{"id":8318,"date":"2013-06-01T01:10:27","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T06:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=8611"},"modified":"2013-06-01T12:12:49","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T17:12:49","slug":"the-mugwort-chronicles-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2013\/06\/01\/the-mugwort-chronicles-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Salves, Balms and Lotions, Oh My!"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Salves, Balms and Lotions, Oh My!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now that our herb gardens are rocking, I thought I’d give you all a tutorial on how to make an herbal salve, a lip balm, and a basic lotion.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

herbal Salve<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To make a basic salve, all you need is an infused oil, beeswax and some essential oil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Making Salves: The Key Ingredients<\/span><\/p>\n

Infused oils are carrier oils that have been \u201cinfused\u201d with one or more herbs. They are <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>used to make any oil-based apothecary items, such as lip balms, creams, massage oils and salves. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can use any oil to make a salve, I personally like infused oils of calendula, comfrey, chamomile, plantain and arnica etc.\u00a0 <\/span>However, sweet almond, grapeseed and even olive oil are all good choices.\u00a0 <\/span>To make a 4 oz jar, use two ounces oil to one ounce beeswax or a two to one ratio for a semi hard salve.\u00a0 <\/span>All you need do is combine the two and microwave until the beeswax melts.\u00a0 <\/span>One melted stir well, add any essential oils you like and stir well.\u00a0 <\/span>Pour into jar.\u00a0 <\/span>It will firm up in about 15 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lip Balm<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lip Balm is very similar to making a salve.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of a two to one ratio of oil to wax it’s a four to one.\u00a0 <\/span>After melting the wax into the oil, you can flavor it with any candy confectioners extract, vanilla extract etc.\u00a0 <\/span>If you happen to have a liquid sweetener you can use that as well.\u00a0 <\/span>I often times like to color my balms.\u00a0 <\/span>I use FDA approved micas so if using micas, note, a very tiny amount goes a long way!\u00a0 <\/span>This mixture will have to be stirred for approximately 5 minutes or so to combine all the ingredients or they will separate.\u00a0 <\/span>Fill pots or if you have tubes, fill those.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lotions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lotions are a bit more difficult to make but the end result is wonderful!\u00a0 <\/span>Now all lotions need an emulsifier such as beeswax, however that makes for a greasy lotion so in this case we’re going to use borax (yes it’s an all natural product found in the laundry aisle of your local supermarket) and shea butter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You’ll need: 1\/2 cup boiling water, 1\/8 teaspoon borax, 1\/2 cup of almond oil and 1 tablespoon shea butter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Boil the water and add the borax, stir, and set aside.\u00a0 <\/span>Melt the oil and shea butter and then pour into a blender.\u00a0 <\/span>On low speed start pouring in the water to the oil mixture in a very thin, slow stream.\u00a0 <\/span>Blend on high until well mixed.\u00a0 <\/span>You should now have a milky white lotion.\u00a0 <\/span>Makes 4 Ounces.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Salves, Balms and Lotions, Oh My! Now that our herb gardens are rocking, I thought I’d give you all a tutorial on how to make an herbal salve, a lip balm, and a basic lotion.\u00a0 herbal Salve To make a basic salve, all you need is an infused oil, beeswax and some essential oil. \u00a0 \u00a0 Making Salves: The Key Ingredients Infused oils are carrier oils that have been \u201cinfused\u201d with one or more herbs. They are \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0used to make any oil-based apothecary items, such as lip balms, creams, massage oils and salves. \u00a0 You can use any oil to make a salve, I personally like infused oils of calendula, comfrey, chamomile, plantain and arnica etc.\u00a0 However, sweet almond, grapeseed and even olive oil are all good choices.\u00a0 To make a 4 oz jar, use two ounces oil to one ounce beeswax or a two to one ratio for a semi hard salve.\u00a0 All you need do is combine the two and microwave until the beeswax melts.\u00a0 One melted stir well, add any essential oils you like and stir well.\u00a0 Pour into jar.\u00a0 It will firm up in about 15 minutes. \u00a0 Lip Balm Lip Balm is very similar to making a salve.\u00a0 Instead of a two to one ratio of oil to wax it’s a four to one.\u00a0 After melting the wax into the oil, you can flavor it with any candy confectioners extract, vanilla extract etc.\u00a0 If you happen to have a liquid sweetener you can use that as well.\u00a0 I often times like to color my balms.\u00a0 I use FDA approved micas so if using micas, note, a very tiny amount goes a long way!\u00a0 This mixture will have to be stirred for approximately 5 minutes or so to combine all the ingredients or they will separate.\u00a0 Fill pots or if you have tubes, fill those. Lotions Lotions are a bit more difficult to make but the end result is wonderful!\u00a0 Now all lotions need an emulsifier such as beeswax, however that makes for a greasy lotion so in this case we’re going to use borax (yes it’s an all natural product found in the laundry aisle of your local supermarket) and shea butter. \u00a0 You’ll need: 1\/2 cup boiling water, 1\/8 teaspoon borax, 1\/2 cup of almond oil and 1 tablespoon shea butter. \u00a0 Boil the water and add the borax, stir, and set aside.\u00a0 Melt the oil and shea butter and then pour into a blender.\u00a0 On low speed start pouring in the water to the oil mixture in a very thin, slow stream.\u00a0 Blend on high until well mixed.\u00a0 You should now have a milky white lotion.\u00a0 Makes 4 Ounces.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8318"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8048,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8318\/revisions\/8048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}