A Tale of Soap and Wax

Planning some camping trips this summer? Have an outdoor fire pit in your yard?

If you have some scrap wax from old candles, and some mini or full size muffin papers, wax paper cups, or old egg cartons, you can make your own fire starters to get your fires going strong.

We’ve been making these for years now and they work great! Even with damp wood you’ll soon have a fire you’ll be proud of and enjoy.

What you’ll need:

• Old wax (this can be old candles or even crayons.)

• Sawdust or wood chips (pine cones or small broken up sticks can work too)

• Something to hold the wax, wood chip mix (Muffin Tin and papers, small wax paper cups, egg cartons)

• Double boiler (a metal coffee can and a pot of water will work)

1) Gather your materials, start boiling your water, and place some wax in your coffee can, pyrex pitcher, etc.

2) Place some wood dust, small scrap wood, pinecones, or your choice of small flammable into your muffin cups or whatever you are using to make these.

3) Pour or scoop your wax into the muffin cups, egg carton, dixie cup, etc.

4) allow these too cool until hard and you now have recycled wax firestarters .

Making these may be a bit messy,  so protect the floor and surrounding work surfaces.

These burn very hot with a large flame for 10 to 15 minutes. One is usually enough to light wet wood or hardwood without kindling.

We also have these available in our Etsy shop as well as our Artfire studio.

Cautions

1. These are not candles – do not attempt to use them as candles.
2. Do not use these in any areas unsuitable for a fire – they will burn uncontrollably.
3. Flame size may vary, but flame heights of 15 inches are not uncommon.
4. Fire starter containing sawdust should not be used indoors because it may cause creosote buildup in your flue.

Erin’s step-brother’s girlfriend, Katherine Ayla, painted this wonderful picture of Cameron and Alyse for Erin’s birthday June 8th.

I think she did a great job, and now it hangs in our living room.

I’ve also posted the original picture that the painting is based on.

Katherine has more photos of her artwork on her Facebook page.

Recently, our handmade shaving soaps were featured on Etsy. Due to the increased interest in our shave soaps I decided to share a bit more about them with you.

My main reason for looking into shave soap was due to shave creams irritating my skin. I have very sensitive skin when it comes to soap, and always ended up with dry, red, scratchy skin.

For a while I shaved with our normal bar soap, which worked alright, but I was in need to find a better way to shave. I did do a little research online as well as test several of my own recipes before finally finding one that lathered great, gave a nice smooth shave, and left my skin feeling great and smooth.

After checking into and trying out several different clays, I found that I preferred Bentonite clay. Kaolin, Rhassoul or Fuller’s Earth could also be used.

On a side note, Erin has recently tried one of my shave soaps on her legs and LOVES it. As a result we will be adding several more unisex clean scents and more feminine scents to our line.

We will be adding more scents for our shaving soaps very soon. Please be sure to stop by and look for your new favorite shave soap.

If you have any suggestions on a scent you would love to see please let us know.

Hello, if you’re seeing this page that’s great! Please check back in the next few days as we’ll be starting our posts very soon.