FREE AND CLEAR LIP BALM RECIPE

I couldn't find a true free and clear recipe for homemade lip balm on the web that was free of botanicals or beeswax, so I went to work in my kitchen lab and came up with my own.  You can read the story of why I wanted this mineral/petroleum based lip balm at the end of the recipe, but for those of you who don't care, I thought it'd be nice to just give you the recipe up front.  I like the texture of this a whole lot better than the coconut oil/beeswax recipes I've tried that kind of melt as you apply.  This feels like a lip protection and stays put for longer than 10 minutes.  I used tubes because I don't like sticking my finger in a pot, but use whatever works or what you have.

This RECIPE fills 5 standard lip balm tubes

SUPPLIES:
Food grade paraffin wax (I used Gulf wax available in canning supplies at the grocery)

pure petroleum jelly (I prefer medical grade)
clean (sterile) lip balm tubes or tubs or (cleaned out old containers)
Cheese grater
Microwave safe bowl or measuring cup (Pyrex)
Microwave or double boiler set up for stove top.
stir stick or spoon
Disposable pipettes (optional)
Small cookie sheet and ice packs if you're using tubes

INGREDIENTS:
2 packed teaspoons of grated paraffin wax
4 level teaspoons of pure petroleum jelly
(got that? 1 part wax, 2 parts petroleum jelly.  Make any amount you wish.)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Prepare your containers or tubes.  If you're using tubes, it's good practice to line them up on a cookie sheet with an ice pack under it. This keeps the tubes cool and helps keep the hot mixture from seeping down past the bottom push plug thingy (I think that's the technical term for it).  You could probably line up the tubes along a lunch ice block too.  Whatever you do, whether you use ice or not, make sure the tubes are level.

2. Grate wax with grater (you won't need much).  Measure it by packing it into a measuring spoon. It's not explosive, so it doesn't have to be perfectly exact.

3.  Melt wax in a microwave safe container, using 30 second increments.

4.  When wax is all or mostly melted, add petroleum jelly and microwave for an additional 15-30 seconds.  Stir well until all the petroleum jelly is melted and incorporated into the wax.

5. Carefully and slowly pour into the tubes or containers or pipette the hot liquid into the tubes.  Make sure you fill it all the way to the tippy-top because it settles down into the tube a bit as it cools.  I didn't use pipettes because I'm cheap thrifty.  It doesn't really matter if you spill, you can wipe it off later and clean it up with rubbing alcohol or something.

6.  Let cool until set up.

7. Put on the cap

8. Apply cute label...or not.

Clean tools with hot soapy water.

If you don't care about free and clear that much, you can experiment with the recipe.  You may substitute beeswax for the paraffin, add a bit of sweetener to the hot mixture, drop of flavoring oil or vitamin E oil, substitute some of the paraffin for crayon shavings for a tinted balm. You can probably mess with the ratios and add less wax to make it more of a cream consistency, though I didn't try that.  Whatever you do, stick with oil and wax based ingredients; don't try to add alcohol or water based vitamins or extracts.

***DISCLAIMER:  Petrolatum products are supposedly not good to ingest (so the organic mom bloggers say), so, uh...don't eat it.  This may deter you from adding sweetener for your children.


WHY WE NEED TO GO NON-BOTANICAL, the backstory:

This post is no doubt going to throw a wrench into all the mommy bloggers who are all-natural, organic, plant-based fanatics. And the essential oil worshipers will likely hate it. I don't fault anyone for raising a fist to the mass producers who add chemicals and preservatives to our personal care and cleaning products.  I'm right there with you.  I feel like I'm being forced to become a DIY granola mom making my own stuff to avoid chemicals, though you won't catch me smelling of sandalwood and ylang ylang.

My daughter recently underwent contact dermatitis patch testing (that was a joy).  After her spring break of no showering, terrible itching at the reaction spots and being condemned to being inactive (the worst torture) because she couldn't sweat, she came home with a list of skin allergies and irritants.  The worst offenders were Methylisothiazolinone (preservative) and glucosides (lathering agent).  Most personal care products contained at least one of her allergens, so we tossed her shampoo, conditioner, chapsticks, lotions and soaps and went shopping.  Her safe list is pretty short and some household products, like dish soap, have no options for her to use.  No dish soap means I'm searching for DIY recipes and until I find a good one, she'll have to wear gloves every time she puts her hand in dishwater, which is probably a good habit to get into anyway.

