, try making a Salt Scrub bar of soap.

There are two different ways to go about this that have worked for me, and both use melt and pour. I’ve tried adding salts to cold process soap but they’ve never stood up to the heat of the soap itself. I suppose you could add a layer of m&p soap on top of your CP batch and sprinkle the salts over the soap while it’s still hot - that might be one of my next experiments! Anyway, moving on.

For a simple Salt Scrub bar, you’ll need:

• handful of prepared bath salts for each bar
• clear or opaque melt and pour soap base
• soap molds
• soap dyes (optional)
• essential or fragrance oils

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Soap on a rope is a classic gift - how many of us can remember giving our Dads a gift box of Old Spice soap on a rope when we were kids? I don’t know if the Dads ever used them, but they were pretty neat back in the day!

You can make your own soap on a rope, and it’s a really simple procedure. If you’ve got some fancy 3-D two-part molds lying around, these are perfect for soap on a rope. Soap Goods has a great tutorial, complete with pictures, to walk you through the process - just scroll down to find them. This can be done with either cold process or melt and pour soap making methods.

Don’t have fancy molds? No problem! I’ve used regular tray molds, empty yogurt containers, milk cartons, and even muffin tins to create different shapes and sizes of soap on a rope. Just prepare your soap base as usual, and pour so that your molds are half full. Prepare the “rope” by folding it over to create a loop and tying it off, then place the knotted end on top of the first layer of soap. You can push it in a bit if the mold is shallow. Then hold the rope up straight with one hand while you pour the rest of the soap into the mold to fill it. Hold the rope up for a few minutes to ensure that it’ll set correctly, and then set everything aside to harden.

You can rig the rope up by pinning it to something straight (I use a clothespin and clip the rope to a chopstick, but use whatever you have on hand) and then resting the chopstick on the rim of the mold without touching the freshly poured soap inside.

Treat Dad to some handmade soap on a rope this year for Father’s Day - but you might want to skip the Old Spice fragrance!

soap on a rope, Father’s Day, gifts for dad, soap making, soap project

Soap curls are one of the easiest and, in my opinion, prettiest things you can embed in your soap. You can use whatever type of soap you’d like to make the curls - opaque melt and pour soap base, bars that you’ve got left over from other batches, or even the bar of Lever 2000 sitting in your bathroom cupboard. The curls themselves don’t need to be coloured or scented unless you want them to be.

All you do is take a vegetable peeler and slowly scrape off an even strip from the edge of the soap. The soap will curl on its own. Simple! Take your soap curls and scatter them in your molds, then cover with clear melt and pour soap base that’s been coloured and scented in whatever strikes your fancy. The soap in the picture here was scented with Cucumber Melon fragrance, and the colour is a vivid green (which looks a little washed out - no pun intended - in the photo, but up close it’s actually very pretty).

You can experiment with different colours of curls for a different effect. A rainbow of colours embedded in clear soap base makes a pretty confetti-type bar, or use seasonal colours with matching scents for holidays or special occasions. You can also use soap curls to decorate novelty bars, as you would use chocolate curls to adorn a cake.

soap projects, soap making, melt and pour soap, crafts

Most people have these things stuffed away in a closet or drawer somewhere (if they’re not hanging in your shower stall) - little nylon bath poufs that hang from a string. They’re inexpensive and can be found just about anywhere.

These little bath scrubbies can quickly and easily be turned into a unique soap-on-a-rope project that sells well at craft fairs and makes a great gift. It’s also a fun project for kids to try, as long as they have help melting and pouring the soap base. I’ve been making these for years, but I can’t remember for the life of me where the original idea came from. I’m pretty sure it was a message board somewhere, and if I find it I’ll update with a link.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• small bath pouf
• clear melt and pour soap base
• soap scent and colour of your choice
• small empty yogurt container, cleaned and dried - or other deep mold of your choice

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