Recipe:

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 March 1st for posts during February.

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Two comparison bottles.

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What can I put in a Heat Sealable Tea Bag for a bath?
Herbs and Flowers: Peppermint Leaves, Rosebuds, Lavender Buds, Chamomile Bud, Calendula Petals, Lemon Balm, Vanilla, and more.
Grains: Oatmeal and Wheat Germ.

The Heat Sealable Tea Bags are also very useful when making a tea for soap making. You can make your own teas to be used as the liquid in batches of soap to make them even more unique.

What can I put in a Heat Sealable Tea Bag for soap teas?
Herbs and Flowers: Peppermint Leaves, Rosebuds, Lavender Buds, Chamomile Bud, Calendula Petals, Lemon Balm, Vanilla, Hops, Black Tea, Green Tea, Rooibos and many more.

Using the Heat Sealable Tea Bags is so easy, you will want to use them all the time. All you need is a household clothes iron, the Heat Sealable Tea Bags, and the botanicals you want to use. I’m going show you how I make a Chamomile and Oatmeal Bath Soak in a Large Heat Sealable Tea Bag.

Collect needed items:

Set the iron to the medium temperature setting. Using the food processor, grind the oatmeal to make a fine oat flour. Measure 4 teaspoons of the finely ground oatmeal and 1 teaspoon of the Chamomile Tea Blend into the Large Heat Sealable Tea Bag. Gently pinch the bag closed and lay it on the ironing board. Lightly press the iron over the edge of the bag and hold for 3 seconds. The combination of the heat and pressure will seal the bag.

Ta-da! We now have a sealed tea bag ready to be used in soothing bath.

Kathy, your soap set left today!

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 March 1st for posts during February.

Did you know that you can become a fan of Majestic Mountain Sage on Facebook? Receive the latest updates, blog post notifications and more!

Chamomile Tea Blend in the tea bag.

Oatmeal in the tea bag.

Pressing the tea bag.

Several sealed tea bags with various blends.

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Some users think that additives to our bases are a big NO NO. So, today we will work on a base and 2% in additives. The bases can handle up to 3% in additives. Fragrance and color do not count in this 3% rule.

Collect needed items:

Instructions for making 16 ounces:
Weigh the extracts and fragrance into the small glass beaker. Once these have been weighed, set aside and weigh the shampoo into the bottle for final use. Add the extracts and fragrance to the bottle and cap the bottle. Shake vigorously until everything is completely mixed.

Instructions for making 1 gallon:
Weigh the extracts and fragrance into the small glass beaker. Pour into the gallon jug of Daily Shampoo Base and cap the jug. Shake vigorously until everything is completely mixed. You may have to bribe someone with baked goodies! Check the Food and Recipes Category for bribery ideas. Pump into final bottles!

Don’t forget to label your bottles!

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 March 1st for posts during February.

Collect needed items.

Weighed Extracts and Fragrance.

Pouring extracts and fragrance into the gallon jug.

Finished bottles ready for labels.

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Some users think that additives to our bases are a big NO NO. So, today we will work on a base and 2% in additives. The bases can handle up to 3% in additives. Fragrance and color do not count in this 3% rule.

Collect needed items:

Instructions for making 16 ounces:
Weigh the extracts and fragrance into the small glass beaker. Once these have been weighed, set aside and weigh the conditioner into the bottle for final use. Add the extracts and fragrance to the bottle and cap the bottle. Shake vigorously until everything is completely mixed.

Instructions for making 1 gallon:
Weigh the extracts and fragrance into the small glass beaker. Pour into the gallon jug of After Swim Hair Conditioner and cap the jug. Shake vigorously until everything is completely mixed. You may have to bribe someone with baked goodies if your arms get too tired. Check the Food and Recipes Category for bribery ideas. Pump into final bottles!

Don’t forget to label your bottles!

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 March 1st for posts during February.

Collect needed items.

Weighed Extracts and Fragrance.

Pouring extracts and fragrance into the gallon jug.

Finished bottles ready for labels.

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Remove the caps from both jugs and pull out the paper lining. Glue the caps together. I like to use a food safe epoxy glue to make sure the caps won’t slip. Drill a hole through the caps and then screw the caps onto the full gallon jug. Tip the mostly empty jug onto the caps and screw onto the caps until tight. Leave overnight. Come back in the morning and remove the gallon jug on top. Yippee! Now we have an empty jug and a full one! Remove the caps and then place a pump on the jug.

Have fun!

Note:
I’m having problems with my camera, so I will post pictures tomorrow!

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An antioxidant helps slow down the oxidation of any substance that will be damaged by exposure to oxygen.

A preservative acts by preventing the growth of yeast, bacteria and mold. Preservatives are desirable to keep our creams and lotions from becoming walking Petri dishes.

I hope this helps!

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If we remove the oil and add something like aloe juice, the potential for microbial growth is increased. This is reason for concern because a preservative is now a required use. So, our recommendation is to use a lighter oil like coconut oil fractions (as opposed to olive oil) or clear jojoba oil. These lighter oils don’t leave the skin feeling so heavy.

So now we still need to do something about the shower floor. I purchased a bath mat for my shower that looks like river rock pebbles. The one I chose is clear. I purchased it from Bed Bath & Beyond. Click here to see a blue version.