Among her list of allergies were fragrances and botanicals.  This isn't uncommon given different reactions to bees and various plants and flowers that people have. That means no essential oils (what? they don't cure everything?!), no fragrance, no natural soaps like Dr. Bronners, no beeswax. My girl  has one single safe option for lip balm: Vaseline Original Lip Therapy, which is petroleum jelly.

I wanted my daughter to have the convenience of having a tube of Chapstick in her pocket like everyone else, and I happened to buy a bunch of lip balm tubes on Amazon a few months ago to make my own coconut/beeswax lip balm which turned out to be pretty terrible (it had a cheap thin lip gloss consistency and then there was coconut...barf).  I searched for hours to find a recipe that had no beeswax, plant oils, flavorings, etc.  The majority of my searches came up with things like "get rid of your paraffin and petrolatum based products."  I really don't understand why people think minerals are the devil and plants are gods (as long as they're non-GMO organic gluten free plants). <insert snarky eye roll>

I set to work and came up with the simplest of lip balm recipes with 2 cheap ingredients. This is  without smell, taste or anything botanical.  And it worked!  I amaze myself sometimes.  Scroll back up for the recipe.

Fall for a new wool handbag

Fall is a perfect time to add a new purse or handbag to your wardrobe, especially when your old one is almost 3 years old, and its bottom corners are wearing so thin that you can see your floor when peering inside.  Yes, my most favorite purse in the whole world is at the end of its life and even though I'm still getting compliments everywhere I take the poor thing, it's time to (sniff) let it go.

My friend and I were having yet another craft day and she had a really cute purse made of cotton.  She got it from a seller on Etsy, of course.  I shopped around on the website and couldn't find one that I really liked that had a zipper closure.  They all had a single magnet snap and I don't feel terribly secure walking around town with all my contents secured by a single magnet.  So, what did I do about it?  Of course, I decided I needed to make one.  

I found some extra wool from a dress I made last year (that didn't turn out very nicely), so I went to work on a new fall purse.  And my friend generously gave me some leftover cotton fabric she bought from IKEA that made a perfect lining for the bag.  If you sew and you like it, continue reading for the tutorial.

Wool Handbag with tie and zipper closure.

You will Need:
about 1½-2 yds. (depending on width) wool fabric or fabric of your choice
½ yard cotton lining
2½ yd interfacing
12" purse zipper
thread, of course

Out of wool fabric:

1.      Cut two (2) rectangles measuring 20” x 12” for MAIN BODY

2.      Cut two (2) rectangles  12” x 6” for TOP TAB

3.      Cut two (2) rectangles 10”x 4” for ZIPPER CLOSURE

4.      Cut one rectangle 40” x 3½” for SHOULDER STRAP

5.      Cut two (2) rectangles 20” x 6” for FRONT TIES.   Fold in half lengthwise. Cut off one end of each folded piece on an angle (slightly more than a 45 degree angle), with the sharper point toward the fold. 

Out of cotton lining:

1.      Cut two (2) rectangles measuring 20” x 12” for LINING

2.      Make a small clip or notch at the center of the along the 20” length of the MAIN BODY LINING.  This will be the TOP.

3.      Any inside pockets you want to add.  (Instructions not included in this tutorial)

Out of fusible interfacing:

1.      Cut four (4) rectangles measuring 20” x 12” for MAIN BODY and LINING

2.      Cut two (2) rectangles  12” x 6” for TOP TAB

3.      Cut two (2) rectangles 10”x 4” for ZIPPER CLOSURE

4.      Cut one rectangle 40” x 3½” for SHOULDER STRAP

5.      Cut two (2) rectangles 20” x 6” for FRONT TIES.  Trim to fit the FRONT TIES.

Sewing instructions:

1.      Iron on interfacing to all pieces.

2.      With one ZIPPER CLOSURE” piece for the zipper closure, fold in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew ½” seam along the short ends, so that the length is kept open.  Turn to outside and iron flat.  Repeat with matching piece.

