Unguents and lotions

I finally got round to measuring as I melt and mix!

This recipe is the basis of almost all my skincare and helpfully does double-duty as boot-polish, furniture-polish and all kinds of generally useful things!

Change it by altering the ratio between wax and oil - for a harder furniture polish, add more wax, but for a runny thick body-lotion add more oil.

I know, by the way, that furniture polish traditionally has solvents (turpentine, etc) in it, but I've never fancied heating something that flammable, so I just use this and it just needs extra elbow-grease and more clean cloths to polish it off fully.

Besides, it's easier to make one big batch of something than 3-4 different things in smaller quantities, so I make a big batch of this and use it for everything.

This batch came out at about the texture of brandy-butter, thick, gloopy, but not hard. And you aren't there for six hours trying to get it to sink into your skin so you can put clothes on without wrecking them with big greasy splodges, either.


INGREDIENTS
3 ounces of beeswax candle pieces
9 ounces of olive oil (by weight)
Essential oils of choice
Herbal/flower water of choice

METHOD
Put a heatproof bowl in a big pan of cold water and heat until the water is simmering. The bowl doesn't have to actually float, but it does have to be not sitting flat on the base of the pan.

Put the broken-up pieces of beeswax (I use candles, but trim off any burnt pieces of wick or general grubbiness first) into the bowl.


Add the oil and leave it on a low simmer for ages (about 20-30 minutes) until all of the wax is melted into the oil.




Don't let it overheat; keep it on a low heat.

And don't jump the gun - the whole liquid must be clear liquid with no tiny specks of wax at all.
Now fish out the pieces of wick from the candles!


Remove the bowl from the bain-marie (that's the pan of water, for posh chefs).





Now, do NOT let it separate into hard wax floating on oil! Stir with a fork until it stops being see-through liquid and starts to change into a creamy gloop. Keep stirring (maybe have a good radio play on, or someone to chat to!).







Once it's gone creamy, you will find that hard bits settle on the walls of the bowl. Scrape these off and add to the general gloop in the middle.

I use an electric beater from this stage onwards because it smashes lumps back into the gloop better than my hands and a fork can.


Now add the essential oils - I like mine strong so I added 30 drops of lavender, 25 drops of rose-geranium and 15 drops of bergamot essential oils.
I also added 4 drops of benzoin, which is supposed to slow down the dispersal of aroma into the air so I hope it makes the scent last all day, but it's the first time I've used it!
Then I added 50 drops of Marigold Compound, but you can use orange-flower water, rosewater, any water you like - I've used tap-water before now when I ran out of others.


Keep whisking hard, keep on, keep on - it you leave it alone for long, a hard crust forms on the top which won't rub into your skin properly because it's separated wax.

So keep on whisking at intervals until it's completely cool, even underneath the bowl. Keep using a spatula to make sure wax isn't clinging to the bowl separating.








Finally you end up with a frothy light mousse-type lotion to put into jars and use!





CAVEATS
As always, it's up to you if you make this - I don't react, but then again I don't react to most things. So use sense - try a dab on your inner elbow or behind your ear, leave it for 24 hours: any redness or soreness or itching, then don't use it on your skin. Do take care with essential oils as well, especially if pregnant or with certain medical conditions such as epilepsy.

Dashing away with the Smoothing-Iron...

Today I am laundry-maid.

I am not stupid, so I'm currently whizzing my bed-linen through a 60-degree cold-intake machine-wash. The alternative would have been to soak it all overnight in a bath filled with water and washing-soda; then to take it out and rinse it a bit; then to soap it and agitate it A LOT; then to rinse it well; then to put it in a huge cauldron of cold water and bring it up to the boil and boil for a while actively; then to take it out and drain it; then I'll be at the stage I'll be at when the machine stops shortly.

What about bleaching? I don't, if I can help it. Soaking in washing-soda or in borax usually works; or leaving out on the line for sunlight and moonlight to fade a stain. I wish I could bleach my undersheet because it is poor-quality polycotton and looks 'orrible.

What's washing? My fitted polycotton underneath sheet (I don't like this as it is the 'wrong white', can't be bleached despite claiming to be 100% cotton which it clearly can't be, and persists in greying steadily; must replace it soon with a proper sheet!); my beautifully white heavy cotton top sheet (my late Grandmother's, pre-war, barely used); my homemade bolster-cover in 100% cotton twill, a good white; two plain cotton pillowcases, good whites; two lace-edged cotton pillowcases (the cases themselves are falling apart and have visible holes in but once starched they seem robust enough to keep using; the lace is crochet but looks lovely); two heavy-twill pillowslips; several handkerchiefs; a couple of little mats for standing vases, mugs, etc., on.

What happens when they have finished washing in the machine?

I mix a big enamel basin full of starch, made with powder starch (from Feathergills Emporium in Hebden Bridge, online shopping available) and a bit of borax. Then I add some Reckitt's Blue to this starch-water, combining the blueing and starching in one go.



Once dipped, I don't even try to wring them - and have no mangle - so I lug them dripping to the washing-machine and do a 'fast spin' cycle to drain them.
Then I usually put the lighter things, like pillowcases, on the line or clothes-horse so they can dry a little more; the rest goes in the tumble-dryer.
I don't starch the twill pillowslips as these just go straight onto the older two feather pillows to contain leaking feathers, and are then sewn closed with a line of red thread oversewing.

Ironing starched items requires an iron that is HOT and that is CLEAN. Don't even think about ironing properly-starched items with a low-temperature iron as the starch needs to 'cook'.

Once ironed, everything hangs over the clothes-horse or over chair-backs to air - this is important as otherwise they can end up clammy and chill, if folded straight after ironing.


Finally it is all carried upstairs and the bed is made, cases pulled onto a feather bolster and four feather pillows (a nightmare to allergy sufferers!) ending with two feather duvets and a vintage French quilt, and two of my late Grandmother's pre-war lambswool blankets folded over the bed-end for extra warmth for feet on winter nights.
Heavy lined velvet hangings, weighted at the hem for opulent swaying movement, are pulled round the high Edwardian bed-head as it stands in an otherwise draughty dormer window.