Adventures With The Sage

Collect needed items:

Weigh your fragrance oils and set aside.

Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical.

Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Upon trace add the fragrance oil blend and color. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm.

Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Notes: I haven’t cut this soap yet. I expect to release pictures of this soap once it has been cut this afternoon. I love how yummy this soap is smelling right now! Most of the staff have found various reasons to wander by the test kitchen and tell me that this smells just like a bar of soap!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Grind oatmeal to a fine flour. Measure 4 ounces. Set aside.

Measure oils on your scale. Warm on the stove or in the microwave. Bring temperature to near 120 °F. Exact temperature is not critical. Add sodium hydroxide to the water. Mix well. Allow to cool to near 120 °F. Once again, exact temperature is not critical. It is a good idea to record your temperatures so refinements can be made. Since this particular batch of soap was poured into one deep mold, the temperatures do not have to be as high as when pouring the same batch size into a shallow mold.

Combine oils and lye solution. Stir until thin trace. Add finely ground oatmeal and ground cinnamon. Adding the oatmeal slowly while continuously stirring will help prevent lumping. Stir out any lumps. Upon trace add the Gingerbread & Spice Fragrance Oil. Stir well. Pour soap into molds. Allow to sit until soap is firm.

Cut into bars. Stack to allow good air circulation. Allow to cure for several days before using. Longer curing will result in a harder bar.

Notes & Comments:
Please note that some individuals can have an allergic reaction to cinnamon. Please label your soap. We think the color is gorgeous! Try it if your family doesn’t have a cinnamon allergy.

Ground cinnamon will accelerate the trace, so be prepared to see your soap turn from very fluid to mashed potatoes in 2 minutes flat! You may add the cinnamon to the soap when you add your fragrance to minimize the acceleration. Before adding make sure your molds are ready for the soap!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II, Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II, Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 8 fl oz of cream.

While I was making this batch for the pictures, I was told by our photographer, Mitch, that he really doesn’t like the smell of Lanolin. After I added the Peppermint Essential Oil and Spearmint Essential Oil to the cream, Mitch said that he couldn’t smell the Lanolin anymore and it smelled really good. After the cream cooled, I gave him a small test jar to try on his hands. Guess what? He fell in love with the cream and said that it was an amazing hand or foot cream and the Lanolin gave it an excellent massage quality.

Enjoy!

Would you like to join a swap? We are hosting another swap on The Sage Forum. The theme is Spring Dreams. If you would like product evaluations, we can help you get those valuable testing opinions from others in the swap. We look forward to the various products.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

My wife asked me to bake something over the weekend.  I decided to make Cornbread from scratch. As I started working in the kitchen, I couldn’t find the measuring cups that I needed for the recipe. “Honey, where is the 2/3 cup measure? I can’t find it.”  Blast!

So, my wife says “Why don’t you make it by weight?”  Other than it is going to be a pain in the patootie to convert, that is a great idea. After searching the kitchen, the various flour and sugar bins in the pantry and still coming up with nothing, a conversion was in order.

I used a 1 cup measure to determine the weight of each major ingredient per fluid ounce. I then made these conversions for each ingredient. Once I did the math, it was time to use my skills.

The following is that converted recipe.

Northern Style Cornbread, By Weight

Ingredients

• 150 grams sugar
• 7 grams salt
• 75 grams butter or margarine
• 10 milliliters vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 285 grams flour
• 135 grams cornmeal
• 15 grams baking powder (double acting)
• 325 milliliters milk

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II and Orange Valencia Essential Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II and Orange Valencia Essential Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 10 fl oz of cream.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II and Mango Sorbet Fragrance Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II and Mango Sorbet Fragrance Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 4 fl oz of cream.

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients into your microwave safe container. Microwave using shorts bursts of time until all of the ingredients are melted. It took me about 2-1/2 minutes, stirring about every 30 seconds. Once all the ingredients have been melted, pour into your lotion bar tubes or molds. Allow to cool completely before capping or removing from molds.

Notes:This recipe will fill approximately 10 Lotion Bar Tubes and each tube will contain approximately 0.63 ounces of product.

If you would like to add a fragrance, use our Fragrance Calculator to calculate the amount of fragrance you want. Simply choose the “Lotion, Cream and Body Butter” product option and the weight of the complete recipe for the first step, then choose the fragrance or essential oil of your choice and click on the “Calculate” button on the bottom of the screen.

Enjoy! Next week, we will make more lotion and some fun batches of soap, so stay tuned!

Would you like to join a swap? We are hosting another swap on The Sage Forum. The theme is Spring Dreams. If you would like product evaluations, we can help you get those valuable testing opinions from others in the swap. We look forward to the various products.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.

Collect needed items:

Recipe:

Weigh all ingredients except Germaben II and Blowing Bubbles Fragrance Oil into the microwave safe container. Heat in the microwave using short time bursts until everything is melted. Blend the ingredients to a smooth, creamy consistency using the immersion blender. Add Germaben II and Blowing Bubbles Fragrance Oil once the temperature drops below 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Blend until completely mixed. Pour into jars and allow to cool completely. Cap the jars.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 16 fl oz of cream. If you look closely at the first photo, you can see that this cream was whipped into a froth.

Enjoy! Next week, we will make more lotion and some fun batches of soap, so stay tuned!

Would you like to join a swap? We are hosting another swap on The Sage Forum. The theme is Spring Dreams. If you would like product evaluations, we can help you get those valuable testing opinions from others in the swap. We look forward to the various products.

Don’t forget to submit your blog or video posts to win the MMS Perfumer’s Kit. Remember, this kit is worth $280! Submissions are due by February 1st for posts during January.