On the Third Day of Finchmas, the Finchies Gave to Me…
One Handmade Lotion Bar Tutorial, and a Knit Wash Cloth too!
Ingredients
Raw Coconut Oil
Shea or Coco Butter or a Combination of Both
Beeswax
**Where to Buy: I bought all my ingredients of Amazon. You can find coconut oil at your local grocery store.**
Materials Needed
Food Scale
Spatula or Spoon
Pyrex Measuring Cup (Glass)
Pot/Pan
Tongs
Pot Mits
Silicon Mold
**Where to Buy: I had these materials laying around my home, but you can find a Silicon Mold or Food Scale at your favorite local kitchen store.**
This tutorial includes the use of extreme heat and hot liquids! Please be careful and proceed with caution.
Before you begin, boil a pot of water. I used a medium sized pot with a cup to boil a cup of water. DO NOT fill the pot up all the way with water. A cup of water will suffice :)… and it is safer too.
Once you’ve got that going, move on to the next step: Tare your scale with your glass pyrex measuring cup on the scale and whatever glass bowl you decide. A dear friend of mine refers to my pyrex cup as my caldron. Little does she know there is some truth to that because these little lotion bars are truly magical. Not to mention easy to make.
Since I knew I needed to make only a few of these, I chose to go with 2 ounces of each ingredient listed above. It doesn’t matter what ingredient you begin with, just continue to add them in your glass pyrex bowl in equal amounts.
To make larger (or smaller) batches of lotion bars adjust the ounces needed. This is important: Whichever measurement you use needs to be the same measurement for all three ingredients.
Gently (!!!) place your pyrex bowl in your pot of boiling water with your tongs. At this point, I turned my stove to a medium flame setting. Once the ingredients begin to melt, begin to stir every so often. More than likely, the beeswax will be the last to melt and may take longer to liquefy. When your ingredients are fully a liquid, remove your glass container from the water with tongs and pot mitts.
Make sure you have your silicon mold ready to go because the next step is to pour the ingredients in the silicon molds.
Once you finished pouring, place your lotion bars in the fridge for them to harden. I chose to make these lotion bars in the evening so they could harden over night.
Aren’t they adorable??
I have to admit, I am a little obsessed with knitted washcloths. Not only do they make a perfect gift, but they are a quick knit too! Pair up a homemade lotion bar with a knitted washcloth and you have a gift that grandma, mom, sister, and maybe even the hubs would love!
We carry several yarns that are perfect for washcloths: Kestrel and Willet, both from Quince & Co., and then there’s Skinny Cotton by Blue Sky Alpacas. Kestrel is 100% Organic Linen (heavy worsted weight) and Willet is 100% Cleaner Cotton™ (sport/DK weight), while Skinny Cotton is a 100% organic cotton sport weight yarn. Looking for a chunkier (read “faster”) option? Blue Sky’s Worsted Cotton… another 100% organic cotton in worsted weight. And all of these options are are available in a wide variety of colors too!
Click here for an easy washcloth knitting pattern to go with your lotion bars :) We also have a class coming up where you can learn to make a crochet a washcloth.
And don’t forget to sign up for this week’s Friday Night Social! You can sign up by clicking here. We hope to see you there.
xoxo
Stefanie and The Finch
