Product Making for Beginners
There was a time when all country families made their own cosmetics and cleaning products at home as they were hard to get, and costly. The women on Pennine farms produced soap, candles, shampoos, home-cleaning products, cosmetics, jams, jellies, preserves, home-brewed drinks, salves and ointments. Recipes were handed down and passed between neighbours. Local families used the flowers, fruit and herbs grown in their own garden or foraged from the countryside around them, along with some ingredients from a beekeeping neighbour or the apothecary's shop. They produced simple but valuable supplies in season to feed and heal their families and keep their homes and furnishings bright and fresh.
I am a northern country girl, and I use my own family's recipes and my professional training in aromatherapy, herbalism and product-making to revisit the traditional country skills and teach them. These gifts are too valuable to lose - we need to learn once again how to value and use the simple ingredients around us to make the things we need to eat, clean our homes and keep ourselves feeling and smelling wonderful! I offer short, simple courses for couples, small groups of friends and individuals. You will make the product of your choice and take it home along with the recipe to share with your loved ones, gift or enjoy yourself! Come and reconnect with nature in my cottage kitchen, enjoy being in the beautiful countryside of the Pennines where many of the herbs and flowers we use grow wild, learn a new and satisfying skill for life.
You can choose to make a cosmetic, a home care product such as pot pourri, a candle to use in massage or light your room, or a simple home remedy to help maintain wellbeing. You could make a flower-perfumed salve to keep your skin or lips smooth, produce an aromatic massage candle as a birthday gift or wrap your own handmade soap to store and use during the year ahead. As well as taking home the treat you have made you receive with full notes on the essential oils and herbs you have used, learn about the extra ingredients you have used and where to buy them, and be able to make the product again in your own kitchen or utility room.
Make a Rose Container Candle: half day, £75 (suitable for vegans)
Understand the different waxes and wicks made to produce container candles, then make your own rose scented candle using natural ingredients! A natural rose container candle is perfect to light your space or give a relaxing massage. Enjoy it when you get home or give it as a gift.
Your course includes:
Introduction to the different types of wax, wicks, dyes, fragrances and candles
Demonstration of how to make three types of container candle - using a pretty tin the right size for a massage candle, a jar or tea cup to bring vintage charm, the versatile tea light to scent the room and a wax tart in an original shape
Select your wax, the right wick, melt your wax and oils, add dyes, fragrance oils and wick your container to make your candle
Finish your candles off with embellishments and packaging
Take home your candle along with notes on all the ingredients used, where to buy them - and of course, a user guide to help you to create your own container
Make a Lavender Salve (also called balm): half a day, £75 (suitable for vegans)
Modern shop bought salves are often labelled organic, pure or even vegan but they can be very expensive. When we look at the ingredients we may find a list which doesn't look natural at all, especially as we don't understand what the Latin terms required by product regulations mean. People with allergies, vegetarians, vegans or simply those who want to use genuinely simple products made from natural ingredients can be confused and disappointed.
On this course you will learn to make salves and balms to suit you- with beeswax and with a vegan method which is more modern but still produces a beautiful natural result you can personalise with your own aromas and infusions. It's up to you which we do!
You will learn:
A group of essential oils to make beautiful smelling salves with natural benefits
A group of herbs to bring added well being properties to your salves, and how to infuse them into base oils
How to use beeswax or the vegan alternative along with natural base oils to make the salve base
Sourcing essential oils, herbs and herb infused oils to make salves
Packaging, labelling and presenting your salves to use as gifts or for your own enjoyment
You will go home with the lavender salve you make, along with notes on the ingredients you have used, where to buy them and of course the recipes so that you can make salves at home for your own household, friends and family.
Make Lemon Soap (Melt & Pour Method): £75 (suitable for vegans)
Melt and Pour soap is also called Glycerine Soap and it is a safe, simple and versatile way to make your own soap at home. Organic and vegan soap bases are available, and you can also choose treats such as goats' milk base too. So there is something for everyone and this is a quick, risk-free way of making products at home - get the children involved at home too, with adult help. This course will give you a skill to share with the family.
Melt and Pour or Glycerine soap is a fun way to create striking coloured soaps in great shapes which smell wonderful, or to produce classic soap with natural ingredients and subtle, therapeutic aromas for different kinds of skin.
On the course you will learn:
Sensible health and safety precautions
Types of soap bases and where to get them for use at home
Types of colouring and how to use colour
Essential oils and fragrances for melt and pour soap
The use of herbs & botanicals to bring natural benefits
Making soap for exfoliation and for shaving
Layering Soap
Embellishing, packaging and presenting your soap as gifts or for use in your own home
You will see a demonstration of how to make the soap, then design your own variations (exfoliating soap, shaving soap, fun soap or classic soap). You make a batch of soap, decorate it, package it and take it home to gift or enjoy. You also get full notes of the method used, and where to buy the ingredients so you can have fun making soap at home.
Making a Rose and Geranium Handwash: half day, £75 (suitable for vegans)
We use a ready made base with no SLS or SLES to produce a range of products for use in your home bathroom. Organic and vegan options are available. This is a simple way of making a beautiful handwash products enhanced with moisturisers and essential oils to keep your hands feeling and smelling wonderful.
You will learn:
Different bases and how to buy them
Herbal Infusions
Added ingredients for natural benefits
Essential oils and their benefits
Labelling and packing your products to use at home or share with family and friends
You will go home with the products you have made, information on your ingredients and where to get them, and your recipes so that you can make products at home.
Frankincense and Orange Moisturising Cream: half a day, £75 (suitable for vegans)
Learn how to create your own frankincense and orange skin cream using natural oils and ingredients.
You will learn about:
Base oils and their properties
Emulsifiers and how to use them
Essential oils in skincare
Herbs in skincare and how to use them in creams
Butters and waxes in skincare
Using preservatives and how to source them
You will make a batch of cream, choose your own added ingredients and package it to take home with you. You will go home with the base cream recipe and all the information covered on how to personalise it with your choice of oils and added ingredients.
