Quick info: Bath Melt Molds ~ Lotion Bar Molds ~ Stainless Measuring Cups ~ Ordering Info

Seasonal Bath Melt Molds – $15 each, or 2 for $25

These are plastic chocolate craft molds (not as durable as the professional stuff, but less expensive than the “real thing”) in super-cute seasonal shapes.  The imprints are small, which makes them great for bath melts made of pure butters and oils.

There are 8 – 12 imprints per sheet, and the sheets are about 9″ x 7″.

Starfish Mold

I love this shape — I’m going to tint them pink-orange, I think, and use a tropical fragrance (mango? passionfruit?)

Diameter: 1 1/2″

Depth: about 1/3″

Availability: Can get 12.

Star Molds 1&2

Maybe for the 4th of July? Stars are just a cute shape, especially in multi colors.

Diameter for Star 1: 1 1/8″

Depth: 5/16″ (just over 1/4″)

Availability: Can get 5.

Diameter for Star 2 (below): 1 1/8″

Depth: 7/16″ (almost 1/2″)

Availability: Can get 5.

Goldfish Mold

Another cute shape for summer.

Diameter: 1 7/8″

Depth: around 1/3″

Availability: Can get 5.

Flower Mold

Diameter: 1 3/8″

Depth: 9/32″ (a little more that 1/4″)

Availability: I can get 8.

Shell Molds 1 & 2

Diameter for Shell 1 (below): 1 3/8″

Depth: around 1/3″

Availability: Can get 6

Diameter for Shell 2 (below): 2 1/2″ (large!)

Depth: 3/4″

Availability: Can get 4.

Plain Rectangle Mold

This is what we used in the shop for our honeysuckle/rose bath melts.

Heart Mold 1 & 2

Diameter for the first mold:29/32″ (almost 1″)

Depth: 23/64″ (about 1/3″)

Availability: Can get 5.

Diameter for heart mold 2 (below): 1 1/4″

Depth: about 1/3″

Availability: Can get 7

I can also get bigger hearts, up to 2″ across.  They look the same as heart 1, just larger.

Silicone Molds – $22 each, or 2 for $40

These are for making bigger bath melts (ones that are bath bombier and have more powder than butters), and lotion bars.  I don’t have the photos for each, but I do have dimensions.

Heart & mini madeleine.

Heart

Heart dimensions: 2.5″ x 1 3/8″

Depth: 1 3/8″

Madeleines

The madeleines are more like bath melt size.

Dimensions: 1 5/8″ x 1 1/8″

Depth: 1/2″

Pyramid

These are large, and I’m getting them specifically for making lotion bars.  A bit experimental, but more eye-catching than plain bars.  Then again, can you go wrong with plain bars?

Dimensions: 2 3/4″ square at base

Depth: 1 1/2″

Small Rectangle

Dimensions: 3 1/8″ x 1 1/8″

Depth: 1 1/8″

Stainless Stackable Liquid Measuring Cups

Expensive, but so nice to have.  Plus, the largest size goes to 2 quarts.  They all look the same, so I’m only posting one photo:

Sizes, from smallest to largest:

• B: 4″ diameter, 2 3/4″ height — 10.125 oz
  Availability: 54
  Price: $11
• C: 4 3/8″ diameter, 4 3/8″ height — 16 ounces (1/2 quart, or 2 cups)
  Availability: 65
  Price: $19
• D: 5 7/8″ diameter, 5 1/8″ height — 1 quart (32 oz)
  Availability: 109
  Price: $25
• E: 6 1/8″ diameter, 7 1/2″ height — 1.5 quart
  Availability: 4
  Price: $42
• F: 6 5/8″ diameter, 7 1/2″ height — 2.128 quart
  Availability: 8
  Price: $49

Set price: $130 ($153 individually.)

Ordering Info

Just like old days, I’m going to take pre-orders.  Email me what you want, and I’ll send you an invoice with PayPal. You don’t have to have PayPal to pay the invoice — you can use any major credit card.

