Product Review: Bacon Lip Balm from The Plaid Mushroom

For those of you know dont know... I have a slight obsession with a certain kind of food. Well, I have obsessions with a few kinds of food, but the focus of my latest splurge was bacon (see use my Google search bar to search my site for "chocolate" and "bacon"...). I happened to be in the red chat room on Etsy when The Plaid Mushroom (TPM) was also chatting. She started to talk about how she was thinking of making up some bacon lip balm but that she thought no one would buy it. I told her right on the spot that I would... even if the receipt was not refined yet. After a little convincing, she got of chat and listed it... which I promptly bought. I then, in my excitement, spread the word about Etsy... increasing interest as I went. TPM soon ran out of her first batch of Bacon Lip Balm and had to make another... in like 24 hours!
Patiently I waited, and yesterday my anticipation paid off when TPM's envelope arrived in my mail box! The envelope itself looks hand crafted from some very heavy card stock. Upon opening the very securely sealed envelope My Bacon Lip Balm packaged with a business card and two "trail size" samples of Peppermint and Pina Colada Lip Balm. The packaging of the trials was really interesting and reminded me of what coin collectors keep their coins in. They are very slim, but hold a decent amount of balm. The only issue I had is, once opened, you have to fashion something to keep them closed. I just use paper clips, no biggie. The Peppermint Lip Balm was minty smelling, and warms and tingles on the tongue when tasted. The Pina Colada aroma is very strong, smelling perfectly sweet and buttery. The Pina Colada tasted spot on as well, with delicious hints of coconut.
Now on to the big pay off, the Bacon Lip Balm! The smell was not as strong as the Pina Colada, but you can defiantly smell the bacon-y goodness trapped in this little tube, salty and meaty. TPM uses real bacon oil (refined from real bacon!). The other ingredients include avocado oil, beeswax, vitamin E oil and shea butter. I love that all these ingredients are all natural! The balm also tastes slightly of bacon, a lighter flavor but still noticeable. The only real slight negative I can give to this product is that it is not as solid or viscous as most other lip products are. I found that applying the Bacon Lip Balm in a "lip stick" manner messy. I much prefer and recommend using your finger to apply it. It left my lips feeling very silky and moisturized.

Overall Impression: I am unsure if I can give a fair assessment as I love bacon so much, but this lip balm is so unique I just had to have it. The price is great too, under $4 with shipping. Other than the application, I cant think of any faults unless you either dont like the smell or taste of bacon. Even my kitty loves it. I had to hide it once she got a taste of it!
Also, it should be stated that (according to TPM herself) "all handmade lip balm can 'expire'. it's a part of not having chemical preservatives in them...but that's also one of the benefits and by the time that happens (about a year), the balm will probably be used and gone anyway." If you happen to get a chance to try this unique and fanciful product it is well worth the step outside the box!

Second Try at PMC

Here is my second try at using PMC to make some jewelry. I decided to try a ring again and I also created a duo of charms that will act like a focal for a future necklace. This time I felt a little bit more comfortable with the clay. Like I said before, it is similar to other polymer clays like Sculpty, but there are properties of PMC that is all its own. Things like the leather hard stage just doesnt happen in other clays (at least to my knowledge). Anyway, I found it easier and smoother to bond the two ends of the ring together. I really like the way the it looks this time around. I decided not to patina this ring, just shine it up a bit. The other pieces, I used some stamps from the craft store. The spider didnt turn out so well, but I absolutely LOVE the spider web look. I added a light patina to them to increase the contrast. I havent yet put the charms into a necklace yet, but I think that it will probably have a lot of hemalyke beads. Overall, I think I am improving!

My First PMC Ring...

Just so you know, this post is going to be picture heavy.

Well, here are the pictures of my first ever anything made out of Silver Art Clay. I fashioned this ring off of a piece of silverware (see my previous post). I found that working with the polymer clay some what useful, but Art Clay is a creature all its own. I really like how the band turned out, but the place where it joined was not very... elegant. I tried to make it easier on the eyes by adding a little space for some polymer clay to act as a kind of focal point, but my execution of that element was lacking. Gluing an expensive crystal to it (you know, the one with the hard to pronounce name) didnt make it any more appealing. Also, I decided I wanted to add some patina to add depth to my ring. I dont have any liver of sulfur, but I did notice that last time I washed out sea shells with bleach, my silver rings got tarnished right away. So, thinking myself clever, I poured some bleach in my sink and mixed it with water. I set the ring in it, and it sure did tarnish, but the bleach all settled to the bottom (I guess it is more dense than water) and just the BOTTOM of my ring tarnished. The top was absolutely untouched. Well, what a great misadventure! I will not be offering this ring in my shop for sale, but if someone really must have it, just email me. I am sure my next one will turn out better. I hope my learning curve is really steep, this stuff costs a fortune and I cant waste any of it!

Knifey, Spoony...

