Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I Love Lotion Making Day...


I love lotion making day. It's not so much the lotion process as what happens afterwards...but we'll get to that in a bit.

Monday was lotion day here. I had to get my Wild About Pepper fragrance finished as Pepper's owner had ordered six bottles to give to friends and family. It's a new recipe for me and it's gotten a pretty good response. It's not as thick as the original lotion and I've added shea butter which gives it just a little something extra. Each of the Wild About Lotions feature a different Mustang horse on them. All of the horses were captured in the wild and then successfully adopted.
Pepper is a pretty special horse. Captured in 1999, he's from the Riddle Mountain Kiger Herd. I've met him twice and there was no doubt that this boy was pretty special. When I came up with the Wild About concept, I knew I had to have him pictured on one of the bottles! (Clicking on Pepper's name will link you to his story.)
So to make lotion, you've got to determine which oils you're wanting to use, get yourself a reliable scale (digital is best) that weighs in small increments such as grams, and create a recipe. Lotions are typically made with water, oils, an emulsifier to hold the two together, and a preservative to prevent bacterial growth. I heat my oils (with emulsifier) and water seperately, then pour the oil into the water and use something called a stick blender to whip it all together. You need to continue blending until the lotion is cool enough to hold the emulsion, then carefully pour into bottles, cap it and label. Simple, eh?
Remember when mom used to bake a cake, and you got to lick the batter off afterwards? Or better yet, the frosting? Well, that's what happens next when making lotion. But instead of licking it, you get to slather it all over your body, creating a nice, silky smooth you! Of course, everyone has their own style; I'll leave that part up to your imagination!
When it's all done...the slathering, that is...you're still left with dirty dishes, just like with the cake. But it's okay, because you smell and feel great!



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pepper is a beautiful boy! You make me want to learn how to make lotion after seeing all of those gorgeous bottles lined up! Ah...someday. E-less

Tracey said...

Pepper is a lovely boy, and his story is heartbreaking.

2 LMZ FARMS said...

I love your site. I would love to talk to you about making soap for I have goats. I raise meat goats but do have 2 dairy goats that will drop come April. I use to make soap along time ago.
Just wondering, exactly where do you live? It's very pretty. I live in the South and I mean the South. I am amazed by the ice and water.

Tracey said...

Oh, I could send you all the snow, ice and water you'd like :) I'm up in the NorthWET..uh, west. Where it's wet...very, very wet!

Goats...evil creatures, them is. Tried to eat the clothes off my back while I was feeding them once at a park. Evil, clothing eating goats... I prefer sheep. They don't have a taste for clothes the way goats do.