Clear items are so hard to photograph. Click this link in case you want to see the clear version.

This style of bath mat is a drain through version. This is not a drain over the sides style mat which I find can be slippery if an oily product is used. I find this mat to be easy to care for, it gets a bath in the washing machine once a month. It gets a weekly spray off cleaning with Clorox Clean Up. It dries in no time, thanks in part to the dry Utah climate. I’ve had no discoloring of the mat and I haven’t had a bad fall either.

It was a bad fall that got the mat in the first place. It would sound logical that an oil/sugar scrub was what made the floor slippery and therefore was the root cause of my fall. It wasn’t. I just happened to be shaving my legs and found that the shelf provided as a foot rest was not properly attached. Falling with a razor in hand is very scary indeed. My head hit the shampoo dispenser, it broke. I got a nice goose egg on my head and a small cut. I had a slight nick from the razor and bruises from head to toe. My shower was also sporting these new mats by that afternoon.

So, bathe carefully. Check the shelf. Get a bath mat. And above all, enjoy the shower.

Best!

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Supplies needed:
Soap Chunks to embed
Transparent Melt & Pour Soap
Fragrance if desired
Spoon
Alcohol Spray (70% or 91% Rubbing Alcohol)
Thermometer (This is good until you can pinpoint a temperature by the appearance.)

Normally, I melt my Transparent soap until everything is melted and the soap is fairly hot. However, pouring my soap as hot as I normally have it, is not beneficial to embedding soap chunks in the soap. To have an appropriate temperature for pouring over the soap to be embedded, melt your Transparent soap until you have a few large chunks of soap that are not yet melted. Use the spoon and stir the Transparent soap until all of the chunks are melted. You can add fragrance at this point if you desire. You want your soap to have a slight viscosity to it, about the same viscosity of a slightly thinned rubber cement. The temperature should be between 115 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit (46.11 to 51.67 degrees Celsius). Once your soap to pour over has reached this temperature range, you are ready to pour. Spray your chunks to be embedded with the alcohol and gently pour your Transparent soap over the chunks. Once the mold has been filled with soap, spray the top of the soap with alcohol to help prevent a skin from forming and the bubbles to pop. Now you can make any final adjustments to your chunks.

Allow your soap to cool until it is completely solid. Remove from the mold and enjoy your beautiful soap!

Needed supplies.

Testing the temperature.

Filling the molds with chunks.

Pouring soap over the chunks. This is similar to what our finished soap will look like.

Filled mold.

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Borage Oil: Bor-ij. Have you seen the flowers of the borage plant? They are gorgeous! The plant is prickly and can be considered a weed. It originally was cultivated for medical and culinary purposes, which included candying the flowers and brewing teas to help fevers. Today it is primarily cultivated as an oilseed. The University of Arizona has a great description of borage on their extension website. Borage is frequently used in creams that are made for helping psoriasis and eczema. This is a fabulous oil and can be used in any cream you desire!

Calendula Oil: Kuh-len-jew-luh. Calendula is also called Pot Marigold or Scotch Marigold. The plant has been used medicinally, in culinary dishes, or as dye for fabrics, cosmetics and food. This oil has been used for its anti-inflammatory properties as well as combating rough or scaly skin. Wouldn’t this be excellent for a foot cream?

The Euphorbia in our yard.

Candelilla Wax: Kan-dl-ee-uh. Candelilla is a vegetable wax that is often used to replace beeswax. I have found this to be useful and the great thing about Candelilla Wax is that you only need half of the amount that you would have used in Beeswax. Candelilla is also used in the food industry as a glazing agent or a binding agent for chewing gum. Candelilla is derived from the Euphorbia plant. It is very beautiful plant in any yard!

Carnauba Wax: Kahr-new-buh. Carnauba is derived from the leaves of the carnauba palm. You can find carnauba wax used in various products such as automobile waxes, candy corn, dental floss, mascara, frosting, chewing gum, and even for coating medicine. I have used Carnauba Wax for the various lip glosses I have shown on the blog.

Jojoba Oil: Hoh-hoh-buh. This oil always makes me think of laughter from Santa Claus and that has caused this pronunciation to stick very clearly in my mind. Does it work for you? Did you know that until the 1970s, jojoba was only used by the Native Americans who harvested it for its burn healing properties. Jojoba is actually not an oil, but it is a liquid wax ester.

Shea Butter: Shey. This butter is great either by itself or in any other products you can think of. The shea tree is indigenous to Western Africa and it takes approximately 15 years of growth before the tree begins to bear fruit. It is used for food products as a substitute for butter. Shea butter is also called African Karité Butter. Did you know the book “Roots” by Alex Haley talks about the shea nut tree?

Tamanu Oil: Tuh-mahn-oo. I remember when we were testing the Tamanau Oil, and since I have some of the driest hands around the warehouse, I was asked to test the Tamanu Oil on my hands for two weeks to see how it worked. It helped my cracked knuckles in no time at all! Tamanu is derived from an evergreen that is native to East Africa, southern coastal India, Malaysia and Australia. It smells just like butter pecan ice cream! Yummy!

On Monday, I’ll show how to make soap petals! These are so much fun to use for yourself or give to others!

Don’t forget about the Food Soap Show & Tell for Father’s Day. I’m looking forward to seeing your bacon soaps!

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