A while ago I mentioned the ridiculous number of things we’d attempted in a bid to keep using cloth nappies; one of our trials included a home-made bot balm, and, as we’ve ended up using the aforementioned balm for finishing off wooden toys, restoring dry hands, scenting one’s person, balming one’s lips (er…) and generally slathering about the place, I thought I’d share the recipe here.

Body balm
Get hold of…

A small bar of beeswax (ours was about an inch wide, three inches long and half an inch deep)

A (measuring ) cup of oil (I’ve used sunflower, olive, calendula and sweet almond)

About fifteen drops of essential oils to scent (I’ve used combinations of various, or single oils when I was in a monastic mood; I’ve also used calendula oil here too, because I was after something super-skin-friendly. Best scents so far: lavender and valerian for a sleep balm, and geranium, rose and lemon for a daily scent.)

Then…

What I’ve found works best is either to melt the lot together in over a small pan of boiling water, or to wait until you have something in the oven and pop the ingredients in a silicone something-or-other (I used a muffin tray and it worked quite well, not least as you can leave the balm in situ to cool and then you’ve got little poppable-out discs of it, suitable for stashing in a small tin for use as, say, lip balm or solid scent) and shove in for about ten minutes. I’ve read recipes which suggest grating the wax; I did this the first time, and while it may have melted a little more quickly as a result, to be honest, for the general knuckle-grating potential of wax + grater, I didn’t bother after that. Oh, and I found the wax took far longer to melt than I’d expected when I used a pan, hence my experiments with the oven; patience is a virtue, but not one which I possess.

In other lyrical news, how is it that now that I have the opportunity to listen to lots of music (my iPod is a constant companion in the morning shift at work), I’m bored bored bored with everything I own? Now, here’s the thing: that whole buy-nothing vibe is still very much at the forefront of my mind, so while I’m keen to expand the ol’ musical sensibilities, I’m also keen to do so without the outlay of a wodge of cash. So, anyone fancy doing a CD swap? I was thinking it might be entertaining to come up with a topic* (say, ‘travel’), and a collection of random tunes to suit, and to do an exchange. New music for the price of postage (and yes, I am certainly up for international exchanges – the more the merrier). Thoughts? Criticisms? ‘Are you having a laugh’? In the comments box, please.

*I owe this idea to Peaceable Imperatrix, who did such an exchange some time ago; it was good fun, and I got a v. g. mix CD from her imperial self.