3.      Fold the SHOULDER STRAP in half lengthwise, right sides together and sew ½” seam along the length of the strap.  Turn to outside and iron flat.  Tuck the ends of the shoulder strap in by ½ inch, iron and baste closed, so that all the edges are finished.

4.      Fold each FRONT TIE piece together lengthwise, right sides together.  With the first piece, sew along the edges leaving the flat end open to turn.  For the second piece, cut 1" off the flat end, making it one inch shorter than the other piece.  Sew as you did the first piece.  Trim corners. Turn to outside, using a blunt dowel or chopstick to push out the corners.  Iron well.

5.      On one MAIN BODY piece, the 20” edge will be the TOP and BOTTOM, and the 12” edge will be the SIDES.  On the TOP, measure and mark 4½” from the edges of each side.  I clipped a small notch.  Sew two machine basting stitches between the notches at ¼” and ¾” seam allowance.  Pull threads to gather between the notches.  Repeat with other main body piece and each of the LINING pieces.

6.      Taking the MAIN BODY and the TOP TAB piece, working from the outside edges, pin the TOP of the MAIN BODY to the 12” length of the TOP TAB, adjusting the gathers to fit between the notches.  Stitch together with ½” seam allowance.  Repeat with other side.

7.      Using the directions for installing a zipper, sew a purse zipper onto one ZIPPER CLOSURE piece, making sure the zipper is along the folded side of the ZIPPER CLOSURE.  Repeat with the other size so the zipper fits evenly between the two ZIPPER CLOSURE pieces.*

    *(please note that I didn’t install the zipper until the last step and it was a giant pain, so I’m adjusting my steps, so you can avoid the same problem I did and not have to sew it in by hand on the ends.  Please also note that my pictures represent how I did it and not how I’m instructing you to do it.)

8.      Pin and baste one raw edge of the ZIPPER CLOSURE to the free length of the TOP TAB, right sides together.  Repeat with the other side.

9.      Pin the TOP of the LINING to the TOP TAB, right sides together, so that the ZIPPER CLOSURE is between the LINING and the TOP TAB, adjusting the gathers between the notches to fit the same as the MAIN BODY.  Sew in place with ½” seam allowance.

10.  Line up the raw edges of the FRONT TIE pieces to the sides of the MAIN BODY, extending up to the TOP TAB by ½”.  Make sure the FRONT TIE pieces are placed so that the folded side is toward the TOP and the seamed side is toward the BOTTOM.

11.  With right sides together, pin together the MAIN BODY and the LINING pieces (that are all connected by now) and sew together along all the edges with a ½" seam allowance , leaving about 6” open in the bottom of the LINING so you can turn it right side out.

12.  Iron seams open.

13.  Along each corner on both the MAIN BODY and the LINING, fold so that the seams line up and pin seams together, as pictured.  Measure 2¾”from the corner on each new folded edge and mark with a pin.  Using a straight edge, draw a straight line from each marking and sew along the line, so the corner is cut off.  Trim corners off.

14.  Turn through the opening in the lining so that the lining fits inside the handbag. 

15.  Iron ½” seam allowance into the opening in the LINING and stitch closed, either by hand or machine. (I did it by machine, but you may like a more finished look inside).

16.  Line up the bottom edges of the TOP TAB so that the MAIN BODY and the LINING match up.  This is rather tedious.  Top stitch along the edge where the MAIN BODY meets the TOP TAB, stopping and restarting at the edges to avoid sewing over the FRONT TIES.

17.   Center the SHOULDER STRAP edge at the side seams of the TOP TAB and top stitch in place.  It’s best to stitch from the outside, even though you can’t really see what you’re  doing, you can kind of feel where the fabric starts and stops.  It makes for a cleaner look on the outside.

18.      Tie the FRONT TIES together. 

front

back

inside view

update 11/19/11:  I made this bag again and decided not to gather the lining.  Instead, I matched centers, and trimmed the bottom to the top on a diagonal so that it would match the shape of the bag.  I was much happier with it this way.

I also added some reinforcement on the bottom.  A piece of lightweight plastic works well.