I did a whole bunch of running around today and one of the stops that we made was to a local thrift store to rummage through their silverware bins. I got this idea to start my adventure into the arena of precious metal clay (PMC) from a book that I got titled: The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab. I found the book really helpful so far and easy to read with great examples. Basically you use the patterning on silverware to make rings. My husband helped me find 5 nice examples and I cant wait to start tonight. The one I want to keep is the one second from the right, the more geometric design. Floral isnt really my thing. I wish the picture wasnt so dark, but at least you get the idea. Anyway... wish me luck!

Giving Mood...

I got a call from my mom the other day and it started me down this road to create this necklace. My mom is on the board for my old middle school, Stepping Stone. Every year they hold a auction to raise money for stuff the school needs. She asked me if I wouldnt mind donating some of my jewelry to the cause. I figure it will be really nice to not only give back to a school that has given me so much, plus I could get some exposure. I figured I could make some stuff easy enough, plus it will be tax deductible! I sat down the other night to create. The last piece I figured I would make a big and bold necklace. I had it finished when things started to go wrong...I wont name them all but lets just say that at about 12 midnight I ended up with a broken necklace, a work table full of beads and my crimp beads were knocked over. I was so frustrated! I decided to take some time off, just leave it all there and come back later. After an hour on tooling around Etsy, I found some sterling silver medallions that I use for my rosaries and decided to put them away. As I sat down I to put them away and started to clean up the crimp beads. Then I saw the messy pile of beads that used to be a beautiful necklace. I just couldnt let that sit over night. Must be bad mojo or something. So I went through and restrung the whole thing and made everything stronger. I want to make a few pairs of earrings to or something, but that will be another day! Let me know what you think of the necklace! That cross is 2 1/3 inches long, just to give you an idea of scale!

Clay, I hardly knew you...

until tonight! I thought I would try my hand at some Sculpey before I got my Art Clay (precious metal clay) in the mail...some day...the kit is on back order. I plan on using these pieces either as masters for some molds I want to try or as stamps themselves. I dont know how good they will turn out... I havent even given them time to dry yet. I used some dental tools and a small flat head screwdriver most of the time. I sculpted on some porcelain tile that I had laying around that normally I mix paint of for painting gaming miniatures (a retired hobby of late...to time consuming). The skull was fun to do. I will probably do another one some day that is more anatomically correct, but for now that one is good. The round ones I think I may make buttons out of. Do you think hand made 99.9% silver buttons would sell? They might also be interesting if I get into the enamel aspects of Art Clay. There is also a snail shell. Duh! Of course I had to do something snail related! Please tell me what you think and let me know any tips that might help me in the future! Anything to help me not waste any of my precious (and expensive) Art Clay!

Front Page on Etsy

frontpage
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I am so glad I got a screen capture of this! That is my fireball necklace right on the front page of Etsy! I didnt even know it...I just opened my Etsy page and had all these convos congratulating me...and I had no idea why! Well, I quickly figured it out and I just had to share my excitement. It is really nice to see that someone else likes my work enough to put it on the front page...and it might be cool for you readers as well. Following this piece from it's infancy all the way through to this! Lets hope that someone takes a shine to my little necklace and wants give it a home. I was debating on buying a showcase, but now I dont think that I will (especially since people seem to be on the fence about it's effectiveness). Even if I dont sell my fireball necklace, it is getting a lot of views, and hopefully that will spill over into my shop. Thanks who ever thought my work was good enough to get this honored spot! I am so greatful!

Turqouise Wood and Clear Bead Chaplet

Turqouise Wood and Clear Bead Chaplet
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I have started to list various kinds of prayer beads on my Etsy site. I have been using a lot of turquoise beads, but I hope to start using (and listing) more pearl items as soon as my next shipment of supplies come. I even sold a rosary bracelet already! I really hope that people enjoy these, I really like making them. So far, my Catholic prayer beads (chaplets and rosary bracelets) have seen the most views, but the Anglican rosary is falling behind. I wonder what will happen when I start listing Malas and Misbahas. I also hope to put up some full rosaries, but right now I ran out of "matching sets" of centers and crosses. I have tons of pewter centers and some sterling silver crosses/crucifixes...but no sterling centers or pewter crosses/crucifixes. Go figure... If anyone out there is interested in specific things or improvements on my designs, please let me know. I am trying to learn about the various kinds of prayer beads and their requirements as I go...but I am not an expert in every religion! If you know of any other kinds of prayer beads that I have not mentioned, please let me know about them as well.

My current lighting rig

My current lighting rig
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I just thought I would show everyone where I take my pictures! That is a picture of my lighting rig. The lights are work lights from Home Depot, each of them were 12 bucks or so. The tiny tripod is from Radio Shack, and it was on sale for 6 or so bucks. My only complaint is the rotating head is a bit too loose, but it does give me a lot more stability than hand holding my camera, even with the play in it. My light box is an old 100 Calorie Pack of some kind (they have white cardboard inside!) and the panels are printer paper. Overall, it was cheap and easy! The box is a bit to small for some of my work, but since it was basically free, I dont get upset when my cat sleeps in it or accidentally rips up a panel. All of it is easily replaced! And all of this fits easily on my kitchen table!
Oh yeah, Happy New Year!