Thursday, November 24, 2011

Melt-and-Pour soap is easy and fun!

I purchased 32 oz of soap base, molds, lavender fragrance, and some dried lavender/orange peel to make soap. So far I have made three batches of soap, two of them lavender and one of them tea tree oil. What I found interesting is that even though the instructions say you can get burned, it is only likely to happen if you use the microwave. Heating the soap to melt in a double boiler is more like when you have a candle at church, and some of the wax drips on to you. It doesn't hurt, but it feels hot. Now the microwave, it will make the soap hot enough to burn you.
You might say that making soap from a melt-and-pour base is not really natural. Granted, there are some strange ingredients in the base, but really nothing that wouldn't be in ordinary soap. It is also possible to purchase all-organic melt-and-pour base at Bramble clBerry. Also you can choose to use only natural coloring and pure essential oils as fragrance. I'm not quite a purist yet with the fragrance, but I'll probably be m when I have more money to buy the essential oils. Someday I want to have a business selling handmade natural soap, hand-dipped aromatherapy beeswax candles, and undyed handspun natural fiber yarns. That would be so cool.

What is Disney REALLY telling your child?

I haven't really posted in a while - maybe because I've been busy spinning and just generally haven't had much to say. But this article really caught my eye and I would like other peoples' opinions on it.
This link tells of the messages in Disney films which are specific to young men. It seems as though in every Disney movie, the men are exalted for being physically strong and large, and are portrayed behaving in sexist ways toward women.
This link shows the messages Disney is showing to girls, which is basically that you have to be pretty, thin, white, etc. I would like anyone reading this post to comment on it about what they think.