If the availability info is wrong and I can’t get what you ordered, I’ll just give you a refund before I place the order with the supplier.  If you have any questions, just email me.

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Here are some suggestions from readers, and based on my experiences at the shop where I worked.

Fragrances

• Intense “pink” florals: Plumeria, magnolia, hyacinth.  Island Plumeria, in particular, sold like crazy during Mother’s Day weekend in the shop.
• Sophisticated (trendy) blends: Bamboo, white tea, ginger, red currant, any rose/berry combination.  These are still in and well received, as long as the fragrances are subtle and well-balanced.
• My personal favorite: greens!  Fern, mint, herbs, heather.  Any garden or rainforest type scent can work, and they are the underdog of the fragrance world.  I think the green smell of growing things is perfect for any women with children!

Products

• CP soap was the best seller in our store, followed by…
• Foot care kits.  We did an interesting tomato/mint foot mud mask which sold well.  I often suggested doing intense foot bath bombs from the small mold, but they never got around to it.
• Solid lotion bars.  These are easy, easy, easy!  Just melt some butters and oils together with your favorite fragrance, and pour them into some silicone molds.  A plain rectangular bar works well and is easy to wrap.
• Soy candles.  So easy and fun, soy candles can be whipped up in a day and are usually a pleaser.  I use soy candles for any kind of gifting occasion.  I’m not an expert, but you can get some very basic instructions by downloading this PDF: http://www.excellentlivingguide.com/2009/12/soy-wax-tea-lights/

Special Ideas For Sellers

• If you sell your products on Etsy or in a store, think of the many different stages of being a mother.  New mothers are always a money-maker, but what about preschool moms… mamas of preteens… college grad mothers?  You just might strike gold, and you’ll easily set yourself apart from all the others who are doing generic Mother’s Day products.
• Men buy a lot of Mother’s Day stuff, but they often need a lot of help making a good decision.  Help them out!
• Team up with someone who makes handmade cards, and have them design a special matching card to go with you gift packages.  People love good looking packages for this holiday, and beautiful cards are a thoughtful addition.

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Fragrances

* It’s sick season!  Try experimenting with peppermint, eucalyptus, spearmint, rosemary, and other medicinal-type scents.  Be careful with essential oils, though — fragrance oils with these scents will contain some of the essential oils, too, just in moderate doses.

* Beware the usual suspects.  You way want to steer clear of holiday spice, Xmas spice, pumpkin spice, fir and spice, etc.  These “holiday” scents get over used — the default impersonal gift is a seasonally-scented set from Bath and Body Works.  It can be seriously overkill, especially if you’re a woman who works in a large office or church!  You want your stuff to be useful after the holidays, as well.

* That being said, I can’t get enough of fig/spice and “pomander,” which is usually orange, lemon, clove, and musk.  Kind of like a fruitcake, but not sweet.  Beware using actual clove and cinnamon essential oils, though — they can be irritating.

* Also try heavier and old-fashioned florals, like rose, jasmine, violet, and narcissus.  Often, Oriental perfumes are classified as “winter.”  You can create a quick blend with a nice designer duplication that you doctor up with something unexpected.

* Real spruce, pine, and fir essential oils can come across as Pine-Sol-tastic.  For some people, that’s a good thing, but if you don’t want that, try softening them with a light, clean citrus or floral fragrance oil.  Berries + fir often comes out to cough syrup.

Sizes (based on my own mold sizes)

* Small bath bombs are very gifty and have many packaging options.  Try this page to see specific suggestions for this size.

* Medium and large bath bombs sell the best, individually.  However, in our store, they often cracked. Make sure you let them cure for 48 hours before selling or giving — most cracks will occur during that time.  The other problem is splitting along the seam, so minimize the seam, and make sure you press hard enough when molding your bath bombs.

