The BIG Spill! Oh NO!

Here I was multitasking while preparing all the oils for my next batch of soap. I had put some coconut oil in the microwave to melt and was filling a container with olive oil and then decided to do some dishes. A few minutes later I remember that I have olive oil pouring into a container and look over to see about a gallon of oil spilled all over the floor. I had left it too long and the oil filled my container and then just kept on coming! Oh man what a mess! Can you see the darker oil covered area on the floor? This is after picking up a bunch of the oil already.

What a slippery mess!

So I had to get on my hands and knees and figure out a way to scoop up all that oil. I seriously scooped up nearly a gallon of oil! Luckily the floor is not even so the oil pooled in one area and using a flat sided scoop and a silicone spatula I was able to pick up most of the oil. I am still trying to work out how to clean up the rest of the oil on the floor. I think it is going to take a few times cleaning it with a strong detergent to get up all that oil and finally get the floor to no longer be slippery. Not sure what to do with this oil now.  Any suggestions?

Look at all that oil!

Geranium rose bath (oil) melts tutorial

Bath melts are a wonderful way to to add scent and skin nourishing oils to your bath. They are essentially bath oils made up in a solid form. All you have to do is drop 1 or 2 of them into a nice, warm bath and they will melt dispersing the oils and scent into the bath water. The melts pictured below are made from a combination of cocoa butter, shea butter, and sweet almond oil. The are scented with a Geranium Rose essential oil and topped off with some red and iridescent glitter, because sparkles make everything better!

Geranium Rose Bath Melts

A simple recipe to make your own bath melts is given below.

1. Melt 1 part cocoa butter and 1 part shea butter in the microwave.
2. Add to the melted butters 1 part liquid oil.
3. If needed, let the oils cool to below 120 degrees F and then add your fragrance (1-3% for fragrance oils and 1-2% for essential oils).
4. Mix and pour into small molds (about 1 oz mold size is good)
5. Allow to cool and harden either at room temperature or for a faster cooling place in your fridge until solid.

If all these "parts" are confusing, here is an example using oz.
1 oz cocoa butter
1 oz shea butter
1 oz liquid oil (sweet almond, hazelnut, hemp oil, or pretty much any other liquid oil would be fine).
17 (1%)-50 (3%) drops of fragrance

You may want to play with the ratio of hard oils (butters) to liquid oil to find what looks and feels best to you.

Tutorial: How to make infused oils.

Infusing botanicals into vegetable oil is a great way to transfer the properties of flowers, roots, seeds, or leaves into an oil. This oil can then be used directly on the skin as a medicinal oil or to make soap, lotions, salves, balms, or many other bath and body products. Some herbs are great for imparting a color to the oil which can be used to color soap, lotion, etc. There are two methods that are most commonly used to infuse or macerate herbs into vegetable oils. Both methods are quite simple and can be done with items common to most kitchens.

The first method: Traditional Cold Brewing

Step 1: Clean a glass jar  with soap and hot water (I like to spray it with 70% ethanol to sanitize after washing). Allow jar to completely dry.

Cleaning and drying my jar.

Step 2: Fill the jar with loosely packed dry herb. You can use many type of herbs and flowers such as calendula, jewelweed, chamomile, comfrey, arnica, etc.

Jar filled with Calendula petals

Step 3: Pour in a liquid vegetable oil to cover the plant material. I like to use olive oil, but you can use sweet almond oil and many other types. You may want to choose your oil depending on what you plan to make with the infused oil. For a lip balm, sweet almond oil would probably be better than olive oil and for a massage oil you may prefer to infuse into fractionated coconut oil.

Olive oil added to jar so that it is just above the plant material

Step 4: Close the jar, shake, and place in a warm sunny window for at least 3 weeks but you could continue infusing for up to 6 weeks. During the first two weeks, try to shake the jar daily.

Soaking up the sun's rays!

Step 5: Strain out the plant material using either a metal mesh strainer and/or a cheese cloth.

Step 6: Bottle the infused oil and store in a cool dark place. The oils should be good for at least 1 year.

The second method: Quick Hot Brewing

Step 1: Place dry plant material into a crock pot, bain-marie, or a double-boiler. I prefer to use a crock pot as I can set it up and just come back occasionally to check on it. If you are doing this on the stove, you should be sure to stay nearby for safety.

Step 2: Cover plant material with oil of your choice. For this method, since you are adding heat you can even infuse into oils that are solid at room temperature (such as shea butter, coconut oil, mango butter, etc).

Step 3: Heat oils and plant material at about 100-125 degrees Fahrenheit for 1-3 hours. You want to gently heat the oil and not boil it as that could destroy the properties of both the oil and plant material.

Step 4: Strain away plant material as explained above.

Step 5: Store infused oil in a clean jar in a cool, dark place and it should be good to use for about 1 year.

This picture shows some of the other infusions I have made. The Ayurvedic olive oil is an infusion of 4 Indian herbs, the jewelweed infusion was made from the leaves of the plant, and the reddish-pink oil is alkanet root-infused olive oil. I can't wait to try the last one in soap to see how the color comes out!

Other herbal infusions

I look forward to hearing if you try either of these methods and how the oils turn out.

Monoi de Tahiti Oil (Monoi Tiare oil)

I just ordered some Scented Monoi de Tahiti oil from Denise at Full Moon Herbs. This seems like a good deal. The best price I could find online was $27/lb and she is offering it for $19 or $21/lb depending on whether you want it scented or not. I thought some of you might like the info on this buy so here is the email I received from Denise:

I have pre-ordered 50# each of Monoi Tiare Oil. They will arrive the week of
January 25th. This an opportunity to place your order to receive the Monoi
first. I am stocking both the scented and unscented.
Monoi Oil is coconut oil infused w/ Tiare (Gardenia) flower petals. Both
types are Gardenia scented. The "scented" type, is a stonger infusion,
resulting in a stronger scent. Please e-mail w/ any orders you may have to
Denise@fullmoonherbs.com. Pricing is as follows:

Unscented Monoi: 1#/ $19.00 or 2#/ $37.00
Scented Monoi: 1#/$21.00 2#/ $41.00