Tonight I taught the Barony a class on making herbal lip balms. It was my first class, so thanks for taking it easy on me, you all!  I do hope that the balms all got solid. What I brought home looks good, at least.

I mentioned that I would share some links to the resources I used for my supplies.  Here they are.

First, the plastic jars and lids (food grade safe!):
Jars.  17 cents each.  http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=64706
Lids. 8 cents each. http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=33684&catid=683
Of course there's shipping, but those are pretty darned cheap!

If you want to get fancy, these metal tins are darned cute.
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7.html Again, food safe! This is important with cosmetics. Lip balm goes on the mouth so it needs to be in a safe container, especially with metal.
Pricing varies, bulk is naturally cheaper, but for just 12 you're looking at $1.31 each. You want 144 of them? Great!  Only 35 cents then, but who really wants THAT many?

These slide top tins are excellent for healing salves and other such ointments!
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7k.html
Similar pricing here. 1.10 each for 12 of them but bulk pricing is better.

Oh yeah. If you are really going for bulk, then these are another option. The lid screws on for these metal tins.
http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin7d.html
$62 for 100 so again you'd have to be doing a pretty big project for these.

Whatever container you choose, you don't want it to be more than about a half ounce. Otherwise it starts getting pretty big.

I am so sad that the source I bought the beeswax from is apparently no longer in business. But finding cosmetic grade beeswax should not be too difficult. Heck, finding some nice natural ORGANIC beeswax around the barony should not be too difficult, in fact!  ;-)

For the essential oils: choose something that is a real actual essential oil, not a flavoring. You'll know it's the right one if it's expensive. Unfortunately they're not super cheap!  But, you don't have to buy a huge container, or a large variety. Best choices are peppermint, and citrus ones - orange, lemon, grapefruit. I'm certain there are others but these are my best finds so far.

Extra virgin olive oil is what I used.

Have a peek at this. It's a herbal skin product being sold for $10 and it's almost just like what we made tonight!http://www.massageandskincaresolutions.com/Products.html
So as I mentioned, you can see how versatile this basic formula can really be.  Salves, ointments, balms, so many possibilities.

Hope these links will be useful, and ask me anything about it - if I don't know I'll sure seek for the answer!

~Aranwen
Aranwen@thewillowford.com
https://www.facebook.com/crowshade