* You can hide prizes inside, starting with the large.  Extra large and Jumbo are the best, but are more challenging to mold!  (XL is 3.5″ diameter, and Jumbo is 4″ diameter.)  For small prizes, try sponge capsules, waterproof fortunes (printed on waterproof paper), small coins, or pewter charms.  For the XL bath bomb, I’d love to see someone try hiding a friendship bracelet or a charm on a chain!  I’d also like to see

* To help the XLs and Jumbos stay together, try adding white clay to the bath bomb mix.  You’ll have to experiment and see what works the best.

Special Ingredients & Gimmicks

* XLs and Jumbos are awesome for including oatmeal, Epsom or Dead Sea salts!  To make a really effective mineral bath, you need at least 1/2 cup of salts in warm, not hot, water.  With the larger two sizes, you can include 1/2 cup or more of salt per bomb and still have a bath bomb that holds together.  I originally got the XL size to make my “Earth Bombs,” with 2/3 cup of oatmeal!

* Exotic butters and oils are still in.  Grate, don’t melt, the harder butters and waxes — it’s a lot easier.  You can “cut in” the softer butters with a pastry cutter (or use your fingers.)

* Sugarcraft.com has wafer paper flowers and other decorations — this is what Lush uses for its famous jasmine Sex Bomb.  Just put the wafer paper rose in one end and pack the bath bomb mix around it.  You can make a holiday-themed one with a snowflake or something — no one does this enough, and in person, these things sell like crazy.

Anything to add?  Just email info@excellentlivingguide.com, and I’ll include it.

Join us in an excellent lifestyle based on creativity, high-quality, and frugality -- become part of the Excellent Living Guide community! You'll be invited to participate in member discussions, projects, events, and special PDF tutorials on making more cool stuff. Read about ELG values and sign up here.

After years as the resident fixer-upper and upholsterer at a North Shore antique and lighting shop, she started Fine Diving In Chicago, an upcycling blog with thrifty trash-to-treasure furniture makeovers.  Soon after, she became a monthly columnist for Time Out Chicago Magazine (“Tossed and Found”) showcasing her creative reuse talents, became ChicagoNow’s “Garage Sale Warrior,” and was invited to contribute for Home Workshop, a prominent do-it-yourself design blog.

Since 2008, Diana has been instructing and inspiring “makers” from the US and abroad.  Her finished works have sold in design markets and shops in the local Chicago area, and also through her Etsy shop.  Now, she has taken the next step toward helping people channel their inner Rachel Ashwell with her first book, “Secondhand Shabby.”

Fine Diving In Chicago – Diana’s personal upcycling blog with “before and afters.”

Garage Sale Warrior – Buying and selling in Chicago’s secondhand and vintage markets.

Diana’s posts at HomeWorkshop.com

Diana’s projects for “Tossed and Found” at Time Out Chicago Magazine.

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(Detail from one of the Secondhand Shabby example pieces.)

Quick quiz — do any of these describe you?

• You have an instant attraction to distressed white paint on an old kitchen table “with character.”
• You have a fondness for furniture with romantic detailing and old-fashioned charm… in fact, your basement is full of your finds.
• You can’t stand to see lonely chairs in an alley or dumpster and start making after-dark rescue plans.
• You covet certain items from Jayson Home & Garden or Restoration Hardware, but you can’t bring yourself to buy any of them.  After all, even if you can afford their prices, “It can’t be that hard to make.”

If you’ve answered yes to those, here is a book you’ll want to know about.  Secondhand Shabby is a practical and inspiring hands-on ebook that shows you how to create your own shabby chic looks using vintage and thrifted furniture.

(Found in an alley behind a Victorian house, stripped and ready for a new life.)

Go shopping at Goodwill and Home Depot, make your own “exquisitely distressed” table for about $25.

What is so cool about this particular ebook is how it shows the rising participation in the “secondhand economy.”  It’s written by Diana, a prominent upcycler who has a column about creative reuse in Time Out Chicago Magazine.  She is also the writer behind “Garage Sale Warrior,” a Chicago Now blog about thrift and vintage markets.

