In July 1847, the first Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley – a place thought too dry and desertous to support civilization. Industrious pioneer women created wonderful natural moisturizers to combat the environment’s toll on their skin.
Flash forward to June 2010. Hundreds of industrious women flock to Utah to attend
Evo ‘10 – The Evolution of Women in Social Media conference put on by Rachel and Jyl.
Taking a cue from my predecessors, I adapted a pioneer moisturizing bar to share with the women coming into town.
As promised, I am sharing a tutorial for the desert lotion bars I made…
In adapting the pioneer recipe, I sought ingredients and supplies that were readily available.
Ingredients:
1 lb. Beeswax
16 oz. Coconut oil
4 oz. Coconut butter
6 oz. Almond oil
Concentrated coconut fragrance oil to scent
I purchased all of the ingredients required at the local Whole Foods store for just under $50. You could probably find them at any natural/organic grocery store or online.
Supplies
Double boiler (or make do with a metal bowl and a large pan like I did)
Cutting board
Knife
Measuring cup with spout
Wooden Spoon
Silicon mold
Packaging
Cut the beeswax from a solid piece into smaller chunks for ease of melting. (You can tell by my advanced vocabulary – chunks – that I am a complete professional, right?
Place the beeswax in the pan (or in my case the bowl) for melting. I set the burner to high and had the water rolling at a steady boil. Continuously stir so that nothing burns.
Once the beeswax has melted down, add additional ingredients.
Mix all of the ingredients, outside of the scented oil, down to a liquid. Once the ingredients have melted, you will feel them begin to thicken as you stir. Continue to stir for approximately three minutes.
Once the mixture has cooled down, add a couple of drops of the fragrance and stir in.
I moved the melted moisturizer to a measuring cup with a spout for ease of pouring.
Pour the melted moisturizer into a silicon mold. I actually used an inexpensive Wilton mold meant for brownie bites. You could probably use an ice cub tray or candy molds too.
The lotion set-up quickly and I popped the lotion bars out to dry on the counter for several hours. (I also tried some shaped molds – flowers and stars. They worked just as well.)
This is a moisturizer and it can sweat. It also melts easily. I first packaged the desert lotion bars into small plastic bags before placing them in small hand-stamped linen bags.
I think the lotion bars turned out great and hope my friends at EVO enjoyed them.
The best thing is these wonderous little bars moisturized without being to greasy and they are all natural! I will be making them again.
This is a SIMPLE project. I completed my lotion bars in under an hour and could have easily had kids helping!
Linking up here:
I love this little lotion bar…thank you so much for giving me one at the conference!
Also, I think it's really cool that you shared how to make them…I can't wait to see what other traditions you will share.
great great great.
so good in fact that I am inviting you to join us every week at our DIY tutorial linky party. this week's is here:
http://www.finecraftguild.com/diy-tutorial-linky-party-3/
my readers will love this one ~ i just know.
i love to have you in our 'library' and give you a link back to your site.
Thanks for linking up to the Mad Skills party!
madincrafts.blogspot.com
These look amazing, I would love to try making these one day! I'll certainly have to follow this blog for more fun ideas.
WOW that looks great! Thanks!
Great idea. Thanks for the inst.
Cool! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!
Glad I didn't use this since it is full of coconut products, since I have a sensitivity. I will try it when i get home and have my meds.
Wow, love the idea of the lotion bar! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
HOW AWESOME! Thanks for joining us for another great Anything Related! ~Bridgette
Those are great! Love 'em!
Come say hi when you get a chance!
Tauni, thanks for your sweet comment on my post! And THANK YOU for this awesome tutorial! It was great to meet you at Evo and your business card/lotion/bag was the cutest. Looking forward to getting to know you better!!
I totally didn't get one~!!!!! Now that you adore me (since we totally have half our lives in common) I totally need to come make some with you!
Those look awesome and I think I'm gonna have to try and make some. It was fun meeting you at GNO last Thursday! Hopefully we can meet up again soon at another bloggy get-together.
I love mine, too. Thanks! I also LOVE the chapstick you made… I wanna see the recipe for that!
Hi – the this idea. Curious as to how many lotion bars you got out of one batch. Thanks.