Soy/Beeswax Lip Balm
Makes enough for about 1/4 ounce for each of four students.
- 1 cups soybean oil
- 1⁄4 tsp. almond extract, vanilla extract or other flavoring
- 1⁄4 cup beeswax flakes or pellets (or cut into small pieces from a beeswax block)
- small containers (about 1/4 ounce) with screw-on lids
Instruction
- Place beeswax in a plastic bag and smash it into small pieces with a hammer
- Melt beeswax over low heat
- Add oil and flavoring
- Pour into small container with screw-on lid. Cover tightly
- Beeswax can be purchased from craft stores, in the candle-making section. Local beekeepers may also have beeswax to sell. Small plastic containers, normally used for storing paints, are also available at craft stores.
- Beeswax comes out in white flakes from glands under the bee's abdomen. The wax is white at first but gradually turns a golden color.
- About 8 million pounds of beeswax is used in the US each year.
- Beeswax is used to make candles, lipstick, lotions, shoe polish, crayons, chewing gum and floor wax.
- In the past, sculptors used bleached bee's wax to hide mistakes in their sculptures. The best sculptors were proud to say their statues were "sine cera," or without wax. That is where we get the word "sincere."