More and more people are looking at the makeover value of well-made old stuff, compared to IKEA’s disposable modern ticky tacky.  (We call it the IKEA furniture rental program at our house because the clock starts ticking after you put it together…)

Shabby chic that’s eco-friendly and economical.

If you’ve been into shabby chic, you already know that its critics usually raise their eyebrows at the high price of furniture that’s mass-produced to look used, worn, and one of a kind.

But Secondhand Shabby gives this popular style an eco-friendly (and economical) slant.  The low-cost projects all start with thrifted, vintage, or family furniture — the kind anyone can find at Goodwill, a junk shop, or an estate sale.  Each old piece gets new life (and sometimes, a completely new purpose) using some versatile but beginner-friendly techniques.

Materials cost?  Unless you’re going all out, the stuff you need usually costs less than $20 per project.

Create the classic distressed paint finish, and much more.

Shabby is much more than old-looking furniture with worn white paint — only one of the chapters is about getting that classic distressed shabby finish (which is just about as easy as you think it is.)  You can take a look at the table of contents to get an idea of what you’ll learn:

Click to see the table of contents full sized in your browser.

Emphasis on one-of-a-kind creations.

Some do-it-yourself books are like paint by numbers: they teach you how to make a specific thing, and your end result is supposed to look just like theirs.  Secondhand Shabby’s approach is different.

The author’s mission is to help people create eclectic, pretty, and casual decor using their own ideas and eye for potential.  The example projects are inspiration and practical demonstration of the techniques.  When you use the techniques on your own thrift and vintage finds, you will get elegant, one-of-a-kind things with real histories, unique origins, and distinct personalities… that probably look nothing like the example projects!

The stories behind the finds...

Shabby makeovers use everyday stuff from the hardware store.

Shabby chic is clearly rooted in history, but using actual secondhand furniture used to be designers’ and boutique owners’ uneasy secret.  Now, anyone can make a trip to the thrift and make their own unique pieces with a few key skills.

Diana Durkes has always encouraged people to be their own designers.  With Secondhand Shabby, she has created a hands-on guide that gives budding DIY decorators the confidence and practical skills they need to channel their inner Rachel Ashwell.

Of course, I always ended up using the whole case, but only after a number of months.  I only make candles for gifts and personal use, so it takes a while.

Jarsupplier.com just opened this month, and they carry all the Jar Store’s line, but you can buy jars one at a time. They also do not stock anything other than jars — no wax, scents, or wicks. Just glassware.

Click here to visit Jarsupplier.com.

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Bath melts should be smaller, since a little goes a long way when it floats on top of the bath water. Most of Lush’s are 1 ounce, and that is too much for a lot of people, especially those with compact bath tubs.

I’ve also seen a combination of bath bomb and semi-solid butter also described as bath melts. They have the bonus effect of fizzing slightly while the oils and waxes melt. See “Le Bath Melt” on Snowdrift Farm’s page here.

Anyway, no need for me to reinvent the wheel, especially since I’ve never actually made any bath melt or massage bar like products. Here are some links to basic bath melt recipes — the majority use cocoa butter and sweet almond oil, which you can probably find at your local health food store if you don’t want to wait to order online (though it’ll cost you.) Massage bars often use beeswax to make them harder.

As with bath bombs, the fun in making bath melts is elaborating on the basic recipe and creating your own versions — especially the appearance! You can have a lot of fun with different mold shapes and packaging.

Cute! Tub toads wrapped in hoppin’ green foil.

Bath melt with milk powder.

Nice looking recipe for tub truffles.

Massage bar with beeswax.

PS
Does anyone have a nice photo I can use? I didn’t want to use anyone’s picture without permission, and it would be great to showcase a member’s handiwork!

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The Aromatherapy Angle
According to several sources, the purpose of shower steamers is aromatherapy. You make them with essential oils, get them a little wet, and put them out of direct range of the shower spray. The steamy heat from the shower helps the essential oils circulate, creating an aromatherapy steam-room environment.

