Lavender Love Bath Salts

[greygoose]

amymyersmd.com/2015/05/lave...

Hmmmm... I must try this sometime.

[Baggiebod]

I have started adding Epsom Salts to my bath for the magnesium - and I think it does relieve my aching leg/ankle/foot which I think is a symptom of being Hypothyroid, also seem to help me to go to sleep. These Lavender bath salts include the Epsom Salts so you would get the benefit of them along with the nice smell!

Win, win xx

[greygoose in reply to Baggiebod]

Exactly! Shame it's a bit late in the year to gather up the dried lavender and rose petals - well, it is in my garden, anyway. They've all been blown away by the high winds we've had. But I will try it next year! Or this year with just the essentail oils...

[nightingale-56]

We made Bath Salts while I was at school on year for Christmas Presents. Epsom Salts, Colouring and Flower Essences. Thanks for posting GG.

[greygoose in reply to nightingale-56]

You're welcome, j-bee.

[Fruitandnutcase]

That looks lovely - a wee bit more more interesting than my normal magnesium flakes and lavender oil mixture. Definitely going to try it, I'm sure there must be somewhere to get all the 'extra' stuff. Thanks GG 😊

[greygoose in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I'm sure there is somewhere to get it all, but I'd rather get it free out of my garden! lol

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to greygoose]

Yes but don't you live somewhere lovely in France? I would have to start planting suitable plants in the garden or maybe even start stealing flowers from the council flowerbeds or parks

[greygoose in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

No, I live in a horrible, grey, industrial part of France. lol I have roses and lavender in my garden - but I think the lavender's dead, actually... I Don't even know what the other flower is... Have to Google it.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to greygoose]

Calendula is marigold - the fluffy orange type - think they are sometimes called Scotch marigolds - not the rigid, upright 'French' ones you often see in formal borders.

[greygoose in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Ah ok. I can't grow marigolds. The snails eat them for starters.

Louise has her slugs in the bathroom, I have my snails on the balcony. I've passed them on the stairs sometimes, going up. Takes a long time to get up there, but they are very tenacious...

But I digress. I shall have to think about that one.

[penny]

Making bath salts is really easy; I make them as presents. There are many recipes for them on the internet but I use epsom salts, dead sea salt, rock salt, powdered goat's milk and essential oils; coloured clays can be added for their benefits and colour. Adding dried flowers can be lovely but some may turn brown and are also a nuisance to wash away. When I make a bergamot and frankincense bath salt I put a slice of dried orange on top for decoration and a curl of cinnamon bark. My rose salts, I add pink french clay and dried rose petals - just a few on top of the jar to decorate rather than add to the bath water. Great fun devising combinations. (I'm trained in aromatherapy.)

[greygoose in reply to penny]

You ought to set up an on-line shop and sell them to us! I'm sure you'd find loads of customers on here. They sound lovely. Bergamot and frankincense. Wow! Sounds so... Arabian nights!

[penny]

Like all good things...they come under the European Cosmetics Directive (or some such) and any formula has to be approved by a chemist before sale. (I make soap and this also needs chemist approval.) Givings these as presents is not a problem but selling them involves too much red tape for me. Added to the testing one also has to let the local authority know that one is making products to sell; ditto insurance and mortgage company. I just think that it is too much hassle.

Recently I had a surplus of damson jam, made from our own damsons, and sold some in our local village shop. This is only allowable for a now-and-then sale otherwise my kitchen has to be inspected and the jams fully labeled with percentages of sugar and warnings that it was made in a kitchen where nuts are used. Have you ever heard of someone dying from jam?! I think these rules are ridiculous. (We picked 58lbs of damsons this year.)

When I give a body treatment, I actually realign bodies rather than do aromatherapy and massage, and I mix up a massage blend for a client I am unable to give them the residue of the oil to take home. I read somewhere that Jo Malone used to do massage and give her clients the oil to use at home - she would have been breaking the law. At the moment candles do not need testing, just correct labelling. I make candles too but have yet to perfect my recipe as I would rather use just essential oils but they don't have a brilliant scent-throw; too much and the candle burns badly. Jo Malone uses synthetic fragrances and, I think I read, paraffin wax. Paraffin wax holds scent better but is thought to be carcinogenic; I use soy wax at the moment. Reed diffusers are my next foray. As you may have gathered I'm a maker of things. (I also teach art.)

Do have a go at making bath salts, they can be really lovely and really easy to do.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

Oh, I love damson jam!!!! But I can see the need for some regulation. They just go too far, that's all. It goes to their heads. lol

But the niece of a friend of mine bought an ice cream cone, and because the ice scoop had been used for nut ice cream before her vanilla, she swelled up like a balloon and had to be rushed to hospital. It can be of great concern for some people.

Yes, I hadn't thought about all that law and stuff. It does make things difficult. I'm a maker, too. But I'm more into things like jewellery, knitting and crocheting. I have managed to make some money out of that, but one has to be very careful where one sells.

Bath salts sound easy, but I Don't thing I'd venture into soap and stuff. And I Don't even like candles. I always think about what's getting into the atmosphere and you're breathing it all in. Just doesn't appeal. And the funny thing is, I collect candle sticks! Go figure. lol

But I really think I might try the bath salts... Just have to get some Epsom salts...

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to greygoose]

I make patchwork quilts and often do I Spy baby quilts - they are lovely, I don't sell them although I just giove them as baby gifts or make them for friends and charge the cost of the fabric. I used to be a nervous wreck in case I left a pin in the waiting. I use safety pins now and metal clips kind of like you can get for your hair. I also have a little trigger gun thing like a mini version of what they use for price tags in shops.

Your products sound amazing penny. Good on you for making all that jam! What a feat. I'm psyching myself up to peeling, slicing and freezing apples at the moment. I had a pile of cookers from my own tree then I went to see a garden on Sunday and bought another couple of bags. Now they are staring at me every time I walk through the kitchen.

They are next on the list after the European ironing mountain that I am (supposed to be ) working my way through at the moment. The vacuuming that was top of the list when the vacuum packed in half way through the job - it has been getting more and more feeble of late and I was just thinking that I really could do with a new vacuum when it just stopped. Probably a fuse or something like that I will wait for Mr Fruitandnutcase to come home and he can operate on it and hopefully fix it.

[greygoose in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Oh I do admire patchwork quilt makers. So clever! I wouldn't know where to start. Well done, F and N!

[penny]

No, sewing is not my forte. I can sew but don't enjoy it. I really admire those of you who are good at things like that.

I can see that someone with a nut allergy might have a problem with a spoon used for nuts and then used in jam but this is really rare. The downside of labelling for nut allergies is that everything is labelled to say that it has been prepared in an area which handles nuts - just in case.

I really ought to get on and do things but...I have a kitten on my lap and it would be a pity to disturb her.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

Oh no! You can't distrub Kitty! Just stay were you are and relax. lol All I've done today is post on here and cook veggies for the dog. But I suppose he'll appreciate that. Oh, and made myself some pancakes, and now I'm cooking rice - I'm a rice addict!

[penny]

I've a steam oven - great for rice. In fact I cook quite a bit and have four ovens. I must say that I do like rice. Fire lit - two kitties curled up on the sofa - heaven.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

Sounds nice.