I thought that was pretty cool. There are few products that enhance the shower atmosphere — just the bath — and leveraging the humid heat is clever. I’ve done shower sprays with mint and eucalyptus, but I never thought to repurpose the bath bomb in this way.

How To Make ‘Em
I checked the ingredients on several sites, and they are exactly the same as a bath bomb: citric acid, baking soda, essential oils. Some have borax, possibly to alter the pH balance or make the tub easier to clean. All of them have to have good essential oils, of course, and some knowledge of aromatherapy is required.

As far as I can tell, you can just make a basic bath bomb with essential oils and call it a shower steamer. If I’m wrong about this, be sure to email me and let me know, but my research supports this conclusion.

If you don’t know how to make bath bombs, you can start by downloading my free Fast Guide, a 48-page instruction manual on bath bomb making.

Packaging
I didn’t want to steal anyone’s product photos, but if you search Google images for “shower steamer,” it’ll give you a good idea what other people are doing.

The format is either a small bomb size, such as the 2 ounce size, or half a 4 or 6 ounce bath bomb. They are usually wrapped in colored foil, rather like a Valentine’s Day chocolate, with a sticker holding it together.

As the shower steamers contain essential oils, they need to be stored in an airtight environment. The foil must provide a good air block, but I don’t see why the right clear bag would do the trick as well. I suspect the foil is also to distinguish it from a normal bath bomb, if the sellers provide both products.

To find the foil, search google for “confectionery foil,” or start here at Sugarcraft, where there are all kinds of good things for the creative bath bomber.

As a marketer, I do not like the look of many of these shower steamers because of the confusion with candy. For bath bombs, it makes sense — it’s bath candy — but the cognitive dissonance of cheap candy packaging + semi-poisonous essential oils + luxury spa experience? Not so good, in my opinion. I’d prefer a more natural look to go with the aromatherapy angle.

Cautions
I do not recommend using corn starch. It will make the steamer softer and possibly provide food for mold. People will leave the shower steamer out, and heat + moisture + air = uninvited growths. The chemical salts may help deter spores, but don’t count on it… there are some very hardy strains of mold out there. It’s their job.

I also do not recommend using clay, since it will leave a slushy residue as the steamer melts down. Not that there’s any reason to use clay, but since some people do use it in bath bombs, I thought I’d mention it.

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• My “Aphrodisiac Scents” report I did for members on Valentines Day 2009, covering what are reputed to be sensual fragrances, and what current research has to say about the scent-sex connection
• Really good and hard to find perfumery textbooks!
• Great sites for finding rare absolutes, CO2s, and essential oils at decent prices (still expensive, though, perfumery is not a cheap hobby)
• And more, as I find it

I assume that you have some experience in making perfume. If you are a total beginner, read some of the perfuming articles on this site.

Just fill out the form below, click the confirmation email, and you’ll be sent a link to the page, with the password.

This year, I noticed that the cookies were going awfully fast. First, there was the famous chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that seemed to vanish within 48 hours. Granted, my brothers are huge consumers of sweets, but that seemed fast, even for them.

Last night, I caught the Elf at it again, this time with dark molasses ginger cookies. “I have a secret,” he said. “I’m freezing half of each batch to save for Christmas Eve. That way, we’ll have all these different kinds of cookies, ready to bake.”

I thought that was awesome! And since it’s not too late to stock up, I thought I’d write this up so that you can do it, too.

Most of our recipes are either Ye Olde Family Recipes, or come from this awesome cookie book here, including the awesome molasses cookies:
Rosie’s Bakery Chocolate-Packed Jam-Filled Butter-Rich No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book
It’s out of print, but you can still find it used from other sellers, and totally worth tracking down. Our copy is very well used!

Join us in an excellent lifestyle based on creativity, high-quality, and frugality -- become part of the Excellent Living Guide community! You'll be invited to participate in member discussions, projects, events, and special PDF tutorials on making more cool stuff. Read about ELG values and sign up here.